Azalea Middle School

7721 Azalea Garden Road

School District

Norfolk City Public Schools
Grade

6-8
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:12
Type

public

School Map for Norfolk City Public Schools

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 January 12, 2024

My child gets bullied and sexually harassed every day by other students. The staff members do nothing to help bullying and kids mental health. Students are bypassing the metal detectors bringing weapons and harming other students. the inside of the school is poorly managed, with moldy bathrooms, and broken equipment. Do not send your kid here.
Submitted by parent on March 06, 2023

Identity theft is a factor in my decision be attentive to fake papers on my children’s namesake or find them in the system okay bye now.
Submitted by parent on September 06, 2022

This school is HORRIBLE. They treat the kids like inmates. They are NOT ALLOWED TO GO TO THE BATHROOM ALL DAY!! The kids are expected to "hold it" ALL DAY! You're talking like 8 to 9 hours a day! (from the time they leave the house until they get home). Who can do that? Who makes these ridiculous rules!!??The kids are told they get only 2 bathroom breaks A WEEK and if they need more - too bad. My son says he can't concentrate in school because he has to go to the bathroom so bad. This is affecting his learning and physical and mental well-being. He said says he does not want to go to this school. He hates it. You cannot treat people like this!
Submitted by parent on September 27, 2019

This school is terrible and we are only a month in but looking into switching or even homeschooling my 6th grader. We are military and have been in districts in over 5 states and this is BY FAR THE WORST district ever academically and emotionally. All of my kids dread going to school every morning due to the bullying.
Submitted by parent on March 19, 2019

Horrible!! Kids are being bullied and nothing gets done about it!
Submitted by other on March 20, 2017

This school is horrible. The teachers don't teach out to the parents. Even when you try to reach out to the teachers and admin staff nobody listens at all. The only thing majority of the staff do is hang in the office or around just looking to see who had they can bother. We came from Virginia Beach school district from Red Mill district, which is a highly rated school district. This school principal isn't active with the student body parent. They have the deans handling everything. It's pathetic. Next year my child will not be attending this school. As well the fighting and gang members affiliation isn't even one thing they care about. Your kid will be fighting hard as nails to be proven there not a liar to you, because trust the teachers and principal will do anything to make it seem as if you have a troubled child when you don't.
Submitted by parent on September 20, 2016

There isn't enough room here to explain bit please join Azalea Gardens Parents on Facebook if you have a child that goes here.
Submitted by parent on May 11, 2016

I have a 6th and 8th grader. Both have had a horrible experience at this school. While we have a few good teachers, they are few and far between. Most teachers unfortunately do not care or are unprepared to handle such large class sizes. There are not enough supplies or even books to accommodate the students. And if your child gets bullied or has issues with another student, the principal especially is NO help. I will be pulling my kids from this school at the end of the year because they are not getting any kind of education here and it is affecting their mental health dealing with this environment.
Submitted by parent on April 26, 2016

My son has attended this middle school for 2 years and I would have to say that it's the worse school by far I have ever encountered. This year he is in the 8th grade and the bullying has been non stop. He's always being punched or hit with books. He was jumped during school in the hallway. Some kids were trying to steal his shoes. Nothing has ever been done. I have to no avail fought against this. The dean of students Mrs. Cotton is terrible, I can never reach her. The few times I have spoken with her made no difference. She does nothing at all. The only thing she did was chastise my child for standing up for another student that was being bullied. Don't send your child to this school if you do not want he or she to bullied.
Submitted by parent on September 27, 2014

My daughter is a new student at Azalea Gardens Middle School. I did not know what to expect after reading about Lafayette Winona closing and more students arriving. My daughter said that there are over 42 other students in her science class. Her math and social studies classes are also large; however, she has a very small reading and writing class. This is unacceptable. How does the principal expect the teacher to handle 40+ students and teach them what they need to learn. I am also concerned about the condition of the school; my daughter said that they have trashcans to catch the rain on rainy days, and the girls restroom doesn't have toilet paper, soap, or towels. On a positive note, the teacher seem wonderful and well prepared; I went to open house, and all teachers seem willing to assist whenever needed. They had beautifully decorated classroom and thought out presentations. My daughter loves all of her teachers including her science teacher who struggles with more that 40 children.
Submitted by teacher on August 23, 2014

The roof and windows leak, the bathrooms are in poor condition and not supplied well, there is mold and mildew everywhere and the technology does not work well. The teachers are caring and hard working. I personally come in early, stay late, come in on Saturday, and tutor for free. We feel powerless to maintain discipline because administration worries more about offending the parents of one student than considering the needs of all the other children in the class. The deans ignore conduct notices and referrals. The principal makes promises to students and does not follow through (trip to Busch Gardens). She once told us that she could do without the teachers, but she NEEDED her office manager. Special education students do not receive accommodations because co-teachers spend more time coming late to class, attending meetings, and testing than helping students in the class. The security guards and resource officer spend most of their time sitting around the nurses office or texting and playing games on their cell phones. I hit my emergency button and no one came. A student was sent back to my room who had just vomited in the trashcan because "no one could pick her up."
Submitted by parent on October 09, 2013

