Baird Middle School

The best middle school ever! My daughter is currently in the 8^th grade and will be promoting this week. This school has given her so many opportunities. She loves the classes, but does not like the dress code and can’t wait for high school. Her favorite teacher is her AVID teacher this year, Mr Magna. Without that program I do not know if she would be at the level she is. She was on the honor roll three of the four quarters this year. I would recommend this school to anyone that asks about it. You have to apply to get in and it is suggested you try to get in the 5^th grade year and spend all four years at the school. I am so happy we got to be part of the Baird family these past four years and wish the best to all.

Only the best middle school in the city!

I went to this school from 2001 – 2004, so I’m not sure how much it’s changed since then, but my review is based upon the times I had at this school.
First off, this is a magnet school, your parents have to apply here, and then they choose students based on lottery. So it’s not some public school where everyone can get in, the parents have to care A LITTLE BIT and make a little effort. Let me tell you, that makes ALL the difference. You don’t have all these lowlife kids who don’t care about school in class with you, you’re surrounded by kids whose parents raised them right and to care about school. I did stuff at this place I haven’t done anywhere else, like mosaic tile smashing and creating pictures with it on the walls of the school to make it look artsy and cultured. What other middle school (or any school) do you know of that does something like that? Not to mention the school starts at 9:15 and gets out at 3:30…can you say AMAZING???
They also had some very unique clubs, such as the surf club (which is what got me into surfing), where you would meet in the morning once a month and take surf trips once every month on a Saturday. The cost was $ 15 and you could use the wide assortment of boards, and you would get a wetsuit for the entire school year! In seventh grade they had a skate club, the only school in Fresno to have one! It was pretty fun the teacher who ran it built ramps and rails for us to use on the newly repaved blacktop. Baird also had a band, advanced band and beginning band. I was in advanced for the three years I was there because I’d been playing clarinet for about a year and a half prior to Baird. Band was fun, I made some great friends in there, although the band teacher I had was a bit strict. I also did cross country and track, which was run by Tom Snyder and (Vanessa?) Williams. Both great people.
They also have three special programs that you take per trimester until you get to eighth grade, then you have to choose one to take the entire year. They are, computers, agriculture, and German. The ag. program is fantastic, they have a garden and greenhouse behind the school where they grow all kinds of produce! You really get a good education on gardening, taking care of plants, ect… this was my favorite program out of the three. Next is computers. The teacher who does this program (not sure if it’s the same one) is a little loud and rude at times, but she IS a good teacher. I learned so much from this program, this is what I took my entire year eighth grade because I thought it would be useful in the long run (and I was right). Third is German… my least favorite one. Although I despise the German language, the teacher who runs this is fantastic! Frau Grunberg is a very nice person and a great teacher, she really loves teaching and cares about her students!
In sixth grade I had two of the best teachers I’ve ever had. Tom Snyder, and Pat Carrie. Tom was the guy who did the mosaic tile, surf club, and cross country. Unfortunately he is no longer at Baird anymore… stupid stupid… but when he was he was the best teacher they had. Pat was also a very good teacher, she was a little strict, but overall a nice person and she made sure you learned the material.
There is a dress code, but it’s not too strict. It’s worth the experience you get from this place. I look back on these three years and they were the most educational, most fun, and most challenging years of my k-​12 school life. You learn stuff in here you can take all through college. You learn extensive Microsoft Word, Microsoft Powerpoint, I think a little of Microsoft Excel, and a bunch of other computer programs you WILL be using in college. I learned more here than I ever learned at Bullard (minus English… I had a FANTASTIC English teacher my sophomore year).
Bottom line, parents… apply to get your kids into this school. It goes from fifth to eighth grade, get them in as soon as you can. The teachers and staff treat the students and parents right, I can only recall two incidents that happened where the principal was involved with me, and they were quickly solved. This is a grade A school. If I had kids, I would PAY to have them come to a school as good as this one.