Care about the academic performance of every student and hire qualified teachers who actually have…read morean interest the academic success of their students.

I went to Smithfield and graduated in 2010. Isle of Wight is a relatively safe area but there were…read morea TON of fights. My freshman year we had locker/car/body searches at least six times. Students were throwing weed on the roof, pushing razors to the ground, and hiding their cigarettes under trash cans. Despite the bad apples there were also good ones. Smithfield was lucky to have a large number of amazing, caring, giving, independent thinking, and honest teachers for their students. The variety of culture these teachers brought to Smithfield was great as a student for me. I enjoyed nearly every one I had and keep in touch with a few over Facebook now that I have graduated. The lunches were honestly okay; they had a sandwich line, home food, pizza line, and international line. The price in Isle of Wight was quite the jump from Portsmouth where I came from.. 2.55 vs 1.25 for lunch. My ABSOLUTE favorite thing about Smithfield was their special education program. Through this program the students enrolled were able to work at the 'Snack shack' where they sold students goodies face to face. That builds social interaction skills, job value, and math with the money handling. They also baked cookies and sold coffee/goods to the teachers during the morning. The teachers would get their items delivered directly to the classroom. Even as a young teen I thought this was an awesome educational tool for those with learning and intellectual disabilities. I hope the program hasn't changed much; Smithfield was lucky in having Ms Gwaltney on their team. I have a learning disabled cousin who really could have benefited from this type of training while in high school. The school was kept pretty clean, bathrooms stocked. Was not a huge fan of the 4-5 minute class change time. The freshmen have general core classes upstairs and have to run across the school to get to their other classes, which can cause them to build up tardies. I believe the school should be more lenient with freshmen and do a checks/balances of their schedule to ensure they aren't zigzagging up and down the stairs and to and from one side of the building to the other. The buses were horrible and bus drivers didn't do much to fix negative situations. There was racial tension on my bus to the point that the Caucasian students had to carpool to and from school because other students were physically beating, bullying, and harassing them every day. The schools did nothing to intervene, punish, or stop it. One case went to court and I had actually began carrying a tape recorder on me that was used as evidence. The studies were very SOL focused which is a shame because there is so much more to education than passing a test. The teachers did what they had to do and I place no blame with them. Overall attending Smithfield High was okay. I would have rather gone here than anywhere else in the area.. except Windsor High; I believe I would have liked it there. I haven't been back since 2012 for my brother's graduation so I am not sure how much it has changed.

Two of my children attended this school and one currently a fourth grader. We have experienced only…read moregood things with this school our kids experience and school decision makers. This is an elementary setting grades 4 through 6th graders. Alike any other school in order to have success with our kids we have to be involved. Be involved! All of our kids' teachers are approachable and available for consulting when you need them. The parents of the children attending seem engaged and involved 100%. This community is a small residential district and the kids and parents do a great job of supporting one another as well as the kids. All good here at Westside. Hats off to the school principal for a job well executed.

If you want a school that focuses on teaching your child critical thinking skills rather than just…read morepreparing for standardized tests, then Hampton Roads Classical is the right choice for you. Our family appreciates the positive atmosphere, structure, and culture at the school. We look forward to many more years with our student there!

From the owner: We are an independent, nonsectarian American classical academy in Smithfield, VA. We offer a…read moretime-honored, trivium-based education (grammar, logic, rhetoric) rooted in the liberal arts and sciences, with an emphasis on America's founding principles.

Yes, I am Yelping an elementary school. I have 3 kids in this school and I absolutely love it. The…read moreprincipal is wonderful, he is always out of his office and waking around, chatting it up with parents, but here's the deal: he actually REMEMBERS WHO YOU ARE! Imagine that! Yeah, it's important. The school is one of the newest in the area, the teachers are fantastic. I have no complaints at all, I'm sad my 3rd grader has to go to Westside this fall :( my kids are happy here.

My daughter goes here and I like it. We had a few minor issues but they were addressed and resolved…read morefor the most part. My daughter had a bully issue at one point and they moved her to another class. Drop off is easy but pick up is long and crazy. Not enough parking for sure. On the bright side though all the teachers are amazing. The principal is amazing I'd give 5 stars if it won't for the crazy pick up madness every day.

My child went here for two weeks and it was dreadful the entire time. On the very first day due to…read moretheir paperwork mishap my son was denied getting off the bus. He sat on the bus until the very end of the day. Thank goodness for the elementary school having their stuff together in order to assist making sure he was safe. When I spoke to the director about this she blamed everyone but her staff. The staff lied about multiple things on his first day to include things they had said to me as well as what they had done in refusing to let my child off the bus. We had nothing but attitude from them afterwards. My final straw was when I showed up to drop him off one morning and they informed me they were not able to except him that day despite having openings for the day. The reason I was unable to drop him off was because I was supposed to sign him up for a list that was never provided to me. I have also, multiple times, seen children roaming the hallway, with no adult, and access to one of the exits. I'm not a new mom and I understand that mistakes happen. However, the refusal to accept blame, the subsequent lies, and inordinate amount of issues since then shows me that this place does not care about the children that attend there. If I could give less than one star I would.

My son went here for almost 3.5 years, the first 2.25 years it was a pretty decent establishments,…read morea few hick ups but nothing that didn't get worked out. The last year since it has been under new management, it has gone down hill. The owner who does not come to the facility often does not seem to care about complaints from parents and nothing is ever done to fix issues that could be hazardous to the children who attend. There are only 2 staff members currently that seem to care, the rest are on their bottoms more often than not, with their faces buried in their phones. They yell at kids from across the room rather than getting up and getting involved and talking to kids on their level. One day last summer I picked my son up and managed to sign him out on their daily log, go through the building to the play ground, get my child and completely leave the building without being seen by one staff member. (the one teacher out there was on the far side of the playground behind the slide, had her phone out and was playing music or videoing one of the kids - scary in todays world) The director can't seem to talk to a parent without it coming across confrontational. I walked in one morning in January and there were 6 kids in the school age class left unattended while the only teacher in the room walked 2 other kids to their bus. This is unexceptional even for just a second. The facility does not seem to get cleaned adequately anymore, there are always smells of feet and pee as you walk through. Broken wall fixtures they won't remove and inadequate wall hooks for backpacks. Sadly the ones who suffer are the children. They are constantly changing their rates for full day care for school age kids, goes up and down like a yoyo, as if no one knows what to charge and gets ugly with you when you stroke a check for what you paid last time and it's wrong yet again. CPS was called on an incident at the facility regarding the handling of a student in the 3's room, the excuses that came from the director and owner on the incident were horrible and a letter was never sent out letting parents know that it was being taken very serious and would be handled accordingly. No teacher was put on paid or unpaid administrative leave. ( I found this out as I know the parents of the child it involved) Long story short, take your child else where for their best interest and your sanity.