Stuart M. Beville Middle School, Dale City | Fees, Rankings, Address, Admission, Vacancies, Reviews & More

TL;DR Nice, supportive teachers if you’re studious and respectful. Poor student body behavior. Frequent fights. Ineffective security. No geometry available.

I went to this school for 8th grade in the 2010-2011 school year. Coming from schooling in Fairfax county, my impression of this school (and county, as that plays a large role in a school’s quality as well) was not good. I immediately, after finishing 8th grade here, moved back to Fairfax County.

Having been an honor student while there, my opinion on teachers will be based almost solely on honors teachers (i.e. only the core classes). I give this school any number of stars at all for these teachers. Although the teachers were by no means top quality, the teachers I had were nice to and supportive of students who tried their best to study and get good grades. This was not the case for most students, however.

Walking down the hall, I was clearly able to distinguish which groups of students were trouble-makers. I vaguely remember there being a fight somewhere in the hall or cafeteria every month. Even within my honors classes, there were at least 2 instances of fights breaking out in that single year I was there. The first instance was a male student in my English HN class stapling another girl’s earlobe during a debate in class. The second one involved pushing and shoving during Civics HN.

As for the security, there were a few officers stationed around the school (I don’t actually remember clearly if this was true so take that with a grain of salt), and cameras at every hallway intersection. Standard, as I see it, but ineffective — this is, in my opinion, due largely to the nature of the student body. The front desk checked people coming in after school started and I experienced this everyday (for academic reasons). The front desk was often manned by 2 people, a students or staff members or both, who checked your identity before proceeding any further through the main entrance.

As for the classes themselves, these were mostly up to the county so I won’t base my rating on this but I will mention a few things. Some classrooms had standard desks while some other classrooms had circular, foldable tables. I’m not sure if the difference in tabletops was intended or not but I disliked sitting at a circular table as I needed to share leg room or turn around to see the front if I didn’t get a good seat. Additionally, I needed to take geometry in 8th grade since I had already completed every math up to then. The school, however, didn’t offer Geometry at any level. The middle school enrolled me in the nearby high school and I was required to wake up earlier to go take 1st period Pre-AP Geometry at Hylton High School. There were only 3 students in the county (AFAIK) that were doing something similar to this (speaks a lot about the overall proficiency of students in math in Prince William County), and we had to take a bus specifically for us to go to our respective schools after the class. We would arrive late to our middle school’s first period class excused every day (although substitutes were not usually informed of this and I had great difficulty convincing them). This came at a great inconvenience for me as I had a roughly hour longer school day than my peers although it was cool being a super-freshman. Again, these last two points were mostly due to the county so my rating is not based on them.

P.S. I was not a subject of bullying even though I was known school-wide as studious person – a nerd, I guess? Not sure if this was because I was friends with a lot high schoolers due to being dual-enrolled for Geometry or simply because of me so this might not be relevant for other students.

I went here a while back and I can say that teachers and academics were on point. The counselors were all very helpful and friendly to my sister and I. I gave it a 1 star rating because there is just too much bullying from the students that attend here. So much that I don’t think the staff can keep up with it. When I attended there were also a few security guards posted around. I got the feeling that the groups were close knit here. After two weeks I started skipping lunch to avoid being bumped from lunch table to lunch table by the groupies. Eventually the teachers caught on and a school counselor placed me at a table. Another reason for the low rating is the fighting. In between classes there is usually a fight and if you need to go to the bathroom you’d be better off holding it and asking a teacher since that is usually where the fight’s would be. Lastly, many of the students have a I-could-care-less attitude and hardly try at all. Especially in gym where they would stand around and mock the teacher (not kidding). This was back in 2006 so hopefully it has changed but I’m not too optimistic about it. If you can, don’t send your kids here. They’ll either be harassed or be influenced to harass or end up with the wrong kids and unfortunately the wrong crowds outweigh the good ones. I may move back into the area and refuse to look at any home that is within range of this school, I would rather work 3 jobs to pay for private school for my children if that is what it meant.