Piney Grove Middle School

Piney Grove is a wonderful school. Not sure about the Principal yet.

Excellent school with excellent teachers and students

The new rule where students are only allowed into classrooms at 8:50 AM has inconvenient to my child. According to other posts on this site, it seems for other families too. With the previous principal, my child could go directly to the classroom and get some work done after being dropped off at around 8:40 AM. With the new principal's rule, he had to walk to the gym and wait for 8:50 AM. Sometimes, he was almost all the way to the gym when the clock ticked 8:50 AM and he had to back up out of the Connection Hallway, go through the atrium and then to his 7th grade hallway.But we should also try to understand the other side of the story too. Perhaps the brief quiet morning time before class is a time teachers savored that facilitate the day's preparation. Thus "inconvenience teachers"? In this respect, the new rule makes sense. Principals have to consider staff welfare and facilitate effective working environment too, in addition to student well-being. Staff turnovers are an important metric for principals' performance, I suppose? Besides, high staff turnovers do not benefit our students, wouldn't you agree?For instance, our high school lost an AP Statistics teacher in the middle of a semester in our Sophomore year. Even with a quick replacement, there were lots of disruptions. I bet many student ended up needing additional external resources to catch up. My student did. And it is unknown if all students have access to these additional resources. Our high school lost a very good Math teacher this year too. Although staff turnovers have many causes, you would expect principals would be payment extra attention to this.

The new principal completely destroyed the school's good reputation in just one year! If I could rate it lower, I would give it zero. The principal showed a very disrespectful attitude towards parents and implemented innovations that not only failed to make life easier for children but also complicated their school experience. For instance, children are not allowed to enter the classroom before 8:50. When I asked "why?", the answer given was, "It's not convenient for teachers." Don't you think the school director should prioritize the students' needs?!!! Why can't kids prepare for school day, tests under normal conditions by sitting in the classroom before lessons? Instead, they are forced to sit in the gym until 8:50! Consequently, all parents try to bring their children at the same time, leading to a major traffic jam. Another issue arises at the end of the school day when parents pick up eighth graders from the middle of the parking lot, not from the vicinity of the school where there are shelters from rain and sun, ensuring safety for children. How can such a situation be allowed?!!! I won't even mention the rudeness and disrespect shown towards parents!

My daughter loves this school. we moved from California and she is so happy with the school, infrastructure, teachers, extra curricular activities like the band she is part of. She is motivated to score good marks without much aid from parents too..