Spartanburg County School District 2

"If I could give Boiling Springs Middle School negative stars I would. Their staff, including administrators, need cultural competency/ diversity courses immediately. They make their targeting of African American students obvious, and once they target one there are numerous referrals that could have been handled with a simple conversation that follow. It almost feels like they create a paper trail to get rid of a student instead of truly creating an environment of support for them. Being an educator myself, I've had numerous parents tell me about them having to transfer their student to another school, because of the mistreatment they have recieved. It became all to real when my son began to be targeted. It became obvious when he received a referral for not having a pencil. Yes he received ISS for not having a pencil, and no this wasn't a repeated offense. It only happened once. They also solely rely on what other students say instead of seeing it themselves. It is the first school I've seen where a student can get a referral by heresy from a student, and staff didn't see it. There are so many policies at this school that doesn't make any sense, and it sets up a child for failure. They are not robots, and they need the environment/safe space to grow without being afraid of being suspended for minor things. These are Middle schoolers, they scientifically haven't matured enough mentality for some of the policies used at BSMS. I'm sure every student isn't treated this way only "certain" ones. I personally know students and parents that have told me this. I've experienced it myself. They desperately need courses in behavior modification and family support. They have failed miserably at this. I would NOT recommend sending your children here at all. Seriously, take them to rainbow lake or another district. Negative 5 stars in my book."

"My daughter attends BSMS and she just brought home her elective choices for next year and I was NOT impressed. When I was in Jr High/Middle School I took home economics, wood shop, typing, creative writing, and first aid & safety. These are basic life skills!! Learning how to create an app or learning about STEM careers are not necessary for middle school aged children. That is more suited for high school kids who are trying to figure out what to do with their lives. My daughter could care less about a STEM career at 13 yrs old. Also, I'm not understanding why they only go to gym for half the school year. This is so bizarre to me. Then you wonder why kids are so out of shape these days. My daughter calls lunch "recess" because that's the only time she gets to go outside for half the school year. I'm also not impressed with the staff at this school. My daughter goes to these enrichment classes before school starts every morning. It was explained to me that this was like a tutoring service. She goes for both math and science and she has gone for about half the school year. Well her grades in both of these subjects have continuously gone down all year. I'm confused by this... I thought the tutoring was suppose to help bring her grades up. I asked my daughter why she thinks her grades are going down and she told me that she is too embarrassed to ask questions during class because the other kids make fun of her for not understanding the material. Not once has a teacher reached out to me with concern over my daughter's grades. The school has had only one parent/teacher night during the whole school year. Im not crazy about the school giving out iPads to the students but it is what it is.... There are some students that aren't allowed to bring their iPads home. My daughter is one of those who doesn't bring her school iPad home and that was by choice. We didn't want it in our house and have to be responsible for it. However, the school makes it difficult for those students to do their homework. My daughter had four reading assignments this year and two of them had to be on a book that you had to download onto the iPad. So there was no way for her to do this assignment at home. She had to read the book when she could at school when/if she had any free time. I know for a fact that there are literally millions of paper books out there. This should not have been an issue. I'm definitely not happy with the school nurse at this school. There were several times I was called for non-emergency matters but most recently my daughter complained of stomach cramps and we received a call from the school nurse and she had me convinced that there was an issue with my daughter's appendix. So of course I came and got her and took her to the doctor the same day. The doctor rolled her eyes and said, "This school nurse went to the extreme...its just a little stomach bug...its been going around." I took my daughter home and the next day she was completely fine. So I wasted money on a doctor's visit and my daughter missed a half a day of school for nothing. Oh and the parent pick up line is ridiculous. School lets out at 315p but I wouldn't suggest getting there until well after 330p. With the set up they have going...you'll be sitting there for a while."