Mattawan High School

56720 Murray Street

School District

Mattawan Consolidated School
Grade

7-12
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:19
Type

public

School Map for Mattawan Consolidated School

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 September 26, 2024

They are horrible to the students. The food is also horrible.
Submitted by other on December 29, 2023

The most racist school in the area. Especially in high school sports. Do not send your kids here if they are black, the school does nothing to help you.
Submitted by parent on December 10, 2023

If your child is not “white” DO NOT go to this school.
Submitted by parent on September 18, 2023

A parent wanting to be involved is excluded and told "let us do our job with your child" -- behaviors are excused as "everyone is doing it" -- teachers have zero concept of what special needs ACTUALLY means -- teachers dont care about students' real issues and are overheard complaining about their "job" in local grocery stores by parents.........YES I SAID IT
Submitted by parent on February 02, 2023

This is a very very racist school!!! The kids have absolutely no home training nor do the parents teachers or staff seem to care about the racism here. I graduated from this school in 2004 and to this day it even MORE racist then when I was there. Pulling my kids out to find any where else to go. NO ONE DOES ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!! If you have any type of color other then Caucasian do not! Do not! Send your kids here.
Submitted by other on August 23, 2021

The education my Daughter received from Mattawan school system was outstanding. The English prep was the best around and may have been her success to Writing essays and able to achieve a 32 ACT score that lead to her receiving a a scholarship to Hillsdale College. The Staff is very good lead by Tim Eastman.
Submitted by other on August 20, 2021

This school and the community cares very little for the safety of its students and staff by politicizing health and safety measures. Case in point, the board recently caved to far-right anti-vaxx/anti-maskers and refused to implement a mask mandate during a pandemic! Shameful all around.
Submitted by student on January 14, 2020

Awful. I was bullied and no staff would listen to me. I came to the Principal, deans, and other staff members to tell them that the environment I was in was terrible, and they did nothing. They have no training on how to help kids struggling with mental illnesses and no matter what comes out of the school to the public, Mattawan always seems to know how to hide from public view because their image is way more important than actually protecting their students. I have legit trauma cause of this school, I do not recommend if you are "Different" than the norm, you will get eaten alive.
Submitted by other on October 12, 2019

this school is terrible. they only care about themselves an test grades. if your child has special needs, ADD, ADHD, or any other sort of learning disability, RUN
Submitted by parent on May 28, 2019

Terrible. If your child has an IEP or disability do not go to this school.
Submitted by parent on November 13, 2017

Terrible. I have a student currently attending who struggles with Autism, and his been suspended nearly every day the past few weeks because of behavioral issues. However every time they call us to pick him up, it reinforces his bad behavior, as he would rather be at home. Also, there suspensions and our suspension counts do not add up, which means they are fudging numbers to avoid additional measures being instituted. They do not follow IEPs. They do not follow parental input or suggestions, the special needs staff is clueless and are unwillingly to provide evidence of bad behavior, saying it's confidential. It's obvious they do not care about special needs students are the lives of the parents that struggle with this every single day.
Submitted by parent on August 25, 2017

Do NOT send your children here if they have ANY special needs. Don't take my word for it, ask any therapist, education advocate or parent of a special needs child at this district. We have yet to find ANY professional that works with special needs children in the Kalamazoo area say ANYTHING good about this district, we heard time after time, "don't go to Mattawan." Unfortunately we did not listen. This district does NOT care about children with disabilities, they will NOT follow 504's or IEPS, they do NOT care about the outcome of your child, and they do NOT care about anything except pushing you out. They will lie, hide information from you and they will continue this pattern until you leave. The more parents you talk to, the more concerning stories of discrimination you will hear. They ONLY care about academics, they do not care about your child as a whole person. Any district that treats children that struggle the most in life this way shows their true character. Children that cannot help they are born this way, they cannot help the disabilities they live with, children that under state law deserve an equal education that is tailored to their needs. Mattawan doesn't believe in this, they don't want your "different" child. In fact, they will suggest other districts for you to go to because they don't want you. If you ask around, you'll find out this reputation has followed this district for YEARS and is not on the fast track to change it. Even with changes in leadership and the current leader today, this type of discrimination still continues. BEWARE and educate yourself on this before placing your child here, especially in the early and later Elementary schools. Mattawan is blinded by it's own pride.
Submitted by other on April 16, 2016

