Daniel McLaughlin Therrell High School

"People who say that this school is bad are not telling the full story. I am a junior at this school and I can say that I’ve had my up and downs but high school is what you make of it. In this school, I’ve been able to take advantage of activities such as mock trial, moot court, and debate. Our basketball team is even ranked number 1. Anyone could take advantage of anything that this school has to offer and high school is what you make of it"

"I am a senior at this school and i have had the worst high school experience ever. The uniform policy is more important than education to all of the staff here. They will literally send you out of class if you don’t have on the school’s uniform at a PUBLIC school. Students have even gotten suspended for not wearing uniform. They treat the students as if we are in a prison. The cafeteria food is so horrible that most kids don’t even eat it and if we try to order food from UberEATS or a pizza place you will get in trouble, even suspended so i starve myself everyday until i can make it home. We are not allowed to leave the classroom during the first or last 20 minutes of a class period which i think is the dumbest rule ever made. There is no school spirit outside of homecoming week which is just terrible and the administrative team are mostly on a power trip. They think that they can talk to students any kind of way and i have even heard teachers gossiping about students to other teachers which is pathetic as an adult. A lot of students have left the school which has caused many teachers to lose their jobs and I now have two core classes with substitutes in them as a SENIOR . I could go on and on about all the things that’s wrong with this school"

"This school is more concerned with itself and it's standing than in the children that attend. If your child is attacked by another student you cannot expect any help from them. You will not be allowed to speak with the principal and they will not seek medical attention for your child. There is a culture of covering their own behinds first, and when your ONLY concern is your child, you will find no empathy or concern with them. Without a complete change of leadership at this school, starting with the principal on down the line, this is just yet another inner city school that just considered themselves as glorified babysitters."

"I am attending this school this year into 9th grade and i have read all the positive and negative reviews about the school and all I have to say is high school is what you make of it if you choose to make it bad then thats you but if you choose to make it good then your gaining confidence. Confidence builds by courage and educated minds not complaining about the school no school is bad, no teacher is bad, how you treat the school & the teacher that's what makes it bad and if you or teachers and staff does not gain their respect for teaching you 6 hours a day everyday then they are not going to give you any either. Make this school year in fact every school year the best it could be because when life carves up with you and with something you don't know you going to wish you had the best year of your life, high school life matters so make the best of it. 7-19-2016"

"My daughter has attended this school for 2 years now and it has been 2 years too long. I've had to report 2 of her teachers just this school year alone. One was for a connections class, the teacher never taught and just allowed the students to come to his class to sleep or mingle with each other. The other teacher would play Drake's CD during class and also had the students do an assignment based on a song about a young girl going to a house party and getting drunk and smoking weed. They're cutting the orchestra department next year, P.E. is another sit around class, JROTC is a joke, the girl's lacrosse coach didn't have a clue what she was doing, there's nothing challenging for the kids at all. My daughter who has always made straight A's now gets a few B's because they learn from notes and handouts, no books. Yet she's still ranked 4th in her class. so that speaks volumes about what grades the other children are receiving. For the end of grade accumulative math test the teacher stated how hard the test may seem to the kids because he hardly covered word problems and when he did he worded them differently. Nothing like setting expectations low and making classwork easier so you have students who pass your class but can't pass state exams. The teachers don't care and have given up on these kids from my perspective and therefore it reflects in the kids performances and how much they care as well."