Merrill Middle School

5301 Grand Avenue

School District

Des Moines Independent Community
Grade

6-8
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:18
Type

public

School Map for Des Moines Independent Community 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 student on January 21, 2025

This school does not enforce bullying rules, there are students that get bullied while teachers walk by, there are some good teachers that care about how students are feeling except for when they are bullied, there are some really nice and good teachers including, Mrs. Tharp, Mrs. Vogel, Mr. Severson, Mrs. Beyer, Mrs. Hassel, Mr. C (The janitor)
Submitted by parent on July 30, 2024

The Principal is awful. It's a shame cause there are some good teachers.
Submitted by student on April 04, 2024

The teachers don't really seem to care about handling bullies and standing up for bullied kids. I can tell from firsthand experience that some classmates have been rude to me when the teacher was only just some meters away, and the teacher doesn't really seem to do anything. I'd like to give Christina Tharp some time in the spotlight, though. She was one of the few teachers that actually TRY to take action when kids are completely rude to one another. Still, it's just shameful to see how rude kids can be. It's like the teachers just care more about getting the lessons over and done with rather than trying to make positive impacts on student personalities.
Submitted by parent on April 03, 2024

I recommend this school because my son loves this school he loves the teachers here and his grades are good and his teachers help him if he is struggling
Submitted by parent on June 04, 2022

All 3 of my kids have gone to Merrill. Teachers are the best!
Submitted by parent on September 27, 2021

The leadership at this school is shameful.
Submitted by parent on June 15, 2021

Thank you for your hard work during the pandemic!
Submitted by parent on November 12, 2019

I wish I could pull my kids. We had a great experience with DMPS for elementary. Merrill is a huge let down at best.
Submitted by parent on June 24, 2019

The reputation of this school to by knowledge before having any students there was to be one of the best in city limits. I really hope that is not the case, because I have been consistently shocked at how much I dislike almost everything about it.
Submitted by parent on June 07, 2019

Horrible. Far too many calls from the school over issues they could easily have handled without my involvement. My impression(?) They didn't want to deal with a student who was well-behaved, but demonized and bullied.
Submitted by parent on May 23, 2014

This school needs help. It is so bad I have chosen to open enroll my kids out of the district