Fountain Middle School

Posted: March 20, 2024

It's a pretty bad school,to be honest its a shame

Posted: March 20, 2024

Posted: October 5, 2021

I feel the student body is diverse and made up of many different academic skill levels. My daughter has made friends with many students, and she says it is generally a friendly group of kids.

Posted: October 5, 2021

Posted: October 5, 2021

Posted: October 5, 2021

Posted: October 5, 2021

Posted: October 5, 2021

Posted: October 5, 2021

Posted: October 5, 2021

Posted: October 23, 2019

My child is in 8th grade and I’ve had a few issues withal was teachers over her 3 years there. Often my concerns are dismissed. I dread having to communicate with administrators because they don’t care. No call backs or emails when an issue has been brought to their attention. Glad our time here is about over.

Posted: October 23, 2019

There isn’t much homework assigned. I don’t feel it sets kids up for how high school will be.

Posted: October 23, 2019

I’ve enjoyed most of my child’s teachers, however there have been a few that are terrible to work with or completely uninvested in being a teacher.

Posted: October 23, 2019

They try...... I guess. Hard to develop this when the administration doesn’t represent this.

Posted: October 23, 2019

Leadership acts like they openly receive communication from parents, but then there is either no communication back or attacks.

Posted: October 23, 2019

Not enough staff to support all students. Kids that fall behind don’t get support and kids that excel aren’t challenged.

Posted: October 23, 2019

Again..... they try.... I guess. Doesn’t seem effective.

Posted: July 19, 2017

Posted: July 19, 2017

Posted: July 19, 2017

Posted: July 19, 2017

Posted: July 19, 2017

Posted: July 19, 2017

Posted: July 19, 2017

So far not good. I would move him to other school if we could afford a private school. Our son is special needs and can't read well but he was on the honor roll? How does that make sense? He's gotten yelled at and things go missing all the time. I don't know what's wrong or going on at all if no one says anything. I would love cameras in the school so we can really see what's going on. My son's SE teacher & paras before were super sweet and caring. Our son flourished with them. He felt loved and supported. Not so much here. The communication from the teachers to parents is horrible. Last year we were not finding out about lockdowns until hrs after they happened.We asked over and over for teachers to write in his agenda because my son doesn't remember most of what goes on during the day. Only one who does is the para does when she can. When people try to address issues they treat us with condescending or are dismissive attitudes.There's no music program.The classes we signed up for where all messed up even though they were requested a year earlier. I have asked several times that if school was shut down early or an emergency for the SE teacher to text or call me but nothing. We have not been as involved this as we have in the past but we have ask what we could do to work together as a team with them but we get nothing. My son used to love school but he's starting to dislike it.There are some great teachers who really try but it's hard when they have way more students then teachers. I would really just love it if they talked to us like real people instead of this us verses them type of behavior.

Posted: January 7, 2017

In some cases teachers will just watch bullying happen, they most likely place bets on what will happen.

Posted: January 7, 2017

They won't even try to teach the special needs kids, they just have them walk around the track.

Posted: January 7, 2017

What leadership? There practically is none. They just sit around and watch students do what ever, rarely ever guidance.

Posted: January 7, 2017

The well only crack down on students who annoy the staff. Those who bully, they get nothing, those who do drugs, nothing.

Posted: January 7, 2017

For 7th grade I only had one good teacher, in 8th I have had 4 so far. They teach well and care for the kids. That is from my expiriance though, I can't speak for everyone.

Posted: January 7, 2017

The home work differs from teacher to teacher, in 7th grade it was way too much, in 8th it is practically none. That is from my expirance.

Posted: January 7, 2017

Canned Walrus
in the last week
School was all great and good until they decided to mess everything up recently, they run it like a prison. Students can't sit where they want at lunch, they have to exit and enter through grade specific doors, they can't even go on one side of the building. I believe they think that the best way to keep kids out of trouble is too make them feel like they are in trouble, which is a horrible thing to do, and much worse for those kiddos who don't get in trouble. The lunch situation is the worse, what do they have against kids socializing witg there friends? I heard they allow kids to use there phones in exchange, but what about those who don't have a phone? They are just left feeling upset that they have nothing to do. I feel they value sceens and texting over basic human interaction.

I would not send my child here unless it was my only choice. Overall I'd rate this school a 3/10, the teachers are okay but the administration is just plain garbage.

Posted: October 20, 2016

The administration has completely changed twice in a year and a half. Other reviews prior to my child's attendance are similar. Unfortunately, leadership has been toxic and the district is desperately
trying to remedy the problem while students and parents patiently wait with unstable leadership.

Posted: October 20, 2016

Some teachers lacked communication and were mediocre instructors. I'm sure there were some other good ones, like the 6th grade teachers my child had, but at least 6 teachers from the 7th grade were disappointing. My student consistently had daily complaints about the science teacher's ugly, sarcastic attitude towards her students, which brought the class mood down as well. The language arts teacher barely challenged the students and provided erroneous teaching concerning core writing skills. The elective teacher played favorites when grading, and the math teacher sent home one-sided worksheets once or twice a week. Unacceptable! I also saw little feedback on graded assignments. Parents beware!

