Alston Ridge Middle

7833 Fussell Avenue

School District

Wake County
Grade

6-8
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:16
Type

public

School Map for Wake County School District

GreatSchools Rating

The school rating calculation is based on four ratings: the Student Progress Rating or Academic Progress Rating, College Readiness Rating, Equity Rating, and Test Score Rating each designed to show different facets of school success. Learn more about GreatSchools Ratings

Reviews

Submitted by parent on December 13, 2024

We've had a very good experience with Alston Ridge Middle. We've found the administration and our child's teachers to be top-notch and very focused on providing the best possible learning environment. It's a big school and no school is perfect, but overall we're proud to be Warriors and happy to be part of the ARMS family.
Submitted by parent on October 21, 2024

My students have done well at this school. Teachers and administration have been easy to connect with on the text-based app "talking points". The nights and activities provided for families like open house and book fair and football games could be communicated a little earlier, but are all fun to go to and give us a chance to meet teachers and see the school. My students feel that if anything, the teachers are too strict and they can't goof around at all. There have been a lot of elective choices, but inconsistent grading. The school is still fairly new and gradually getting better procedures in place over time. There are always going to be issues with some students, but my students have been able to stay out of it.
Submitted by parent on July 18, 2024

We had such high hopes when our child started there, but those hopes were quickly lost. Our child started the school year a bit late due to transferring and we were promised that the teachers would help him catch up. That never happened. Despite being a straight A student at his previous school, he was struggling academically and emotionally. His emotional struggles were quite severe to the point he was having suicidal ideation. I sent countless emails, most of which went unanswered by the majority of the teachers and staff who were on them. I finally ended up literally begging for help and was met with a very mediocre response. When he told me he was being repeatedly hit by another student and it had been going on for weeks, I reported it to the school. WCPSS policy states that any report of bullying must be investigated by the administration, and a written report must be provided to the complainant within 15 days of the report being made. Nobody from the administration attempted to talk to him until I sent an angry email to the school just shy of their deadline asking why and threatening to involve an attorney and go to the superintendent. Only then did the assistant principal pull our son aside to interview him about the situation. I then received an email "report" from the assistant principal where it was clear the investigation was done in haste. He proceeded to gaslight us and then stated that, based on his investigation, it was not a situation of bullying even though our son was being routinely hit in the head by the other student. If one looks at the definition of bullying in 115CH407.5 of the North Carolina state law on bullying, what was happening to our son absolutely fits that definition. It also fits the definition of bullying as defined on the US government's website on bullying. Our son felt completely unprotected and devalued by the administration, and he no longer trusted them to keep him safe. While a student there, he saw other instances of fights and bullying that the administration brushed aside, so I guess we shouldn't have been surprised. Additionally, the electives he took were a huge disappointment. For art, there was hardly any direct instruction by the teacher. They just watched how-to videos and replicated them. He specifically signed up for drama to act, but the class format was changed to chorus without any prior notification and the one song they mastered was a joke. Thank goodness we are done with ARMS.
Submitted by student on June 13, 2024

As a current 7th grader, I was bullied and harassed at this school, which made me feel very unsafe. My assistant principals somewhat helped and temporarily punished harassers etc, but this school is chaotic in my opinion, and is pro-LGBT, so it's a lot to get used to. The counselors didn't provide any actual support, and the teachers didn't really take any of these events seriously.
Submitted by student on April 19, 2024

The PE teacher is very mean and makes us sit in class and not play in the gym because of 3 students misbehavior and they should get detention and everyone else should get to play. The track teacher who has chromebooks doesn't lend loners out but keeps a full cart of chromebooks. Some students forget to charge chromebooks at night and the teacher for the track with chromebooks doesn't give a loner.
Submitted by student on March 16, 2024

I joined this year for 7th grade and I was excluded for two whole months, with nobody to talk to there. I was bullied and harassed there too and felt so unsafe. At least my current principal helped and temporarily punished harassers etc. But this school is chaotic in my opinion and is pro-LGBT, so it's a lot to get used to.
Submitted by student on February 25, 2024

