My daughter is in 7th grade and very happy here. I have been so impressed with IVA since my…read moredaughter started last year. The communication from the school and the inclusiveness has made it a great experience for us. Students are respected, their voices are heard and they are made to feel like their opinions matter. The virtues are there to make them feel empowered as students. The weekly advisory meeting they have once a week for all students is great because it helps them understand and know the virtues and how to apply them to their work. Sixth grade is a learning curve and IVA gets that. One thing to know about the school is that since kids are coming from all different schools and school settings it's easier to make friends. There are no clicks in place. This year they also made it phone free. No phones at school. However, they can use them after school. I have read past reviews that said the school is not diverse and not for people of color. This from our experience is not true at all. Maybe in past years this was the case but it is no longer this way. IVA is very racially and socioeconomically diverse. It is a true representation of Long Beach in that regard. If you are a parent who wants to volunteer and see what is going on at the school there are plenty of opportunities, field trip opportunities, dances every year, a chili cook off, and family breakfast/lunches hosted by the school. There is a weekly newsletter, outlining all events coming up. How you can get involved, sports info, field trips etc... They make it very difficult for you to miss something. My daughter loved the dances last year. They are more like a fun party. There is no pressure to have a date or anything like that. They make them very low pressure like come in your PJ's etc... It's just an opportunity to hang out with friends outside of school. The staff and teachers will all know your child's name. I think this matters to my daughter. We live in Belmont Heights and had an opportunity to send her to Rogers as well. It's not quite our home school but it is a lot closer to us than IVA and I wanted her to go there. She would have had friends closer and I wanted that for her. However, after my daughter toured IVA in 5th grade, she made her mind up that she wanted to experience the smaller school and smaller class setting. She loved seeing students laughing in class with the teachers and sitting at little tables. The teachers were young and they didn't look miserable. The principal, Mrs. Bryant who led our tour was very dynamic and genuine. My daughter noticed these things and pushed for us to let her try IVA out. Her experience so far has not disappointed her. She has liked or loved almost all of her teachers. This is so important and this is coming from a student who struggles in school. She has an IEP for a reading disability. School is not easy for her. This is another reason I was hesitant on IVA. I wanted to her to have more options concerning her IEP and a bigger school can provide this. So far, her accommodations at IVA are working for her. She has also made friends with a great group of girls who are from all over Long Beach. In truth this is something I was also dreading but it's ok! She is happy! The parents of her friends are the type of parents who want the best for their kids. They will drive. This is how most of the parents are at this school as well. When volunteer sign ups come out for some event, the list gets filled up fast! Most of the parents at the school care. So far my daughter has joined Track and Cross Country. She also wants to play soccer this year. They do have team sports at IVA but it is on a smaller scale than a larger school. It's great for kids that want to try sports but might be intimidated at a bigger school with a lot of talented athletes. Not to say that there aren't some talented athletes here but it's not the focus of the school. If you're wondering about academics. I have heard wonderful things from parents who have had older siblings that graduated from IVA. One parent in particular shared with me that when her son started at his private High School (Bosco) after IVA, he was placed in honors classes which surprised her because her son was a B/C student at IVA. She felt the education he received at IVA was top notch, taught him how to be a student and actually engage in what he learned. Lastly, I just want to give a shout out to Mrs. Gordon, the dean of students and Mrs. Bryant the principal. These women care about your student. The love and dedication they put into their job is truly impressive.

its not the best school in the world but not the worst. The students are sort of rude to my child…read more If you really want your kid to go there so be it they have really good state teat results though. Try it for ur self

this one staff in particular is very concerning sometimes creates a hostile atmosphereread more

