Willink Middle School

Klem South is a community with great teachers, involved parents and hard-working kids. As a parent, we have been thrilled with our experience at Klem South (we have two kids who started Kindergarten here and are now in 2nd grade and 5th grade). Based on our family's experience with the school, I was quite surprised that the school didn't have a better rating on this site.

Good school. Would attend. They seem to actually care.

As an alum, I can attest to severe negligence regarding physical/emotional bullying from both students and teachers, as well as regarding the presence of racial slurs/hate symbols/blatant prejudice. Security cameras "turned off" when reporting attempted pushing down the stairs, "hands tied" when teacher explicitly refused to provide a specific student with equal resources as classmates, teacher/students laughing when reporting visual evidence of swastikas in a practice room, mental health professionals accusing students of lying when seeking support for a mental health crisis, etc. The school culture is one of distrust, hostility, and burn out. The school looks clean and has the funds to afford nice materials/equipment, but the resources do not make up for the inability to foster and maintain a healthy learning environment. Myself and several other students suffered significantly under the care of Webster Schroeder, punished and forgotten when emotional functioning declined and academic performance dropped, and were only able to move forward because administration required teachers to provide a passing grade for public statistics. Do not send your child to this school if at all possible. The few teachers I had who were kind divulged that even they wanted to leave, if not for the guilt of leaving students who had no choice. This school is in need of significant reform that it has shown no willingness to admit or deal with.

My daughter is about to complete Universal Pre-Kindergarten from State Rd. We have had a 100% positive experience; she has grown and developed amazingly. Miss Schimpf and Mrs Schenkel are incredible teachers. She LOVED every day of it. I absolutely would recommend to any parent unsure about UPK, it is SO worthwhile. My daughter is ready now for kindergarten, and I don't feel worried about it. She has been placed in a different school for kindergarten, and I do feel somewhat sad to leave State Road. In our experience- it's a fantastic school.

The special education department could use significant improvement in promoting success for its students. There are still problematic behaviors that are being overlooked. Students who tend to escape or disengage are not being properly addressed, as they are placed in a section of the school that doesn't allow for their behaviors to be corrected. Consequently, when these students leave school, they continue to exhibit behaviors like running away. Many of them are merely receiving supervision rather than engaging in meaningful learning or developing independent skills, which complicates their transition into adulthood. My child’s experience was not positive; they were not provided with chances to learn from their mistakes. The staff often took over tasks, preventing any behavioral corrections because the children were never allowed the opportunity to struggle or fail. This lack of independence is concerning.

amazing teachers that make wonderful students and people in the future