Oakland Middle School

I Went to School For 17 Years. 13 Because my mother made me to 5th grade twice, and I hypothetically when to college for 4 years. I was supposed to go to rock bridge high but, this school was closer to me. I will say that this is the best school I ever went to. The school in general was cool. Purple is not my choice of color but I delt with it. The teachers were cool; they helped me get through all 4 of my years. Some of them I still keep in touch with. My guidance counselor was the best. He saw something in me that nobody else wanted to admit... The students were decent, some of them had potential... They really only bad thing that happened is that a student stole my $300 headphones one night in junior year, sadly the police never caught him.

My son has really done well here. We love all the teachers!

Benton Elementary was not a positive environment for our child. The school faces a difficult challenge, due to the clientele that it primarily serves. The majority of the students are unfairly burdened with challenges that stem from their low socioeconomic households. Education frequently took a backseat to inappropriate social behavior, causing the curriculum to be unexplored in depth.The faculty contained zero percent of the predominant faces that the school serves. The administration did not create opportunities for the parents outside of the PTA to feel welcomed on a daily basis, or to become involved in being a resource to the teachers in real-time. The building was run like a youth custody rehabilitation center, where the main focus had been shifted toward free lunch. There were no school wide programs communicating and/or dealing with appropriate social interactions concerning behavior expectations. Every day seemed like the focus was just getting to the last school bell of the day without any of the students or their family members causing a personal injury to any of the students that kept their heads down and went under the disciplinary radar.Our student struggled in this environment. Our household does not foster or support this type of social interaction, and this is why our child spent the majority of his school day disengaged from his education opportunities. Many of the school hours for our child were spent on a tablet doing busy work instead of being challenged with curriculum. The school library goes significantly unused! Benton has lower reading scores, but does not keep reading material in the students hands. We witnessed the teachers reading to the students in their classrooms, while seemingly unconcerned if the students were engaged.Benton needs higher expectations all around! I understand how the challenges of each student’s home environment can hinder the education process, but school wide expectations that are clearly communicated at the front door can turn some of the being time spent as a prison guard into time being spent as an educator.

My son in kindergarten came home and told me that boys can wear dresses and they can wear pink and there was a closet where they could wear clothes. They huddled my nine year olds in a room with strangers as they taught them how to have sex. I didn’t sign off on any of this. The students were calling my kids the N-word and told them they could say it too, when I confronted the school and told them that’s not allowed they said we can’t stop anybody because that would be racism. A Child got arrested almost every single day there and this is the most disgusting school I have ever had my kids in. As soon move them out to entirely different school district. Even if you can’t pay for it, there are possibilities and you have to be creative. I wouldn’t even move in that area if I were you. They have houses that look nice and that do you cost more but the larger picture is that the not so good community has more children. Take it for what it is, these are the facts. Fax hurt you and put your kids there. The school straight up told me that it’s more like a daycare, then a school.

No school at this address! In fact, not one person has heard of this place! Please do some research before allowing anyone to claim an address OR at least require updates be mandatory in case their facility moves. Tired of seeing this “private school” at my residence! Fix it!!