Northgate Middle School

"My son loved this school and he enjoyed his time here."

"My step daughter goes here. I hate to say this but i really really do not like this school due to the office staff, counselor, and teachers. My step daughter is also in iep classes. She moved in with her dad and i not too long ago, and in doing so they refuse to talk to us about her grades, classes, and her problem in school, until all paperwork is switched over to us. Every day that we are unable to help her with her homework or figure out what is going on up there she gets a little farther behind. We will try to help her with her homework expecting she would have a general idea on what they were learning that week, to watch her get so frustrated with it. Shes so far behind she gets lost even more with every week of scho that passes. Why is no one taking the time to help her? Why is no one calling her dad and I to help us help her? My kids grandmother is a teacher, my grandmother is a teacher, and my self as a parent am very dissapointed in the way any teacher, councelor, or even principal could let a child get stuck so far behind. I personally work with her every day. Her reading level is at a 4th grade level... Shes in 6th grade. My 7 yr old son can spell and read 10× better than my 12yr old step daughter. They should be sending her home with books on her reading level. I just want to sit down with the pricipal or guidance councelor, or even a teacher to find out how i can help her get caught up! All because her dads name is not on the lease nor does he have any bills here and they need proof of residence. I am not her legal guardian but im on the lease. But this will not suffice. Im really getting getting frustrated with this school and its staff. My boys went to liberty public schools, and now go to parkville public schools... Lets just say i have no trouble when it comes to them keeping me and their dad in the loop!"

"My name is oumar and I went to north gate to take a tour of the school and I ended up not going to that school so I go to maple park cause i’m in ell"

"I love the school however what I don’t love is that my daughter is in 6th grade and she walks in the door from school at 330pm and from 4pm to 930pm every day she is doing homework. No time to be a kid, spend time with family, and thank goodness she’s not doing any sport this year because she would fall so far behind she wouldn’t know what to do. She is a straight A student and tries hard and anything less then an A to her isn’t good enough, so she stresses herself out with the ungodly massive amounts of homework that is given out daily. She’s gets less then 7 hours of sleep because she forces herself to stay up and get it all done. So I’m to the point I am frustrated to where I don’t care if her grades drop. She’s in 6th grade for heavens sake, she needs to be a damn kid sometimes instead of being handed hours and hours of homework every single night!"

"We are new to the district and my son started 6th grade this year (2016-2017 school year). He has an IEP and I was initially very concerned with how he'd adjust to middle school. I can now say with absolute confidence that those concerns were completely unfounded as each and every single one of his teachers has gone above and beyond to ensure his academic success. I receive daily feedback on his performance and positive suggestions to help him with any struggles. They really know how to properly balance his learning plans in a way where he receives necessary accommodations without diminishing his sense of accountability and personal responsibility,which is absolutely crucial at this age. In addition to the quality of his teachers, I'm also very impressed with the multiple before school/after school activities available to the students at Northgate. They seem to have an activity for everything! The cost of these activities is incredibly reasonable ($40/quarter, $10 for students receiving free/reduced lunch) AND they provide bus service! It's an absolute blessing to working parents! The only reason I did not give it a full 5 star review is due to the layout of the school. The classes can be a bit spread out and the whole layout is pretty confusing to parents and new students. However, after his first day, my son seemed to know his way around pretty well. As for some of the negative reviews, some parents are just not involved with their kid's education and rarely communicate with the teachers. Then they blame the teacher when their child has issues in school. The teachers aren't babysitters and while 6th, 7th and 8th graders are old enough to be accountable for their own actions, they're still young enough to need parental guidance and support when they're at home."