Do not recommend for introverts. My niece is a very quiet kid and had a difficult experiance…read morefitting amongst the other kids. Based on her thoughts explained during our chat, she mentioned how she feels that the school is much more rewarding for sporty and extroverted kids. Which did not suit her in any way possible. Just wanted to let everyone know that this review should've been posted around the time it happened at around 2022-2024. To begin, I want to start by saying that the reviews on this page speak for themselves, but here is a bit of context based on the student perspective and the parent perspective. My niece went to this school, therefore, I will be explaining into depth of what she has stated so far and give to you and what her parents say about the situation. By the way, my niece attended RDPS from 2022-2024. This information is important to let you know the timelines of when things happened. So, let's focus on the most essential part of a school or any place in general: Cleanliness. The halls reek of dog poop. Trash scattered everywhere, teenagers smoking in the hallways. I highly assume that a big factor to this, is that the teenagers are lacking the important skill of having manners. I will take into consideration that there is many schools that have bad kids, without a doubt. But, of course, this is still a big issue for the school, as it should remain a clean environment, not just for safety but also for well-being. We don't want our kids slipping on a banana peel at 9:00 AM in the morning, slipping down from the long staircases. My niece complained about the building issues and how some days it would seriously smell of manure. Major leaks would come from the walls and that in itself should be explanatory. Another complaint that I have, is those loud boys bullying my niece during 2022-2023. My niece is asian, and she was a victim of many racist remarks. This is not only her experiance, but she has mentioned that asian substitute teachers that would come, have also faced the same racism she faced. The teenagers are shouting slurs and these boys would always poke fun at anyone who was quiet. Most kids had no discipline and zero respect. When it came to 2024, the bullying was a little less, still there but I have a major issue with the teachers. A lot of the teacher's lack actual teaching. One thing a lot of the teachers here need to understand, is that learning takes a lot more than just throwing a textbook and forcing students to learn. It's no wonder the students seem to have no interest at all when it came to the work, and then they decided to go around skipping the classes and pressing that alarm until it goes off and not only cause a disturbance to the firefighters, but also everyone in the entire school. Yes. Because that was exactly what happened during her experiance. Some random student or students, would run across the hallways whenever they want and most would just skip class and maybe play with the alarm. This could also be a sign that staff needed to do a better job at keeping their students in a better learning environment. My niece told me about how they made this no phone policy thing, which in my opinion feels completely unnecessary. I know that phones are a big thing nowadays, especially with a lot of our advanced technology. But keeping students phones in a bag then locking them up for the entire day is not going to do any of them favors. May I suggest, that the only way of getting students to learn is by actually making them interested in learning? Not to say all teachers were bad. Some teachers are quite remarkable at their job. But remember that only few of them were encouraging and fun. Most were--only remarkable for drama. I am unsure if I am allowed to name drop some of the good teachers on here, but I will say thanks to the old woman teaching in an art class. My niece said that while she was very strict at times, and that her way of teaching wasn't the kind she interested in; the teacher was very gentle and didn't seem at all as bad as she expected. This proves that you can be a good teacher even without having the same mentality; as long as you encourage your students to learn instead of pressuring it onto them. Her parents wanted her to be in an atmosphere where creativity isn't diminished, and that while there is still structure, she can still use it to benefit to her. Everyone is allowed to learn and they are able to, but it should also be encouraged not restricted. I sincerely apologize if this review may be a bit too long, but I do like to give a long extended overview of the experiance. My niece says thank you to the very few kind teachers and people she met in the school, especially the librarian during 2022 who helped her a lot. 2024. she also met some nicer students so glad for her and glad that she isn't put into a seat with loud boys again.

Love this school!! I graduated here back in 2003 and they had the best teachers ever. Shoutout to…read moreMr. Tevis Burke!

Anyone who gives a five star is crazy. I went to this middle school and I DO NOT recommend. The…read morestaff is rude I got detention for no reason once and I now worry about how I dress and look like to people because of them. One of the staff even told me I wont ever get a job or I wont be successful... Yeah differently do not go here its not worth it. And they denied everything wrong with this school. Lots of fights someone almost punched me because I slipped on mud. And there "fun fests" are not fun everything costs money. They do not care about special needs people I have anxiety and ADHD and anytime I tap on the desk they get mad like if they cant even do that then don't work or go here. There is just so much that happened to me at my time here and it wasn't even good and when I say there is so much that happened I cant even write it all down so yeah. One positive was this teacher named Mr. Borg he was so nice and helpful he was the only person I liked in that school. Don't go here please go to a better school.

Stevens Williams middle school located here in Long Beach right on the west side off of Santa Fe…read moreAve. this is a good middle school it's been here for many years Stevens middle school good school lotta good education I went to the school so I enjoyed it really good PE program good math program. Good science English. Everything serves pretty good basic located here on the west side. Check them out if you haven't seen good middle school this is a good one here in Long Beach on the west.

This middle school is amazing , the staffs are so kind , even tho there's a alot of fightsread more

When I was attending that school, the experience was fantastic. Teachers and staff members were…read morekind and courteous. Especially during freshman year when you absolutely have no clue where you are going. There's someone there to guide you. I enlisted in the NAVY'S JRROTC during my 4 yrs there, and the experience was memorable. There are so many events and PT drills. It definitely taught me a few things. Time fly when you're having fun with friends and events. Many things have changed since technology evolved. I wouldn't say you would gain the same experience but more of a fast-paced movement experience. Seems like everyone is doing something solo or collaborating with another. Overall, this school is amazing. I'll definitely recommend it to friends and families. Come check it out and ask for a tour. It's worth it.

The varsity men's soccer coach has NO discipline. He came to our school and had him and his whole…read moreteam charge their phone, curse, and make a mess in our home bleachers. Mind you, they have their own visitors bleachers. The coach has no regard, lacks common sense, and feels entitled to go where he please. Absolutely unprofessional and a shame to have a coach "lead" his time in this way.

Long Beach high schools have loss the control, there are savage fights almost every day, where kids…read moreare actually sent to hospital. The perpetrators get away with it, since they are hiding in oversize sweaters/hoodies and Masks. There is not enough manpower to control the situation. One kid got rob of his shoes and shirt and backpack. This is not acceptable. I have email the school and district and no respond whatsoever. I'm afraid the kids are being desensitized by seeing this fights almost every day, that they will see it as normal. There are no minus star, that I can use to post this comment.

