Foothills Middle School

Year is more than half over. Still so disheartened by our experience. In talking to child and friends in their class, they’ve all mentioned their failed attempts on teacher to be there when they seek help or when she doesn’t respond to emails, how this one teacher will make comments to the class telling them that she has a life. Ok, that’s great but you are also paid to teach too.

In terms of academics, it is difficult to find a public middle school better than Foothills. If standardized test scores are your thing, Foothills is either at or near #1 in all of L.A. County in API. I make it a personal policy to meet with all of my children’s teachers, and I have found them caring and genuinely interested in the welfare of the kids. The principal and VP have been responsive to parent-​raised concerns, which is not always the case with administrators. The school is currently undergoing a fairly extensive renovation, and should look like a brand new school come 2014 – 2015. Foothills also builds on the strong musical programs of the feeder elementary schools — all without a lot of funding.

A middle school that serves the foothills area in Arcadia. The two elementary schools, Hugo Reid Elementary and Highland Oaks Elementary) feed the school’s population. The school colors are green and black; and the mascot is that of a Scottish terrier dog. Foothills Middle School (FMS) is known for its academic excellence and has a very high API score. The teachers here are fantastic at encouraging students to work in a subject, and preparing them for high school. The environment of FMS is somewhat tolerable. The restrooms reek of urine and the lightning is just plain creepy in ‘em. However, for a school that has been passed up for renovations because it’s located on a fault line, the general cleanliness is good enough.
Fun facts:
The school newspaper (at the time of this writing) was shut down three to four years ago due to lack of funding. It was a student-​run publication and they charged 50 cents for an issue. 7^th graders are/​were obligated to choose between taking an elective class of Orchestra, Band, or Art/​Acting. Consequently, FMS’s band is larger than those of the other middle schools due to its conscription-​like enrollment of students.