Twin Peaks Middle School

14640 Tierra Bonita Road

Poway, CA 92064

School District

Poway Unified
Grade

6-8
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:24
Type

public

School Map for Poway Unified 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 October 22, 2024

Our oldest son went to school at Pomerado and Meadowbrook. I mention this because our experience at those schools were VERY different than our experience at Tierra Bonita and Twin Peaks with our two younger sons. The other reviews/comments regarding racism and bullying barely scratches the surface of what Tierra Bonita and Twin Peaks schools are like for minority and mixed-race kids. Our mixed-race sons are repeatedly called the N word (with the hard r) at both schools and to date, nothing has been done about it, except for meaningless "apologies" from the teachers/principals. The offending students are never suspended. Our boys have been physically hit, pushed, had objects thrown at them, etc., and nothing of substance is ever done to punish the offending students, even though some of these incidents occurred in the presence of teachers/staff!! How can you witness these things, have the nerve to call/email parents about it to "apologize", then do NOTHING about it?? We hear similar stories from other parents of minority kids. So we're removing our kids. I'm sure there will be lots of paperwork and nonsense to get our kids transferred to schools that are not our "assigned" schools, but Tierra Bonita and Twin Peaks are NOT safe schools for minority (especially Black) and mixed-race kids!!I have no complaints about the schools' academics, sports, or anything else...however, the rampant racism and bullying overshadows anything good about these schools.
Submitted by parent on December 08, 2023

Twin Peaks has an environment where quite a few students feel comfortable openly saying the n word (hard r). This issue is ignored.
Submitted by parent on May 26, 2023

Teachers are amazing. Loosing confidence in administration.
Submitted by parent on October 20, 2022

I've had 4 kids go through Twin Peaks Middle School and the atmosphere has changed over the years with three different principals. I'd say my review is a mixed bag. There are some really amazing teachers currently there and some really amazing teachers that have since retired. The math teachers are exceptional in every way and always have been. The PE, science, history, and choir teachers have been wonderful too. My biggest concerns are with some of the language art, art, and ASB teachers and counselors. They are kind to the kids, but I wish I they weren't so pushy with their political, social, and woke agendas/world views. I've lost a lot of trust in them because their obvious world views conflict with some of our family's values. Needless to say, I took every opportunity to teach my kids correct/true principles to counter some of their radical influences. When I approached Principal Mills about this, he listened to me, but I don't think he did anything since the overt woke agendas from Language Arts teachers and the counselors continued and increased. I thought this was really disappointing. I recommend opting your kids out of all surveys, avoid ASB and the Leadership class, and just know that part of No Place For Hate week is code for LGBTQ/gender ideology indoctrination. Also, be sure to read the weekly updates all the way through because you'll see red flags along the way about progressive initiatives. Even though I opted my kids out of the human reproductive unit and taught that material at home instead, I was surprised to see some things slipped in by the school in other ways. This is simply not okay and not what middle school should be about. May we never go through a pandemic again either. TPMS administration, front desk, and Language Arts teachers handled the situation terribly with kids not wanting to wear masks after 2 years. Hopefully lessons were learned. Finally, I don't know why TPMS doesn't provide a crossing guard at the crazy Tierra Bonita/Twin Peaks intersection. It is such a liability and I worry about the unsupervised kids and all the cars. I pray for the kids' safety. Obviously, some things could be improved and hopefully the TPMS administration takes notice. Parents, please stay very involved with your kids' education. They need you!
Submitted by parent on April 20, 2022

The school atmosphere has improved a lot, and there are many excellent programs.
Submitted by parent on December 04, 2021

I have two children who have gone through middle school in Poway Unified, but only one went to Twin Peaks. This has allowed me to compare two local middle schools to each other. We have had a MUCH better experience at Twin Peaks. Both middle schools (BHMS) have really great teachers, however, the administration is so caring about the students at TPMS. My student really struggled during the pandemic and the vice principal, school counselor, and teachers went above and beyond to meet with us, reach out, and get resources we needed to bridge the gap created by the pandemic. We are so happy to be at Twin Peaks!
Submitted by parent on September 29, 2021

