Abbott Middle School

600 36th Avenue

School District

San Mateo-Foster City
Grade

6-8
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:19
Type

public

School Map for San Mateo-Foster City 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 December 19, 2024

Abbott Middle School has improved dramatically! My daughter transferred to Abbott after an unpleasant private middle school experience. The teachers and counselors are highly trained and supportive to handle middle school development. I am blown away by the level or commitment and energy they all bring to the school to create inclusion and community in a large and diverse public school! Keep it up Abbott.
Submitted by teacher on August 05, 2024

I taught at this school from '21 to '23 and, quite frankly, have almost nothing positive to say about it. From the constant revolving door of useless & spineless administrators to the soft-on-discipline district policies in the name of "equity" and "supporting marginalized populations," working at Abbott was a daily nightmare. Kids knew there were 0 consequences for misbehavior, so they took a mile and then some: bathroom fires, fire alarm pulls, screaming & swearing at staff, entering admin & staff rooms without permission, theft, vandalism, assault, etc. These young scholars didn't leave a single square foot of campus untouched: One classroom required janitorial assistance to clean up blood on desks from a fight, while student bathrooms were closed indefinitely due to intentional clogging of toilets. (A sewage overflow was the final straw.) If teachers raised concerns about the dysfunctional climate, we were gaslit, chastised, and told to remember that "they're just children." If we were lucky enough to get a student to go to the office for classroom disruption, they would be sent back 10 minutes later with a piece of candy and a big smirk. (The VP tasked with student "discipline" apparently failed upward and is now an elementary principal.) For any parents reading, I implore you to send your kids to a school outside San Mateo-Foster City School District. This is a district more interested in making sure "pride" flags are flown at every school site in June rather than ensuring a safe environment for students to learn and teachers to teach. Enrolling your son or daughter at Abbott Middle School is, in my opinion, akin to child abuse.
Submitted by other on September 21, 2023

Former student here, not a good school but made really good friends there, they helped me through the year and the teachers are good if you get the right ones (Mr. Coelho, Mrs. Tuturro in particular)
Submitted by student on August 25, 2023

there r too many fights and arson
Submitted by parent on May 03, 2023

In my experiance there was alot of crazy things that happend including, all the kids favorite teacher getting fired, fights, and people pulling fire alarms. I had a great time at this school besides all of that but i think that it would be pretty bad if i didnot have any friends with me through the year.
Submitted by student on March 28, 2023

The school is great. Great teachers. I've improved my learning by so much!
Submitted by parent on February 24, 2023

the is the best school you should send your kids here
Submitted by parent on February 24, 2023

The best school recommended for your kid is so much fun jk.
Submitted by parent on December 13, 2022

Bewt school ever the bewt ever abbot middle school is the best
Submitted by student on December 12, 2022

There is absolutely no bullying here. Phenomenal. SO much diversity and acceptance.
Submitted by other on January 26, 2022

I'm a recent grad from AMS. While at AMS, I got used to the chaos but when going to hs and meeting people from other ms's, I realized how bad Abbott actually was. If you don't want to read an explanation, here's the gist. Don't send your kids here if you have a choice unless they're tough as nails or have a tight friend group that can isolate from the schoolAnd here's why. Academics: Abbott is very undeveloped in this category, a single advanced class (accel math) is held and when i was there, only 20 kids out of the entire class qualified compared to other ms's (borel/bayside/bowditch) that had many classes of this. The music program is one of the worst (was doomed once Debra Torke, orchestra, left), teachers who barely know how to play the instruments and zero competitive program. If you want to learn an instrument, do private lessons or another school. There's a handful of good teachers although many left. Some notable teachers your student would be extremely lucky to have: Ms. Scott (8th history), Ms. Jing Filipinas (math), Ms. Bardsley (ela and ela support), Mr. Callan (6th ela), Mr. Javellana (aka Mr.Doni) (PE), Mr. Kaukautsakis (special ed). Athletics: The records say it all, athletics at this school are pretty bad. Coaches are usually parent volunteers and when I was there, they were athlete parents who just wanted to put their kid on the field more. There is no support for athletes at this school, similar to music, if you want to learn and improve and actually have a chance at being something in hs w/o private training, go to borel or bowditch or really anywhere else. Campus: They fixed up the new gym real nice but that $ might've reaped greater reward going into new jerseys or hiring real coaches. The campus is one of the nicest things about Abbott, plenty of space and hard to get lost in.Social: I'm going to say this loud and clear, if your kid lacks strong morals or character, they WILL get influenced and/or swept up into groups that do things no parent wants their kids to do. Bullying is something thats going to happen to everyone eventually and is hardly punished because no kid wants to snitch and risk getting jumped for it. Fights happen all the time. Drugs, sex, and gangs are in the environment but can be ignored if you're in the right group. About 1/2 of the kids are low-income and/or broken homes. The few great things I learned from AMS were empathy, understanding, and growing thick skin; life skills that benefit me greatly.
Submitted by parent on May 04, 2021

Our daughter was bullied out of this school. She is white and gangs of latina girls physically pushed her and stole her personal belongings day after day. The administration was hopeless and ineffective. There were a handful of good teachers, but they were unable to manage the highly disruptive classes. My daughter usually couldn't hear over the students. We moved our daughter to a different school district and middle school which was 180 degrees better socially and academically. We are only sorry our daughter suffered through one year at Abbott.
Submitted by student on May 27, 2019

I would give a bad experience for this school. The kids ruin everything and it is hard to find supportive and nice friends.
Submitted by parent on April 20, 2019

We’ve had experience at 3 middle scored and overall, Abbott rates quite well in most key areas and most teachers are very good. The school is appealing and currently undergoing significant physical improvements. Where it has been weak is in handling of problems as they arise, especially those that involve teachers. I suppose this may be a reason for leadership changes.
Submitted by parent on November 09, 2017

My child attended Abbott from 2012 - 2015. Her grades were just ok and she only connected with two of her teachers. She was not a problem child, just felt invisible. When she thinks back to her middle school years, she does not have positive thoughts, only a couple highlights (being in a play and We Day). You want your kids to feel like they are thriving and she did not feel this way through most of her years there. Also, the gym is small which makes seating limited for events and sports. I'm giving my rating 1 extra star for their AVID/Leadership courses because she seemed to grow the most here with organization skills and focus.
Submitted by parent on September 09, 2014

I have had two children attend Abbott. They are now grown. One in college and the other graduated. I now can look back on the years at Abbott and see the good and bad more clearly. The drama program was exceptional. My son was excited to participate in every play. The program "Special Ed" that was there to assist struggling students was not helpful at all. My son needed help with math at the time. Instead of providing him with tutoring for math, the teacher would give him reading assignments with questions to answer. I felt she did not interact with the students at all. I repeatedly asked her to help him with his math as his english and other classes were fine. Not once, did she offer him any help in math! I felt this was lazy teaching. It could be a great program if we could find away to get rid of the bad teachers.
Submitted by other on February 24, 2014

This school isn't very good. Many of the kids at this school socialize way too much, and they often don't seem to have courtesy of others. I thought this school had a "no gum allowed" policy, but I guess I'm wrong because this school is covered in leftover gum. Truly a fiasco.
Submitted by other on January 19, 2014

Most of the teachers truly care about the students. The principal is a veteran and takes care of business.