Lamarche Cir #33
Traverse City, MI 49685

My son had a great experience at West Sr. High. They offer a large amount of AP classes and the staff is excellent. Even though it is a big school, it never felt big to him or us. The teachers and administration were very responsive to both his issues and our questions. He was very well prepared upon entering college.

Things have changed. I wanted to give two stars but since our previous years ha e been really good I gave 3.Mr Peters is gone and the office staff that was trained by our two amazing staffers who retired last year are gone (I am certain there is an interesting story there that's being kept from parents) The teachers are amazing and being run ragged with all the behavior issues as there are 16 or 17 "level 3" students needing constant emergency attention as they "melt down" daily. Our amazing school is dying from the top down.

I wanted to give my piece, because from my observations, this school provides more opportunities and support than I ever had. The students complain about the food even though they are provided with multiple hot lunch choices every day along with an extensive salad bar. They complain about the teaching, even though the students having issues are often blatantly disrespectful and give little to no effort to their studies. They complain about drama even though it's a middle school and they are the ones creating it. There is a huge variety of students that allow for differentiation and different friend groups. Thay complain about discrimination and bullying, but from what I've seen, most students leave other students to themselves. I was honestly impressed by how little bullying there was. They say in these reviews that there are no supports and the teachers are apathetic, but the students have designated areas they can go for both emotional and Acedemic support both during and after class; a system that is often abused by students who simply don't wish to learn. There is no question that the available office staff and teachers are giving everything they have to try and support these students. I think the real issue here is the demographic and staffing. The Traverse area has an economic issue that isn't being solved, in fact it's getting worse, and the people most harmed by it are the students and their families.

Great high school. Anyone who gave it a 2 two probably didn't raise their child as well as they could have.:-)