My husband and I did a great deal of research into schools back when I was pregnant with our first child years ago. The one thing we discovered is that no middle school in the entire county (at that time at least) received consistently stellar reviews. I chalk this up to middle school being an awkward, very difficult time of life for some students, but a fun, exciting time for other students. It's very mixed bag, and teachers I know personally (not at this school) have attested to the difficulty of teaching hormone-drenched adolescents transitioning toward semi-adulthood. Parents and their kids need to have realistic expectations of middle school. Many of the kids are no longer the sweet, compliant innocents they were in elementary school.That being said, I think the new principal, Steve Mills, is doing a good job during a very challenging time (i.e. the pandemic). We have one child there, and her experience has been good overall. She preferred her elementary school to Twin Peaks, but the work was easier, she hadn't yet experienced the isolation and loss of fun brought on by COVID, and she was amongst younger kids. I don't blame anyone at Twin Peaks for the small group of rude and foul-mouthed boys my daughter encounters at times. The boys are careful not to misbehave in front of adults, and I honestly think you're going to have some students like that at any middle school other than at small parochial schools (maybe). Adolescence isn't a walk in the park for kids, their parents, or their teachers.The teachers at this school are quite good and seem to be very committed to the kids. They are very responsive to emails from parents, and seem to have done the best they can to make 2020 and 2021 as normal as possible in spite of all the changes brought on by COVID-19. Middle school standards seem far more demanding than elementary school standards; the level of difficulty in the material, and the expectations on the students' performance seem much higher. It's a big jump up from elementary school overall. Twin Peaks has done a good job meeting all of those challenges overall.
Submitted by parent on February 17, 2021

Overall, a very positive experience. My son was at a private school before starting middle school at Twin Peaks. He was able to quickly meet new friends and hd no problem transitioning to a much larger school. The quality of teachers has exceeded my expectations. Many would go above and beyond to challenge the kids.
Submitted by parent on June 18, 2020

Life altering, terrible. I was ready to go to jail by a truancy officer than send my child back. We prevailed and never returned!
Submitted by parent on February 10, 2020

We moved here recently and were quickly impressed by the rigorous and creative education at this school. We moved here from northern California where there teachers only assigned textbook work and homework on worksheets. My child always has such an enthusiastic attitude when she gets home about all the neat things they've done in class that day. She has learned far more here than at her previous school. I've also been very impressed by the high level of technology use on this campus. Our daughter has learned how to use multiple different applications in such a short time and she can talk about what she knows in multiple different ways. It's fantastic! Love this school and our new community.
Submitted by parent on January 22, 2020

Lots of room for improvements, so perhaps something should be done about it.
Submitted by parent on December 20, 2019

My children overall like heir teachers and the material they are learning, but there are some major flaws that the current Principal and Vice Principals need to address. Mostly the lack of disrespect from the students. Obviously parents first and foremost need to teach their children how to behave themselves, and obviously that is a huge issue not being handled at home. The school needs to spend more time contacting parents ANYTIME their student is sent to the office. The campus is falling apart, the kids don’t clean up after themselves, and so the environment is lackluster.
Submitted by parent on May 27, 2019

I would say this is a great school. The teachers really put themselves in the students shoes and are very generous.
Submitted by parent on June 13, 2018

We moved here mid-year and intentionally picked Poway because we heard the schools were glad. We feel totally deceived. They could have cared less about our child and made no effort what so ever to help him settle into his new school. I found the teachers to be uncaring and unhelpful and I don't know why they have a special education program, because it doesn't appear they do anything but process paperwork. I wouldn't recommend this school at all.
Submitted by student on May 13, 2018

