Roach Middle School

12499 Independence Parkway

School District

Frisco Independent
Grade

6-8
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:14
Type

public

School Map for Frisco Independent 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 November 10, 2024

Great school. Teachers know what they are doing, very inclusive, very academic. Kids are very competitive and care about their grades.
Submitted by student on May 19, 2024

As a student at Roach for 3 years, Me and my 2 brothers couldn’t have asked for a better environment to learn and grow as young adults.Throughout the 3 years I have been taught by amazing teachers. Ms.Caton, Ms.McWheter and Tran are 3 amazing and engaging teachers.Not only with 6th grade but 7th and 8th as well.For the most part the Male and Female coaching staff are great!Through athletics me and my brothers have had great role models. Roach is also very inclusive when it comes to clubs and electives. with many electives like partners P.E and Partners art. There are also great learning experiences through aid opportunities like office aid,library aid and newly introduced last year athletics aid. The principal Jenna Martin has turned roach middle schools reputation, from my six grade year to my 8th grade year all roach has done is grown into a safer environment. My six grade year I remember walking home there would be a fight every other day after school and now leaving to go to highschool, Rachel Greene has done an amazing job at making sure walking home is a safe environment.Overall I would definitely recommend roach middle school if you want your child to be beyond future ready!
Submitted by student on August 24, 2023

Roach is OKAY. It's not great, but it's a good school with many accommodations. I would recommend.
Submitted by parent on August 13, 2022

Roach Middle School has exceeded our expectations. Changes to the administration in the past few years has elevated RMS academically and improved campus relations. Teachers truly care about engaging and educating the whole child. In fact, they support students off campus, attending their programs in the evening and on weekends. We have identified some incidents off campus which hurt the reputation of the school but overall campus spirit and pride is evident. Parents are very involved through the PTA and supporting students through athletics and the arts.
Submitted by parent on August 06, 2022

My kid loved all three years 10\10 recommend
Submitted by student on November 17, 2021

as a student this school makes me worried for my life. multiple kids are actual threats and they're letting them back. today I actually didn't want to go to school because I was scared of getting shot. "you're kids are safe" no we aren't. i hope this review is heard and I hope if anything happens someone actually does something. they don't care abt mental health either and have suspended people for having bad thoughtsabt themself instead of helping
Submitted by parent on April 16, 2021

Not the everyday school that you would look forward to going to. Drama has been normalized at this school, and the teachers do not know how to keep students' business private from other students. The current principal and vice-principal (Natasha Mcdonald & Tangie Logan) on the other hand are the best principals the school has ever had; They are very very nice and will always have time to talk to you. The counselors are very helpful too, but the rest of the staff need to get it together! Seriously. Mrs. Barnes and Mrs. Matthews are the best teachers to talk to when you need any information about their grades, their grade level, and/or subject, I guess it's true history teachers are the best haha; Mrs. Russel is also a very good and helpful teacher! This school isn't the best place to send your child, but if you want to build up their social skills, then go ahead and drop them off at Roach Middle School.
Submitted by student on May 28, 2019

It’s an ok school just not the best though.
Submitted by parent on August 06, 2018

Great! I am on my 2nd child at this school. The teachers and staff are so accessible to the students if there are questions or extra help is needed. Ultimately they want to see their students succeed and they afford them the opportunities and resources to do so. The teachers at this school are great.
Submitted by parent on July 18, 2018

Terrible. This school needs to be overhauled from the top down. FISD needs to step in NOW. The cursing, the bullying, the fighting, and the overall disrespect are out of control. The kids are running this circus and the teachers need disciplinary support so they can teach. We're having to reteach at home to maintain passing grades, because the teachers can't get through the material. The good teachers are eventually going to stop returning for the abuse. Put administrators in the hallways during every single passing period, on the buses, outside after dismissal, and demand better. Encourage the teachers to send the kids the second they act up and actually punish the kids! The teachers have enough to do, your job is to maintain control of the school. And if you can't, get more adults in the building until you can. These kids will live up to the expectations you have for them, but you need standards for that. Punish a few and word will spread quickly that you are enforcing. Please FISD, send in undercover observers as substitutes and see for yourselves firsthand.
Submitted by parent on May 21, 2018

