Youngsville Middle School has been on a steep slippery slope for the past several years. The administration and leadership at YMS has been less than subpar.  School should be fun!  Children in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade shouldn’t dread going to school.  We as parents shouldn’t have the feeling that it’ll get better when our kid hits 9th grade.

In the 3 years I’ve been dealing with YMS under the direction of Renee Nunez, our school has had a riot in the gym, not one single field trip although she promises them at the beginning of each year, teacher-on-teacher bullying that has been witnessed by parents as well as students, a disregard of 504/IEP accommodations, last year we lost our chorus program along with an amazing chorus teacher, a wonderful PE teacher, and  2 math teachers.  When walking through the halls there is no joyful smiles on the kids faces. There is low parental involvement because let’s face it it’s not a fun environment to be in like our other local schools.

The 8th grade has had their privilege of choice seating at lunch time removed and for rightful reasons but when I asked the principal for the ways they could earn it back she couldn’t give me an answer. In other words she wasn’t involved. I went and ate lunch with my son and asked the kids around me if they knew what they had to do to gain their privilege back and not one of them knew. I’ve had my daughter come home to say that her PE teacher (who smokes) told their class if they couldn’t run a mile without stopping that they were doing something wrong with their lives.

I want my children to come home from school excited to go back the next day. I want to see the doors of YMS busting down with parents showing up to be involved because it’s just a fun, exciting place to be.  We’ve had some wonderful teachers during our time at YMS.  Many of them have bent over backwards to do what they can to make this environment what  it should be, but you can only do so much when you are limited by your administration.  The current administration under Renee Nunez is happy doing just enough to make the grade and nothing more. We need new and real leadership!!!