This school was average. I would not recommend going here if you need extra help or more push with learning. I am not well educated in the topic of needing assistance with learning, but from being a student I know that the GATE program barely exists, and I would recommend going to Meadowbrook Academy (not the school proper) for more learning opportunities. The english program was a flop, and was a mix of many different subjects (learning about history, doing a project on science and technology, etc). The science program was great, but many of the teachers barely made the classes interesting, or even tried to in the least. These are the years we as students are learning what we like and what we don’t, and thinking of future careers. If a class is not fun and engaging, the student may not be interested in what may have been their favorite topic with another teacher. For example my sixth grade science class taught me absolutely nothing, and I was bored to death. However seventh grade science was fun and engaging, and one of the things I learned in that class is what I would like to pursue. The band program is underfunded, as the school doesn’t understand the cost and need of equipment, repairs, reeds, sheet music, and many many other things. I loved my band teacher, though class was a bit stressful at times. If I hadn’t had him as a teacher, I probably would have quit. The math program was good for me, but I was in the Advanced Math, and don’t know how the normal classes are. My eighth grade math teacher was by far the best, though his class is the only class I got a B in (out of all three years). My two teachers before I learned nothing from, and had lots of difficulty remembering anything I did in seventh and sixth grade when I started eight grade. Many other children were at my disadvantage as well, and had to be retainer many concepts. I had amazing History teachers all three years, and couldn’t have asked for a change. Please remember this is a personal opinion and not fact, and I am a student still so if I have any grammatical or spelling errors, take it easy on me!
Submitted by parent on March 07, 2018

Our A student child was harassed and bullied. They have a serious problem and it is evident that the kids that go there live in a pressure cooker. There are some really nasty kids at this school. Avoid if possible.
Submitted by parent on February 26, 2018

I've had 4 kids attend. It's a great prep for high school
Submitted by student on February 19, 2018

From my time as a student here, I quickly realized that we had some of the very best teachers. The academics here are rigorous, which means.a lot of work for me, but it was well worth it when I got to Poway High and I was more than prepared unlike some of the kids from meadowbrook . Twin Peaks is the best!!
Submitted by other on October 04, 2017

I went to this school from 1997-1998, and judging from comments on here, nothing has improved. I had some wonderful teachers, but my overall experience was unfavorable.
Submitted by parent on December 01, 2016

If you have a child with any kind of academic or behavioral special need, look elsewhere. We are a Navy family recently stationed in San Diego, and we chose to live in Poway for the great schools. Unfortunately this isn't one of them. The special ed staff, I believe, did their best by my kids, both of whom have autism and related disorders. But the teachers, who interact with the students daily, were appalling. My son's 6th grade science teacher told me directly, in a meeting with other staff members, that he didn't make any of his classmates be my son's lab partner because "who would want to? He has no friends, and if someone chose to be his friends, their other friends who drop him." The band teacher punished my son for sitting down to calm himself in a frustrating situation. The punishment was "lunch period detention" in which my son was required to come to the band teacher's room instead of getting lunch that day, and sit and do absolutely nothing for the period instead. The band teacher refused to allow my son to get his lunch, and thus my son had no food from 7AM-3:30PM. My daughter's 7th grade Language Arts teacher chose not to communicate with my daughter, the counselor or special ed staff, or myself about her declining grades, even after I initiated communication via email and requested her to. She also chose not to update my daughter's grades in the school's web site program that allows parents/students to see their grades on assignments. Parents are repeatedly encouraged to use the program, but she did not comply with this. Instead, at the end of the first quarter, she finally updated the program with a month's worth of my daughter's grades AFTER she submitted her final grade for the quarter. So my daughter had no opportunity to improve her grades because they'd already been submitted. This teacher later claimed by email that she wasn't receiving the emails I'd sent , and that she had updated the system. My kids were repeatedly sent to the principal/counselor and told to "get with the program." In short, teachers here have a fundamental misunderstanding of the difference between disability and disobedience. In addition, my son's doctor said that we are the 4th family she knows who chose to remove their child from this school for similar reasons. Even a secretary from the office said she wouldn't send her child there.We left at the end of October.