Herbert H. Cruickshank Middle School

My eldest child went through this school and my youngest is currently enrolled now. I immediately must warn you….BEWARE of the assistant principal! She will speak over you if you have a concern and make matters MUCH worse. She’s a nightmare. I definitely recommend skipping her and going straight to the head Principal for your concern. He definitely takes care of business and will treat you with respect. Unfortunately this school has A LOT of kid drama. Just in this past 2 weeks there have been 6-8 fights. It got so bad that our kids called us to pick them up cause they were scared. I pulled up to a long line out the door of upset parents waiting to sign their kid out after lunch. School never called to let us know what was going on. It’s just absurd. When it comes to teaching, some teachers can be helpful and some are obviously there to get a paycheck. They don’t care. Don’t believe me… go check out the schools math rating. Last time I checked the percentage of students achieving proficiency in math is 29% (which is lower than the California state average of 40%). At what point are we not going to start blaming the teachers for this insane percentage? My youngest kid’s math teacher will not accept ANY late HW even if sick. I have a ton of college classes under my belt (100 units plus) and I’ve never encountered a teacher like this one. During the student teacher meeting, she either looked at me with a blank stare or just repeatedly said no with a smirk when I asked her if there was anything my kid could do to make up for it. I could go on and on about it but I’ll just leave you with this reminder….. there is a reason this school has a 3/10 rating. Can not wait till my kid is done with this school. Good luck to all you other parents and just pray your child can get through this school without feeling mentally beaten down.

I find the staff rude and often passive aggressive with students. That excludes the teachers though, or at least some. I find my teachers very nice, helpful, and caring although there is that one or two teachers at this school that I can describe more negatively. I feel like the way they solve problems at this school is not OK. They don't even bother to alert parents either most of the time when there's a student issue. Their dress code is ridiculous as well. They can dress code you for wearing red then put you in all blue. The overall learning and friends experience comes down to the student though. If your child or student wants to learn they will. The teachers provide sufficient help and guidance to make sure you can pass the grade. It's just up to the student to pay attention and the amount of motivation they have. One thing though is there is a lot of student drama. It can be fights or student encounters and just people who don't like each other. But there are ways you can avoid that and if you have a problem you can just go up to the office and they handle it. They can also have absurd rules, for example once you leave the field during lunch you can't go back on campus which I've tried to imagine why they would do that but i can't, it makes no sense. If it wasn't for my friends all being at Hoover, I would definitely switch schools.

I was put in detention for no reason after being called names and being cussed at. Supposedly I used "Profanity" against the kids cussing and calling ME names. I highly recommend to listen to your kid if they say they are being bullied at school and try to do something about it.

I have found the entire staff of this school to be exceptional team players in a cohesive effort to educate and enrich the lives and education of students in their program. They show genuine regard and respect for each and every student and parent in the program; as well as staff and auxilliary staff members. It has been my experience that, this team of exceptional educators, administrators, and classified staff, put out 150% personal and professional effort in the course of each and every day.

I have horrible experience with this school. Beware. My son don't want to go to this school. And the 6th grader teacher always picky and put my son on detention all the time. I can tell you more about how horrible my experience in this Cruikshank Middle School.