My child's school is Azalea Gardens Middle School. I appreciate my child's teachers, they are very involved with her. They are just as concerned about her as I am. Unfortunately when it comes to help with bullying, the school is not so great. I called the office an hour ago and no one has returned my call. I let the secretary know that my child has been kicked and that another student put kick me signs on her and she said well i'll just give you the deans voice mail. We are not dealing with normal children. There is also another girl that bullies my daughter, I went to her parents house this morning and her grandfather could care less. I guess i'll just have to call the news or the police. After everything we've seen on tv about bullying, and young children taking their lives because others make it unbearable. Some people just don't care, i'm not one of those Moms who just says ignore it, because I know if she does it won't stop. I was bullied too as a child and guess what all those bullies now have very dissatisfying lives. I hope this school realizes that bullying doesn't discriminate against anyone and that it is a problem that needs to corrected & addressed.
Submitted by other on December 25, 2012

This school is was and will be untill they do some thing about bullies.I started there in 6th grade. I thought it was going to be fun something new. But sorry to say that school will not do any thing to the bullies untill a kid decides to take the wheel of justice in there own hands. That school will only ever tell you to write a report. I got pants in gym and the two girls (note I myself am a girl) didn't get suspended. The teachers only told me to ignore them. How can you if they nag you 24/7. Those teachers do nothing.
Submitted by parent on February 04, 2012

My son has went to this school from 6th to 8th grade.. I must say I was worried about it when he first started.. because he is a very quiet child. But he has done great.. The Teachers are amazing and have always kept in touch with me even if it's too tell me he is doing a great job or he has been too quiet again.. he hasn't had no problems at the school. His grades are amazing and if he need to stay after the teachers are always there to help.I have nothing bad to say about school or the staff they have always been a great help to me and my son.. I think half the problem with schools these days is the parents.. You don't let the teachers do there jobs.. This school is great..
Submitted by other on August 30, 2011

I attended Azalea immediately after I left St. Pius X in the sixth grade (I had to leave because my parents couldn't afford it anymore) and in my first quarter at Azalea I was assaulted 6 times. I was bullied because I had no friends at the time, but I made it out alright and gained a reputation of not only being able to defend myself, but also for defending others like me. The behavior of the "bad" students was a direct result of their home life; I actually ran into one of my bullies from Azalea while I was in college, and he apologized to me and actually bought me lunch. While I was there (1998 - 2001), I met some of the most important people in my life, and one of them was a teacher. He did more for his students in three years than most will ever do in their entire lives, and it's sad to say but it is true - he was an exception to the rule and without more teachers like him, and without some of the staff I had when I was there, I can only imagine the school has fallen back into social disrepair. There are probably dozens of kids being bullied by kids who don't know any better. The public education system is broken, but a single teacher CAN make a difference.
Submitted by parent on May 19, 2011

This school is terrible. My son has been diagnosed with a mental disorder and started last year. He has been beaten up by bullies four separate times on the bus and after getting off the bus. Everytime this happened the faculty (dean and principals) made him feel as if it were his fault. the first time he did not fight back and was beaten badly and also reprimanded for not going "straight home" after school. The second time he was suspended for pushing the 3 students back as they were hitting him in the head. Yesterday he came home with a swollen eye and cheek and we were told this morning that it was "mutual combat" so he will more than likely be suspended again. supposedly he "mutually" decided to fight four other guys who grabbed him from behind and held him down while beating him. We have nowhere to turn to for help on stopping this from happening.
Submitted by parent on May 06, 2011

The teaching staff has been wonderful, but the upper management needs to be replaced. The lack of intervention the dean's and principal have in the inappropriate behavior and bullying is unbelievably appalling. The coaching staff uses inappropriate language towards the students and does no show support nor sportsmanship during games.
Submitted by parent on November 23, 2010

Hostile learning environment. Student discipline is a joke. Assaults by students on other students are each treated as separate events so a history of repeated threats, abuse and assaults by one student to others is not taken into account. This is due to the leadership of the principle. When talking to the principle you feel as if you are bothering her. She doesn t hide her contempt very well either. Most of the teachers are fine if not great but the school is a breeding ground for bullies. It took the school a full quarter to find a Latin teacher for the advanced students making them work that much harder to catch up during the second quarter. Then there is the fact the school is falling apart.