I graduated several years ago from Mattawan and went there K-12. This school is very English driven. I would say that no other school prepares you for standardized tests and college quite like Mattawan. The high school teachers have practice ACT essays about once a month, and I scored in the top 1% on my ACT essay because of it. The high school also has a writing center, a rarity in high schools. I was a consultant there. When I worked there, we helped a Special Education class prepare for the ACT for months, so I am unsure about where these posts about there being little assistance for children with disabilities. Help is available for the students who seek it. Mattawan students make up for many of the problems that do exist at the school. Many are too prideful to actually seek out the writing center, PALs, teacher assistance, or counseling services. The school is underfunded for the quality they wish to achieve. Most of the money goes towards hiring excellent staff. Our sports centers are trashed, our buildings are falling apart at the seams, we have few resources, but the staff still tries to promote excellence. The biggest issue that I had when I was there was how spoiled rotten some of my peers were. This caused them to be lazy, blame teachers for the bad grade that resulted from said laziness, and bully others, and the parents were of no help whatsoever, placing no responsibility on their child. We aren't called Hollister High for nothing. That's a simple fix of parenting. This school prepared me for college. In my opinion, that is what matters. I look around in my college classes and wonder how someone could struggle so much with public speaking or not know how to punctuate properly. That is why I plan on sending my children to Mattawan when I return to my community and start a family.
Submitted by other on October 26, 2014

Strengths: Educational quality, college preparation, extra-curricular programs, transportation, *most* teachers Weaknesses: District administration, over-used/outdated facilities Summary: A rural-suburban school district that for 25-30 years has endured significant growing pains.
Submitted by other on October 07, 2014

I Attended this school and just graduated . I went there since kindergarten, and absolutely hated it . I tried to change schools but my parents wouldn't allow it . It really made me mad . This school was the worst school . My Kids will not be attending this school because of the lack of help , various bullying and poor teacher help . I do not recommend this school at all !
Submitted by parent on October 27, 2013

My son attended Mattawan middle school (all of 6th and half of 7th). At the time I didn't know that he has Aspergers. I tried working with the faculty and administration, but got no where with them. I once set up a meeting with the principal, counselor, and three of his teachers to discuss how I could help him at home and work with them to get him to do his homework. One teacher showed up and informed me that no one else would be showing up. The counselor had to take his wife shopping and the principal was too busy. I took off work to attend this meeting. My son was picked on and harassed by other students on a daily basis, but he was the one who was punished by the principal. In the end I removed him as the principal threatened to put him through the juvenile system because he was doing only 17% of his work (that is what she told me). He is very smart and could easily have completed it. What I didn't know was that he has texture issues and can't stand the texture of many types of paper. After removing him from Mattawan, I had him tested and discovered that he has Aspergers. Too bad Mattawan didn't bother to help me figure that out.
Submitted by parent on January 20, 2013

I wrote a review in February 2008 - at the time I had a 7th and 10th grader. I now have a senior at Mattawan HS and a junior in college. My opinion has changed a little bit about Mattawan Schools. We are about to lose our high school principal and another Elementary principal so I see change on the horizon. Strengths: College preparedness, extra curriculars, overall experience. Weaknesses: COUNSELING. Difficult for both students and parents to communicate, and a very rigid approach. A source of frustration. Would we put our kids through this system again? Yes. Is any school system perfect? No. Both of our kids were accepted to their first choice for college, so we are looking to the future. We're hoping that the new leadership will keep the standards high.
Submitted by parent on October 29, 2012

My son has been in Mattawan Schools since 1st grade and he is now a freshman in high school and we have never had a bad teacher or counselor. Every person we been in contact with has been wonderful, plus Mattawan is best school in the area to prepare your child for college.
Submitted by parent on September 25, 2012

For the past 4 years we have tried to worth with the teachers and administration when small issues have arisen and have gotten nowhere. Some of the teachers are wonderful, but some are not fit to be called teachers and have no place in the classroom. The counseling office does not have the best interest of the students in mind, they seem to be 'us against them' when it comes to any kind of issue or need. I personally have talked with over 20 parents that have complained about one particular English teacher and yet the administration tells every parent that they have never received a complaint from anyone else. Lies and cover ups seem to the be status quo. We would not recommend this school to other families.
Submitted by parent on May 10, 2012

I have 5 children who have attended or are attending Mattawan schools. We are hopefully moving soon and I cannot wait to get out of this district. There are some teachers worth their paycheck but many more are simply not able to teach at all. So disappointed by our whole experience here. If you have a child with any sort of learning disability then DO NOT SEND HIM/HER here, that includes any child with ADD or ADHD. The middle school teachers completely broke my son and told him he was worthless. After adjusting his medication, he is now a straight A student. The administration cares more about spewing test scores than individualized student learning styles. If you move to this district be prepared to send your child with a lot of money. They'll need it for everything the school charges for. From athletic fees, choir fees, band fees, club fees, paper, pens, tissues, cleaning supplies, snacks and drinks for the whole class to share, etc, etc, etc, Hopefully we will be gone soon.