Posted: October 20, 2016

My child has attended Fountain Middle School for the 6th and 7th grade. The short review is Fountain Middle School is a bit below average I think because they are in transition and from my mixed feelings with my child's learning experience. Overall, education is lacking in content, little to no homework even for advanced classes, some teachers are absent with communication, common core, quality of instruction from some teachers is questionable, administration is new, occasional bullying and fights, and lots of disorganization.

Now, for a little more explanation, if you care to read further....

As implied, classes are not demanding, and my child's current teachers do not communicate well. There is online access to assignment titles and grades, but without explanation of details concerning what was taught or the objective. Usually, there's just a grade without comments. Parents must be proactive, but it would be helpful to have a partnership with the teachers that I don't personally find at this school. I think email is relied upon heavily. Handouts and conferences are becoming more scarce necessitating the need for parents to reach out if not hearing from teachers about your student.

There is an "enrichment" class which is a pure waste of tax payer money. The children make paper airplanes, drop eggs, and recently, stack notecards for class lessons! I was thinking maybe there were useful concepts being taught alongside these activities, but no, just a waste of time.

On average, there are 3 nights a week without homework. The school has student ambassadors and a National Junior Honor Society chapter that is about 3 years old. There are other clubs and electives like choir, industrial tech, art, and drama. I was surprised there is no PTA, PTO, FCA, booster club, or any similar parent involvement group.

The administration and around 12 teachers left who were at FMS last year. I'm not sure why the drastic change in staff. This 2016-17 school year has a new set of principals, 1 head and 3 assistants, one of which is the former dean, Mr. Walker. Perhaps it will take time to turn everything around for the better.

Hopefully, this review has been helpful. God bless in your search!

Posted: October 12, 2016

Bullying is reality at this school, but I have parents I know that have had children involved with bullying say the officials handled things fairly.

Posted: October 12, 2016

Posted: October 12, 2016

Posted: October 12, 2016

Little homework is given, and what is sent home is laughable if it is meant to provide students meaningful practice.

Posted: October 6, 2016

Posted: October 6, 2016

Posted: October 6, 2016

Again in the last three years there has been three principals. Assistants I have dealt with are marginal at best.

Posted: October 6, 2016

Posted: October 6, 2016

There are some great teachers. There are also many who are not so effective. They don't seem to expect much from the students, or had indicated that they intended to do one thing and have since changed their minds.

Posted: October 6, 2016

Most instructors tend not to do any homework. One class is fairly consistent, another does homework maybe once a week. It could be a lot of the homework is being done in Enrichment/study hall without me seeing it.

Posted: October 6, 2016

For the second year the "Enrichment" classes have devolved into a study hall. The computer classes have been marginally valuable at best. Core classes have been hit or miss. There are some great teachers here, but there are also many that are not so great. This is the third principal in as many years, and a number of the other administrative staff have issues as well.

Posted: May 19, 2016

Posted: May 19, 2016

Posted: May 19, 2016

Posted: May 19, 2016

The School and teachers are Great, Whoever The Dean Mr. Walker has some type of problem with the kids and the kids can not do anything wrong because instead of him helping them he critize and tries to punish them. He is not a good role model for the kids so I do not know why he has this position. What he should do is a prosecutor for the court.

Posted: October 9, 2014

The school overall is pretty good, the teachers are nice and willing to offer help. However the Dean Mr Walker needs to get off his high horse and realize he doesn't need to have a power trip with parents and especially the students. Treating children as if they are liers because they have attendance issues (that are medically documented) is absolutely not ok. My child doesn't even want to go back to school because he feels bullied by the dean and the teachers every time there's an absence. He can't help if he falls I'll I have explained this to the school and if they have an issue they need to contact me not harass the students. The Deans behavior is as if he is dealing with a thug/punk kid and he's not. My child has never misbehaved in a way for this man to need to be aggressive or angry with kids. Perhaps his tactics would be better in a high crime city like Chicago! I'm not very impressed nor does his power trip scare me in the least bit.

Posted: August 27, 2014

This is my daughter's 3rd year at Fountain Middle and I couldn't be happier. She enjoys going to school, and there are plenty of advanced classes to challenge her. She is involved in multiple sports which cost me little to nothing, and there is bus service for kids after practice and after school programs. There is tutoring offered after school every single day. For such a large school they have the kids organized in a way that it is not overwhelming for them and they work with the same group of kids and teachers for their 3 years at Fountain Middle. I do agree that communication with parents on school events is lacking. All in all, great school, we have had a great experience.

Posted: January 16, 2012

I would have to give this a school good rating based on the fact that my son loves going to school everyday. As a parent I don't feel like the school keeps us well informed and at times the staff seems a little unorganized. However my son loves middle school. He takes advantage of the after school activities and seems to enjoy the majority of his teachers. A good school but still has room for improvement.

Posted: October 14, 2011

I recently switched out of Fountain Middle for 8th grade to go to Janitell. Fountain Middle doesnt allow the parents to be very involved, and the administration as well as counselors simply dont do their jobs. Some of the teachers are good but some are bad, the school lacks leadership and I do not reccomend going to this school.