Roosevelt Middle School 3366 Park Boulevard, San Diego, CA 92103

"MY experience- I'm an eighth grader here. -My teachers this year are great (especially Mr. Lockwood for English, Mr. Cortes for history, and Madame Doyen for french) Doyen is getting moved to an elementary school with little notice even though she started the french program here!! In past years I didn't like my science teachers, one of them got moved but my sixth grade teacher, Mrs Reilly, just gave off a vibe that I didn't like and I felt all year like she had a grudge against me. -I bring a lunch from home because the food here is horrible, if I forget to bring it I just go without eating lunch for a day. -The bathrooms are disgusting and I'd ESPECIALLY recommend not to use the bathroom in the girls' PE locker room. I have to give some credit to custodial staff because they do clean it and it's the students' fault the bathrooms are so gross. There's also the cockroach problem, it seems like the zoo just pushed them off of their grounds and onto ours. -The uniforms are honestly not that bad compared with other schools, we get relatively more freedom especially with shirts and jackets. People get away with breaking uniform code anyway so it wouldn't be fair to complain about it. -The start time. 7:25?? Seriously? It might be a district thing but it's completely unfair to students. Supposedly they start earlier to accommodate for parents' jobs and so students have time to do things after school, but we end up doing our homework late at night. That causes people not to go to bed until past 11. I have to wake up at 6 in order to get to school on time, and even then I'm sometimes late. Then the administration turns around and tells us to "get sleep," despite the CRAZY homework loads we get, even on the weekends and over breaks. If I had homework from one teacher at a time it would be manageable, but they seem not to care that all my homework adds up to hours of work for one night. -I've become sleep deprived and depressed from the amount of drama going on at this school. The counselors really don't help with serious issues like harassment, if I told them that my long-time "friends" constantly talk about me behind my back they'd most likely tell me to tell my "friends" that it's making me feel sad :'( ...Um, no thanks. People at this school get away with things they should be punished for and actually get in trouble for little things. -Apparently this school used to be really ghetto, and the admin is tryingtoo hard to turn that around. There's so much focus on the IB traits, it's really annoying. I went to Birney Elementary for two years and they actually made the IB stuff fun, but when I switched to Mckinley it was the same thing as Roosevelt. All this focus on being "thinkers" and "inquirers" won't help us in life. In fact, just in case there's any admin reading this, all the focus on the IB traits ALMOST convinced me not to continue in the IS program at San Diego High. So congrats, you almost ruined a student's future, in a way. -Community project. People who put a lot of work into this get the same grades as other groups who do almost nothing and just barely get by. Completion of this project is required in order for an eighth grader to promote, along with one other crazy requirement. You can't have any absences. I have 2, as of April. My mom is currently trying to get them cleared to I don't have to go to their useless Saturday school, but they're not being very understanding. One absence is a mistake where my teacher had let me go to the bathroom and took attendance while I was gone, and my other absence SHOULD be excused since I was at the dentist, and only for one class. They just want attendance money! -My sister just started sixth grade here and is already cussing and making dirty jokes. Certain teachers are the best part of this school, the rest needs work!"

"This school is alright. The uniform policy is dumb and there are a lot of really bad teachers, especially the math teachers. The food is trash and the bathrooms are gross. Also the art program you take in history is a joke. But some classes are really good and bullying is never really problem. I also really enjoyed pe because they push you."

"I am in 8th grade. I have been there since 6th grade. This school sucks butt. The food is terrible. I get in trouble for defending myself. The uniforms are trash. The school takes the uniform policy WAY TOO SERIOUSLY. My history teacher hates me. There are quite a few teachers I hate. Everyone is glad they are going to an other school."

"I went there last year and moved schools. I'm in 7th right now. Roosevelt has good and bad things just like every school. I don't mind uniforms but I feel that there should be more freedom of personal expression because uniforms can really hide someone's true self. The PE teachers are a bit too tough on their students. I mean, not everyone is talented athletically. Roosevelt is huge on stopping bullying but I feel that there should be a bit more awareness when it comes to that. The food isn't horrible but I feel that there should be major changes. Just like most schools. But other than that, I enjoyed my time at Roosevelt."

"I went here in seventh grade more than 3 years ago and did not like it. I do have to be honest: It's hard to focus at this school, since social distractions are common. The staff was a bit inconsiderate, and inattentive to the students. If you are not in the IB program, it will be hard in the classrooms to take the teachers seriously, since most of them are busy attempting to get their class together. My grades slipped and the students were not nice to a lot of people either."