9455 Joyce Way
Arvada, CO 80007

This school supports all students and helps me as a student with special needs succeed. Many of the negative reviews are from when the school had a different principal. I have had bad experiences with some teachers but most are thoughtful and expect all students. Although this school has some dumb rules and high goals. I have found that they do a lot to help students succeed.

Great school for high achieving kids, but terrible for anyone with a 504 or IEP.

From my experience, the teachers are very engaged with their students and enthusiastic in their teaching. I have witnessed some bullying and I’m not confident it was addressed in a way that significantly improved the outcome. At times it seems the bully was given too much leeway. The social emotional learning aspect of the school, while it’s great to have a program that addresses this, needs development to become stronger. One particular area for improvement this year is the rollout of the new math curriculum. Seems neither the administration or teachers are equipped to help parents guide their children though this new program at home. I imagine it’s much different than the way most parents learned math, so readily available parent resources and more communication about the program, how it’s working, and what we can do to support our kids is much needed. Overall, Meiklejohn is a great school, with friendly and invested teachers and staff, a very supportive community, and a beautiful location to boot. I think special attention is needed in growing social emotional and counseling resources, and the of the new math curriculum.

Worst middle school I’ve seen in a while. The drugs, bullying and fighting seem normal at this school. Only a few adults truly seem to care. The schools way of handling everything is to suspend kids and not deal with the problems. Kids are afraid to say anything. DO NOT SEND YOUR KIDS HERE

We love this school! Our child had the best experience attending this school. Teachers and all the staff are amazing.

Unfortunately All five of my siblings and I had the "opportunity" to go to D'Evelyn. However as many would assume/expect that we were lucky, it was the complete opposite experience. I would never recommend this school to anyone... it is actually HORRIBLE. Review written by Giada Franzese

If you care about your child's education, then do not go to this school. No grades, no real guidance, no discipline, no structure and no motivation geared towards actual education. It does not hold kids accountable, does not teach responsibility and does not set kids up for success.

This school only works for a very small number of learners.The quality of teachers is really hit or miss. The ideology behind this learning environment is student lead learning. Unfortunately if you have anything other than an outstanding teacher the student is left to fail academically while shouldering the blame for not being self-directed. A few students thrive, unfortunately many are poorly prepared academically for life after high school. The administration is unwilling or unable to fully accept responsibility for the safety of their students during school hours. Drug use, alcohol consumption, and sex on campus does occur at this secondary school which shares a campus with K-6. Do not accept the hype that the community environment is so great that these students respect the rules. I was recently informed that 1/2 of the class in one of my students electives chooses to regularly not attend that class. No attendance is recorded and they are simply unaccounted for during this time. This did not seem problematic to the teacher at all. I'm unsure how this compares to other schools. I was surprised this type of behavior existed, since the number of students that are enrolled at JCOS is so low, and the advisers claim to be deeply invested. The administration's response is that the students are choosing to break the rules and it is not the schools philosophy to police them. There are very few extra curricular activities offered through the school. There is almost no focus on physical education. PE classes that do exist have almost entirely male enrollment. A holistic approach to education is not embraced here. The exceptional outcome that occasionally occurs at this school is promoted as the norm. Please be aware that it is not.

I thought this school was good at 1st. 6 - 8 get 3 electives. Teachers seemed good. Now that the school is over crowded (1100 kids) the admin has made up all these unwritten rules - which hallway, staircase, & doors for 6 - 8. Teacher are not 100% sure about them. Many 6 - 8 teachers do not allow students to use the bathroom. 4 minute passing period is not long enough to criss cross the school to use the correct stairs & hall + use the bathroom. It's creepy when a 40 yo male teacher tells your 13 a yo girl she used 4 of her 6 bathroom passes for the semester. They just got lockers, put 40 in one small alcove. Kids share a half locker. Imagine 80 kids trying to use a small space in 4 minutes. There is no librarian. Principal told PTO it didn't matter, last librarian wasn't "a real librarian anyway." They have students doing mandatory minutes each week on online platforms to boost test scores but 6 - 8 does not have access to the library & they refuse to invest in a librarian. The priorities are all wrong here. There are a few great teachers but they have been slowly leaving because of the way the admin treats everyone. Students are numbers not people at 3C.