In my opinion, I would recommend this school because the teachers are all super nice and the SpedEd teachers are all very supportive and kind and the counselors are also there to help the students with anything that comes up with friends, family, etc. So this school has a lot of opportunities for your students to grow and gain more knowledge for the years to come.
Submitted by parent on October 15, 2023

My son goes to that school, we have visited the principal many times regarding safety issues at the school. My son complains of fights not only at school ( shows videos that kids pass around) but on the bus.
Submitted by parent on June 28, 2023

The assistant principal of 2027 is not competent; she hided bad things under the carpet. The clean bathrooms were locked for teachers only. The principal doesn’t take care of anything but pushes responsibilities onto others. The teacher who received an award doesn’t even grade homework. If you’re here to be bullied, welcome to Alston.
Submitted by other on June 28, 2023

Do not be fooled by the brand-new building here. There are plenty of bullies here. Worst school in the area!
Submitted by student on June 25, 2023

I am going into 7th grade and my experience has been pretty good so far. There are a lot of fights and threats and the school isn’t that safe, but the teachers do try and my 6th grade teachers were pretty good overall. There are some perks like lots of clubs and sport opportunities. I haven’t encountered any bullying, maybe a little teasing but nothing severe. They offer lots of electives and there are lots of opportunities to learn about the school in 6th grade so you don’t have to make a choice young. I have had a pretty good experience overall.
Submitted by student on June 25, 2023

Overall a great school! Great teachers and staff!
Submitted by other on June 05, 2023

I love this school. It was the best experience ever.
Submitted by student on April 09, 2023

i went here from 6th-8th grade, but i moved in the start of 8th. i literally had to beg my mom to let me get out of school faster. the students never want to learn and are always goofing off so we cant do anything and we dont learn much. the teachers are alright but a lot end up crying because of the students, some are very mean and others just dont help us engage at all and are pretty prejudiced. saftey.... there is SOOOO much bullying and the teachers always tell us to say something and ive gotten bullied in every grade because of my race, because i am skinny, because i did well on tests (that apparently makes me a worthless nerd), and a lot more, i got left out in projects in virtual school etc and the teachers, counselors and principal did nothing. even a teacher was rude to me at some point when i asked a question about standard testing because i quite literally did not know much about it. there where 2 times where the fire alarm went off and it wasnt a drill. family engagement... there was a bit of family engagement during/covid but it went down after covid. not many activities from when i was there. they enforce really weird rules like you'll get in detention if you wear a hood. i get the saftey precuations but ITS SO COLD. and they literally have apparel with hoods. there was also a time i almost got dresscoded because of my jacket. my jacket was a cropped jacket but it literally completely covered my stomach, shoulders etc and there was nothing "showy" it was just not all the way to my thighs. they are more focused on how we dress rather than actual bullying and teaching. the teachers and principals enforced the rules that didnt matter and didnt even think about the ones that did. at lunch, if someone at a table is talking then the whole table gets to go last for lunch. its not even the whole tables fault that ONE guy decided to be loud!! thats not fair at all. it may seem minor BUT THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE IN THIS SCHOOL. lunch is like, idk 30 minutes? we'd have to wait 20 to finally get in line and the line would be sooo long. by the time we actually got our food lunch would be over. its not fair we had to miss lunch/not get to enjoy it and rush because one person was talking. sometimes there is hair in the lunch and the teachers laugh and dont care. i dreaded going every single day because of the students and teachers, the weird rules etc. good things:-librarian is nice-the school looks nice and new-they let us go outside sometimes
Submitted by parent on May 15, 2022

We have had problems with this school from the first semester my child was there.The amount of bullying, disrespect and aggressive behavior that goes on is unacceptable.The school principals and staff tries but they are not able to control these kids. My child has received threats, and have been cyber bullied, she got punched by a boy and all they did was call him and tell him to stay away from her.I have no idea what else needs to happen for someone to take action,I mean , we had to do a police report about that first incident, for God's sake! That's how bad it was.The worse experience I've ever had with public school , period.Would not recommend at all.
Submitted by student on April 08, 2022

It wasn't terrible, the library is not bad, and has ok books. But it is not God-based and is pro-LGBT, so be careful.