13517 44th Court SE UNIT 4
Mill Creek, WA 98012

it is a horrendous school to even be called that

The staff at this school need to reevaluate whether or not they should teach middle school and realize the impact they have on the students entrusted to them. The bullying and harassment my child received from the adults at this school was shocking. Received nearly daily calls at work because my kid sighed when asked to get out a book (deemed disrepectful), was chewing gum (which he got from students with IEP's allowing gum chewing), was too loud in the lunchroom or shared lunch with other students. These infractions were disciplined with lunch detentions in the reflection room. The staff made my kid feel like they were going to be a drop out, on drugs or in prison. Who treats a sixth grader this way? We began to see grades falling and our child no longer smiled or laughed. I tried to talk to the staff about the impact they were having on my child's mental health and my concerns fell on deaf ears. Even contacted the principal to discuss the staff's behavior, never received at return call or email. Never heard from a counselor either, only talked with the vice principal who was dismissive and defensive of staff.We moved our child to another school where they are now thriving, the daily phone calls have stopped and the staff at the new school have told me what a pleasure my child is to have in class, how engaged they are in classroom activities and discussions, and how much they love having my student. My students' grades have improved, and their positive personality has started to return. My child's experience at Gateway has caused them to be cautious when interacting with adults and there is a lingering distrust that we continue to work on.

My child was constantly bullied while at this school. Everett School District claims to have a zero tolerance policy on bullying, yet they do no enforce it. My child needed therapy for self-harm and suicide ideation for the lack of follow through from the school administration. We constantly brought up our concerns, but it wasn't until we told the school that we were going to withdraw our child from school did they actually take us seriously.