Awful. My child is miserable at this school. He is learning very little and is not challenged whatsoever. He's been bullied, physically assaulted, and chased home by juvenile thugs. The place is a complete zoo. Teachers tend to be lazy, forgetful and irritable. The school is so "diverse" that I think the admin. and teachers forget that we are in the United States. This, in turn, tends to influence the teaching style and content as to not offend certain students. Rather than learn about the Constitution and reading Great Books, my student is busy learning about Socialism and Communism, and from the teachers tone of voice, according to my student, these concepts were regarded as equal to Free Enterprise and this great Republic. "They make things more equal", I believe was the statement he heard form his "World Cultures" teacher. The other day my child told me they were wasting time learning how to write in Chinese rather than learning grammar or punctuation. Needless to say, we pulled my child out and we will be attending a classical charter school next year. A school where kids learn what made the West great and why everyone wants to live here. Take my advice, avoid public schools all together.
Submitted by parent on August 23, 2017

My daughter has learning differences that require special services. She is on the spectrum. Her IEP was never developed and was not followed. We had constant battles to get her academic help to no avail. When we went to Kumon, they said my daughter was at a 2nd grade level in math, though she had passed math through 5th grade in FISD. We moved out of Frisco ISD and into Plano ISD due to our bad experiences at Roach. Definitely do not send your kids here if they have any kind of special needs.
Submitted by parent on April 06, 2017

My son's first year at this school (7th grade) is very stressful on him. We have a great basis of comparison. His 6th grade was at another Frisco ISD school (Clark) and wasn't nearly as stressful. His 5th grade was at Shawnee Trail (Frisco ISD), and prior to that he attended schools in the Spring-Ford District in PA and in the Longmeadow area in MA, both highly rated. The problem with Roach is a shot-gun blast of due dates, causing him to miss assignments, which leads to severe penalties on his grades. Each class (eight per day) could give him one to several due dates in a given day, and the due dates might be issued in Google Classroom for one class, the school site in another class, and only on paper in yet another class. Sometimes the dates aren't posted, or aren't updated online, and he must track the dates by asking questions. Miss a date: you get a 0. Turn it in late, you suffer a massive penalty on your grade, even if the assignment was perfect. We have organized a process by which he goes through 5 checkpoints every day (Google Classrom, School site, Email, paper homework in Due Folder, and Online Grade postings) and transposes due dates, reminders, etc into Evernote to keep everything centralized and organized. And still he is missing dates. This is causing a downward trajectory in his grades and in his attitude toward him, because he feels he's in a no-win scenario. He has not encountered this problem in any other school. While he was traditionally an A-Honor Roll student, is in Gifted & Talented and Elevating Learning programs for years, he is now struggling to keep many classes above 80! And over 95% of that is caused by missing assignments from confusion, ambiguity, and an overwhelming quantity of due dates. A second warning: the school gives students 4 minutes to get from one class to another. My son was not able to make that 4 minute journey from his Orchestra to Art due to having to use the bathroom, and suffered a "late" penalty (he was in the room but still walking to his seat). He then on another occasion forgot to get a binder early in the year (kept in the room) before sitting down, and suffered a second "late" penalty for not having his binder. These were enough for the school to throw him in Correctional, where he had to write an essay about disrespecting the teacher! Seriously??? He is afraid of using the bathroom at school anymore.
Submitted by student on March 29, 2016

The athletics there at Roach middle school is great because the coaches really push you to become strong. The academics is good because they really show how to solve a problem and break it down step by step. The also show the proper way to write an essay with breaking that down step by step with both expository and narrative. The vice principals are not that great and yell at most of the students. The once got lunch detention for being too loud. These kids are not in Kindergarten anymore, they are developing into young adults. They take too long to call lunch rows and if you are called last you have only ten minutes to just stuff food down your mouth which is a horrible feeling. I hate that they have "oops passes" and you only get six of these every six weeks. I am an athlete and is at baseball or conditioning after school so I have to drink water but that usually leads to me going to the restroom a lot. The passing periods are only four minutes long so that does not give me enough time to get in and out and be back without being tardy. The counselors are not good with dealing with drama, bullying, you name it.
Submitted by parent on April 20, 2015