These schools are dangerous areas where students get away with so much infraction and misbehavior…read more Administrators are impotent and unfriendly. While there are a handful of decent schools, a strong majority are quite lousy and ghetto. Bad element, bad people and bad students. If you have no choice , but to send your kids here under unfortunate circumstances, I would avoid the Middle schools altogether. They are simply breeding grounds for violence and decadent behavior. Milliken High School is the only decent high school and even they have their aches and pains with urban students.

My kid has been going to Bancroft for three years now. My youngest just joined…read more Not sure what the low ratings are for, but they are untrue: the school is as safe as a middle school can be. Teachers are invested and passionate. There are hardly any fights. As far as smoking and vaping... well, someone can always hide and do these things, but when discovered by the administration, there is a zero-tolerance policy. Highly recommended.

this school and entire district suck horrible teachers that talk down to students don't teach and…read moreare just incompetent i was called a disappointment by the vice principal and called lazy while I was struggling with mental health

I am currently in 8th grade, but I recently transferred and I'm no longer a student at Marshall…read more Firstly, the environment is mostly okay. Though, the bathrooms are rarely ever cleaned and have spider webs everywhere. A lot of the toilets and sinks don't work. The thing that bothers me the most about the bathrooms, is that they are always locked. I get that they want to prevent students from skipping, but they already have school monitors who go in each bathroom stall during class time. There is a bathroom in every building yet students can't even use them. There is also never soap. Now, the cafeteria. It is so small and cramped, especially for the 7th and 8th graders who have lunch at the same school. I never brought lunches, so I always went to the cafe to get food. The lines were always so long. By the time I got my food, my friends would be outside and I would run out of time. At one point, I just stopped eating in general. When I didn't eat, it would be impossible to find a seat both outside and inside. Why even build such a small school for so many students. Another thing that ruined the experiment, was the teachers. Yes, I did create some genuine bonds with my teachers, one of them being Mr. Murillo. I am glad that I had him as my 7th grade history teacher. Sadly, most of my teachers weren't like that. I will not specify which teachers, but some of them treat the students unfair and are very rough on them. One day I was in art class and there was this boy who would make fun of me for my weight, and my body hair. The teacher never took it seriously even though the boy was known for disrupting the class every chance he got. Yeah I admit, sometimes the teacher would send him out of class or email his parents, but nothing was ever fixed. Now, all I did was throw a sponge toward him, a sponge. Nothing hard, and I didn't even aim at his face. The boy even threw the sponge at my face before that. She yelled at me and humiliated me in front of the whole class, knowing how shy I am. She sent both of us to the math class next door. I was trying so hard not to cry, everyone in the class was staring at me, including my friends and my bullies. The teacher in there wasn't nice either, she yelled at me for not facing the right way. I never talked back to either of those teachers or anything. My art teacher even emailed my mom, luckily, my mom defended me. Once I got home, I couldn't stop crying. My heart was broken, I treated my teacher with respect and she does that in return. It was one mistake. Speaking of bullies, this part completely ruined me. During 6th and 7th grade, I was already having a rough time which caused my grades and my confidence to drop. After the pandemic, I became very shy and had a hard time communicating with people. When I would try and make friends, I would end up making people hate me. I tried to fix it but nothing worked. A lot of the 8th and 7th graders didn't like me. It had been happening since 6th grade, and I couldn't take it. In November of 2023, I tried to end my life. Fortunately, I survived. Things went fine until maybe around February. Until this girl and her friends would make fun of my friends and I every time they saw us. I will admit that I said stuff back, but I was frustrated. One of the girls made a lie about me destroying her back pack and her mom and my mom ended up having an argument. The next week, the same girl assaulted me. everyone laughed and cheered her on. That's when I decided that I didn't want to spend another year at Marshall. It made me mad knowing that the staff did basically nothing. All they did was have me talk to some of them and then the moved my seat in one of my classes. I was upset. I told them beforehand everything that she had said to me. She called me slurs, and would make fun of me in front of everyone during PE class. Adults always want us to "ignore it" until something happens. They don't care. I sobbed so much. Why would they let that happen. They never cared, at all. They didn't even care about how I felt. People recorded me, and they didn't do anything about it. I felt like I lost. I still had to go to school the week after and I was so nauseated. I couldn't even enjoy the field trip we went on toward the end of school. People kept trying to say things to me, but I just couldn't say a word back. It had a big impact on me, I would constantly try and starve myself and I would hurt myself. I really wanted to like the school but it genuinely ruined me. I am the only one out of my two brothers to not be promoted from Marshall. It's not only me who had to deal with it. My oldest brother did too. Please, do not go here. :(

I love this school soooooooooooooo much I transferred from another school and my transfer has been…read moresmooth