Binford Middle School

1701 Floyd Avenue

School District

Richmond City Public Schools
Grade

6-8
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:12
Type

public

School Map for Richmond 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 March 27, 2024

Current student here, this place is a horrid place to send your child. First of all, four of my teachers have left due to the conditions at the school. These conditions are terrible, and here's why:1: The leadership is terrible, principal, and especially the assistant principal love to boss around the students for no reason. The assistant principal will randomly stop kids from leaving the school when it's time to leave for absolutely no reason. Another time was when he yelled at everyone in the lunch room to be quiet, called on one random kid who wasn't doing anything wrong, and ordered him to sit at a different table away from his friend. This is clearly a horrible overstep of their power.2: The school building itself is genuinley falling apart, there are floor tiles that are completely broken, the roof is sometimes leaking, bugs have infested classrooms on multible occasions, there is a notorious rat infestation, and on top of that, the bathrooms almost never work. There are tons of sinks that are broken, 50% of the time the soap is not even there, and they know this because we have told the people at the office about this, yet they decide to do absolutely nothing.3: The excuse they give when we ask them if they can fix up the school is "oh, we don't have any money." They very obviously do though, however. They bought over 400+ Yondr Pouches (Pouches designed to keep our phones locked up during the school day) and we calculated that all 400+ Yondr Pouches are worth over 10K. The Yondr Pouches themselves are a bad idea, but I don't want to go offtopic in this.4: The school is very unsafe, as there are usually multible fights per week, students are jumped regularly (I've heard about a student being jumped twice in the time span of a month.) The measures they have put in place are inadequate to combat this issue. It is better than it was last year, but it's still an extreme issue. 5: Most of the teachers are great people, and a lot of them try very hard to teach us, but there are some that barely try, or even make it harder to learn in the classroom. One of the teachers litteraly just assigns us stuff that we have barely been taught about while watching instagram reels in the corner, one of them threatened to decapitate a kid a few years back, and one that we currently have calls the school security team on kids for the smallest reasons.In short, do NOT send your kid to this school. You will regret it, I have barely learned anything.
Submitted by parent on April 01, 2023

I was told this was the best school in the fan and that is a joke! This school has done nothing but leave children unsupported, literally without teachers or substitutes, allows violence every day of the week to take place and has no active principal or apparently assistant principal at all! I am so disappointed in RPS, this school, principal Rickey, and everyone administrator or teacher who has failed our children. These "substitutes " verbally abuse the children, do another grade the work they make them do, and don't even show up somedays. Principal Rickey has failed on multiple occasions to get back to parents about their concerns and has been absent all most all of the year with the "assistant principal " over seeing Binford and two other middle schools! This is irresponsible, dangerous, and not the place they claim to be. Over crowded, underfunded, no teachers ever stay here. My kid has had 12 different teachers across 5 classes the last 9months. Binford has no place to say they are the pride of the fan, they are the disgrace!
Submitted by other on March 28, 2023

This school does not properly support their students especially those with gender identity issues
Submitted by other on February 18, 2023

(Former student here, graduated in 2022)First and foremost: If your child is not likely to be placed in honors classes, do not put them in Binford or any other RPS school. Non-honors RPS classes are nightmares where more time is spent trying to keep students out of trouble than teaching them. My review is from the perspective of someone in honors classes.Binford's honors classes do a good job of teaching students what they need to know and preparing them to go to Richmond's specialty schools such as MLWGS, ARGS, RCHS, and OHS. Out of all my peers at Binford, only two I know of did not end up in specialty schools. That is a major positive of Binford.That being said, the class environments are hit-or-miss. Some classes are pleasant and lively with engaged students, others are disasters where people are out of control doing whatever they want and the teacher/sub is just making sure nobody gets in trouble.Binford, like many RPS schools, has a discipline problem. There was extreme harassment and out-of-control behavior from some people in a class last year making it impossible to learn, and when a student reported this, the perpetrators only received a single-day suspension for months of misconduct. The administration is notoriously soft on issues they should be taking very seriously, and because of this, many students have said the school has began to go downhill this year. It's a good idea to ask parents of current students about this issue so you can know what the current climate of the school is like.Binford (at least the honors section) is very liberal and pro-diversity. Homophobia, transphobia, and racism are very frowned upon by the students. There are some students who say slurs and bigoted things, but if your child is bullied for their race or being LGBT, the majority of the students will have their back. If your child is conservative/Republican, they might feel ostracized as the student body, most staff, and even Civics curriculum is very liberal and anti-conservative.Overall BMS is not the best school ever by any means. Just like other Richmond public schools, it is very flawed, underfunded, and somewhat out-of-control. However, if RPS is your only option and you want your child to get into a promising high school, Binford is a solid choice.
Submitted by other on October 17, 2022

This was an overall painful school experience. They did not help prepare me for high school and I ended up not getting into the high school I wanted if you want to get into your preferred high school don't go here.
Submitted by other on February 10, 2022

This is not a good place to be for children.
Submitted by parent on February 10, 2022

This school is overall just a garbage place to be in general
Submitted by parent on December 05, 2019

Students who get involved in activities like sports and clubs are thriving!
Submitted by parent on September 28, 2016

I have a 6th grade daughter who loves going to school. She adores her teachers. Their enthusiasm for teaching is off the charts. The principal has such positive energy and is setting the stage for the really great things that are happening in this new "Arts Integration/Springboard program middle school. We could not be more excited to be an involved family at this rising star. Go Pride!
Submitted by parent on September 10, 2016

Over the summer of 2015, Binford Middle School was restructured from Administration to curriculum. For the 2015-16 school year we had a new Principal/Assistant Principal team who have ushered in a new era for the school. Two new curricula were instigated, marrying an arts integrated program (art is brought into every core learning class to invigorate interest and participation) with College Springboard (developed by the folks who write the SAT and ACT tests, this curriculum is geared toward the college-bound student). Teachers who were not on board with this revolutionary change have been replaced by educators who are energetic and excited by the opportunities before them in the new curricula. The energy and caring in the school is amazing! Attendance at the end of the 2014-15 school year (old regime) was around 100 students after graduating the 8th grade class. Binford started the 2016-17 school year with enrollment of about 405. The 2015-16 incoming 6th grade class was near capacity. This year's incoming 6th grade class was full WITH A WAITING LIST!Our twin sons are 7th graders this year, and we are so excited that our family has the opportunity to be a part of the renaissance in learning going on at Binford Middle School! Last year's testing scores are not yet reflected on this website, but we look forward to the day that they are. I do not feel that the current state of the school is reflected in the numbers shown, nor do I feel that a school can be summarized by its test scores alone. Great progress and innovation are going on at Binford, and I hope families will look beyond old numbers and come visit us in person. The kindness and caring being demonstrated by the teachers, administrators, staff, and students is heartfelt. It's a brand new day at Binford!
Submitted by parent on June 19, 2014

This school is a good. Most of teachers and staff care about our children. They expect the best from our children. The community is involved in this school along with PTA. After school program is good with MSI and. TSA.