Do not send your kids here!! We've had the most miserable two years. There is a huge bullying problem but they do nothing about it. My child was so miserable with they way she was being treated, but when she would go to the counselor's office crying they would send her back to class. The administration plays favorites and will 'look the other way' when one of them does something wrong. My children do not feel safe here and are extremely unhappy.
Submitted by parent on October 29, 2014

I am underwhelmed with this school. The counselor and teachers make promises- but do not follow through. The school is disorganized and the office staff all seem to be rude. I am totally amazed this school is rated so high. I feel guilty for the fact I send my child here. There are a couple of great teachers- but overall- the school is lacking.
Submitted by parent on August 20, 2014

HORRIBLE REGISTRATION EXPERIENCE! A late decision was made to enroll our daughter in RMS. My tax dollars are collected and divided amongst the FISD schools it should not matter when I enroll especially if the cirmcumstances were beyond my control. Late enrollment should not be negative experience because of a grumpy registar and an elderly person sitting at the front office desk answering the phone giving out the wrong information. 8/14 we were told all appts were filled and to come in on 8/15 but we would not see a counselor. We were ok with that. 8/15 we were rudely greeted and told we need an appt and that no one would have told us to come in with out one. (So now we are being called liars). After complaining about the apppoitment situation the registar finally decided to give us paperwork to fillout and made copies of necessary paperwork. Leaving we were stopped by a counselor who said whe would see her when we came back. We returned as asked, no counselor was there and we were asked to drop off forms that we could have dropped off on 8/15. I already dislike this school because of the rudeness and inconsistencies with communication. A very disappointed tax payer and parent!
Submitted by parent on January 13, 2014

Can't wait to get out of here! My daughter was bullied so badly the police had to be called and yet nothing has been done worst of all the other students had been talk to but not the parents. So that said they talk to the students about things behind the doors with out notifying the paretns that is stimply wrong. The administrative are not friendly and are rude and never smile. When I took the morning off work to go speak with an administrator about the issue, so many of them out of the office I was told NO ONE could speak with me that day! AND the principal was sitting in her office the entire time and refused to come out. At some point they gave me the assistance principal to talk to me where I really disliked our confersation since everything that was said and was done was pushed under the mat. All the years this school has been a HUGE disappointment. You don't want to send your kids here. Frisco ISD might have other good schools but this really is NOT one of them!!
Submitted by parent on May 23, 2013

Can't wait to get out of here! I was shocked that this school is rated a 10. We came from a great school in the Klein school district and maybe that's why we were expecting more. This school is so understaffed and disorganized, it's scary. There have been times when I've picked her up for early dismissal and not even asked for an ID but then at the end of year awards they wanted about 300 parents to pile up at the front door to sign in! My daughter was bullied so badly the police had to be called. When I took the morning off work to go speak with an administrator about the issue, so many of them out of the office I was told NO ONE could speak with me that day! AND the principal was sitting in her office the entire time and refused to come out. This year has been a HUGE disappointment and we started a "days left countdown" months before school ended. You don't want to send your kids here. Frisco ISD might have other good schools but this is NOT one of them!!
Submitted by parent on November 03, 2012

We moved our daughter here in the seventh grade and we love it. The administration is approachable and communicate often with parents. This is a school that has a place for every child. The athletics program is excellent, the band program is great (a bit time consuming, but great) and the art, computer and robotics programs can't be beat. There could be more diversity, but the school reflects the neighborhoods feeding into it, so you get what you pay for. We haven't experienced any bullying, and the school has a very active anti-bullying program in place. Academically, our daughter is in all pre-ap classes, and stays challenged, yet maintains straight A's. We would love to move again to live somewhere a little less right-wing, but we will stay for the outstanding schools. Roach is worth staying for.