John Muir Middle School is a very good school for children. I have been going to that school and it's so good. Students are in fights there and there but they figure it out. They also have great teachers that teach well. In summary John Muir Middle School is a GREAT school. read more

JOHN MUIR MIDDLE SCHOOL is located in a working class neighborhood in San Leandro, CA. In the past 50 years, little has changed here, in terms of the nature of the houses in this neighborhood (it has not yet been invaded by condos) and not much has changed in terms of the businesses (there are still no Starbucks, Jamba Juice, or Apple electronics stores nearby). John Muir has provided me with many fond memories and a couple of lasting friends. The best times included the opportunity to perform on stage in a theater play, the opportunity to play in a rock'n'roll band at a school dances, and metal shop. We performed NIGHT MUST FALL by Emlyn Williams. I played inspector Belsize. A remembered moment for me was being on stage in the gym, and trying to light my pipe (lighting it with the second match), and intentionally pausing in my line for emphasis. The prompter girl at the side of the stage thought that I'd forgotten my lines, and she was loudly whispering the line to me. It was interesting that there was even a make-up girl, and they put make-up on me to make my skin lighter. The play was made into a film, which starred Rosalind Russell. The drama teacher was a young man, and he taught us to "stay in character" and we had to learn a play about a character who chose to wear a mask, during the time of colonial America, and the town wound up killing him because they could not tolerate his anonymity. Nona Valla taught English. She adored Rosalind Russell. Once she exclaimed that she wanted to change her last name to "Valhalla." Once we went to see Nona Valla perform at Alameda Little Theater in Menotti's play, The Medium. The leaders of my rock'n'roll band were Drew Johnese and his brother Randall. At that time, I rode a bicycle with a banana seat for delivering newspapers on my paper route. The synthetic plastic in the textured seat had worn a hole in my pants, revealing my white underpants, and I was not aware of it until one of our band's performances. And so, while performing in the cafeteria at John Muir, I tried to hide the fact that my pants had a rip in the rear. As part of our show, we played ANGEL BABY, and as it turned out, the most beautiful and glamorous girl (tall blonde) in John Muir sang the song. Right after the song, a very ethnic-looking Portuguese boy (in terms of hair style and dress) came up to her, wanting to shake hands with her, but she refused. As part of another performance, we performed a long version of GLORIA, and Bruce Kane was the singer. Bruce Kane was a very good singer, perhaps on par with Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere and the Raiders. In the song GLORIA, when we got to the part where the lyrics go, "When she comes to my house, She knocks upon my door, And then she comes in my room and makes me feel alright." I knew that Bruce was going to add more lyrics derived from his real-life experiences with girls, and so I played a guitar riff that drowned him out (because I was worried about what Bruce was going to say about his own adventures). I enjoyed metal shop taught Mr. Lawson. I loved making a copper tea pot and making a sharp metal chisel. Mr. Lawson had the nickname "Pockets" perhaps because of his denim apron, but I was told it was because he kept a hand in a pocket and diddled with himself. Also, I painted campaign posters for 2 students running for public office. One was Kent Bailey and he won. I spelled his name wrong and what I printed was "Ken Bailey." The other was Elizabeth Allen. One of my friends was Mickey Myers (not same boy as Mitch Meyer). Mickey was in the school band and he played electric guitar. On the rear of his guitar he used black tape to spell the word, "Crusher" (or something like that) and once during a performance with the school band, he flipped the guitar over and proudly displayed the word. One of the gym teachers was Mr. Spear, a sharp-looking young man who drove a sports car. In swimming class, I had a cramp on my foot and Mr. Spear gave it a massage to make it better. On the disconcerting side, once all of the boys were lined up to shoot a few baskets, one boy at a time. I was the very worst and missed all 10 shots. While I was trying to toss the ball, Mr. Spear expressed interest in the fact that my dad was a doctor. In retrospect, I wish he had taken me aside after school, and trained me how to shoot baskets. Another gym teacher was Mr.English. He gave us a lecture that we should not squeeze our pimples. He came up with the example of a boy who popped his pimples before he had a date with "Roberta." Once in the summer, I saw Mr.English busy with a summer job, which was delivering newspapers (I felt a little sorry for him for having such a crappy summer job). He had ruddy skin and lacked charisma. I scored high in math class, and our math teacher sent me to St. Mary's College in Moraga for a math contest. But I let her down and didn't win. Okay, that's about it for John Muir. Great times. read more

John Muir Middle School - Rock'n'roll band that performed at John Muir Middle School. Here is the band rehearsing in a garage in Marina Faire in San Leandro, CA. - Middle Schools & High Schools Near Me - San Leandro, California

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I would give this school a zero if possible. I guess the one star option is given in reverence to dedicated professionals. I love Principal Walton for trying his very best to serve the community and students in his modern and resourceful manner. I like Mr. Farrell. He is a straightforward man who actually cares about his students' success. Moving along, I decided to volunteer myself for my nephew's last field trip with his special ed classmates. I guess as I blended into the crowd of assistants, the treatment of the kids from two of the paraeducators truly upset me. One refused to return to my nephew his gummy hot dog given to him by his grandmother for a snack because she said it was unhealthy after I gave it to her from the floor not knowing it belonged to my own child. The second one named Rebecca yelled at him for catching a piece of candy that was meant for her...? I looked at her with my sunglasses and strongly told my nephew (who suffers from severe ADHD and anxiety) that these people are pretty mean to him.. I came back and told his mom and she let me know she has suspected this the whole time.. I've been a teacher for about 5 years and a mother to three of my own for the last 14. These "paraeducators", if seeking my objective opinion, require a more mature and gentle manner for dealing with the handicap... I was disgusted with the immature and aggressive manner in which these two ladies spoke to my nephew and this review is the preview to what will be occurring from this experience. read more

I'd give it a -5 if I could, all of the things in this school are horrible. The principal does not know how to treat kids correctly, as I am currently going here myself, my experience near him makes me uncomfortable, he yells at tardy students and I for being late to class by a few seconds. The lunch here taste of cardboard and sweat. I, myself am not Special Ed, but the kids in that class are treated terribly and that's what I've seen in class 2 years ago, the teacher snatching things out if their hands. The security is worse than before, they yell at you for the smallest things when they can ask instead, they barely pay attention to other kids doing worse, as an example there was a kid bothering me ,during lunch while I was sitting with my friends, he kept poking at our sexual orientations and when we asked him to leave he didn't, one security guard was there not paying attention when we kept telling him to leave. Overall, my recommendation is to never bring your kids here, ever. Unless you want to deal with teachers that don't know what they're doing, I'd suggest going to another school. read more