By Noah Fisher, 8th grader at Bailey Middle School
If you’re a parent thinking about Bailey Middle School Cornelius NC, here’s what an actual day looks like from a kid who goes there. I’m in 8th grade. I’ll explain how the schedule works, what classes you take, the phone rules, the bathroom setup, lunch, and a few things you’d never think to ask about that actually matter.
A typical morning at Bailey Middle School Cornelius NC:
When you walk in, you can get free breakfast in the cafeteria or head straight to homeroom. Homeroom is mostly catch-up time — you’re on your own working on iReady, the school’s online learning program. After homeroom, your day depends on what grade you’re in.
The schedule by grade:
In 8th grade, the order is: homeroom → electives → two classes → lunch and PA → two more classes → dismiss.
In 7th grade: homeroom → one class → lunch and PA pretty early → two more classes → electives → one more class → dismiss.
In 6th grade: homeroom → two classes → lunch and PA → one class → one more class → electives → dismiss.
Class length and passing time:
Each class is about an hour. Lunch is 20 minutes. PA (which is basically recess but they don’t call it that) is also 20 minutes. You get five minutes between classes to get where you need to go. There aren’t really gaps in the day, and the hallways get pretty packed.
Core classes and electives:
In 8th grade, your core classes are reading (ELA), math, social studies, and science. You have these all year with the same teachers.
Then you have electives — you take two electives per semester, so four total over the year. One of your electives every year has to be some kind of PE — either regular PE or biking (biking counts as PE).
Your other elective choices are band, orchestra, dance, art, drama, journalism, and CTE classes like computer science and business.
A note on which electives are which:
Most electives are one semester long, but band and orchestra are year-long. So if you take band, you take it both semesters. That means if you do band, your other elective slots fill up fast — you’d have band all year, plus PE one semester, plus one other elective the other semester.
There are also two different journalism classes. One is video and camera work. The other is writing for the Bailey school newspaper. Most kids prefer the video one, but you get a 50/50 chance of which one you end up in.
The most popular electives at Bailey are dance (because it’s easy and the teacher is chill) and the video version of journalism (because you get to work with cameras).
An example of how the schedule actually plays out:
Here’s what mine looked like:
• First semester: business and journalism (plus my core classes)
• Second semester: biking and dance (plus my core classes)
So I got my PE requirement done in the second semester through biking, and I had four different electives across the year.
Where classrooms actually are:
Most kids have all their classes in the main building, but about half of 8th grade has some classes in the mods — modular classrooms outside the main building. Some electives are out there too. So if you’re in 8th grade, you’ll probably be walking outside between some of your classes, which is fine most days but matters when it’s really rainy or cold.
You get your class schedule on the first day, and each class is labeled with a letter and number (like A12 or C4) so you know which hall and which room. It takes a couple of days to figure out, but you’ll get it.
Lunch:
There are two lunch periods. Whether you go to lunch first or PA first depends on what class you have right after — if you have ELA or science next, you go to PA first, then lunch. If you have math or social studies next, you go to lunch first, then PA.
You eat in the cafeteria. The food is honestly pretty good most of the time — some days are better than others, but most stuff is edible. You can also bring lunch from home. They sell snacks, ice cream, and drinks too.
The one real complaint about lunch is the time. You get 20 minutes, and if you’re waiting in the school lunch line, you might end up with five minutes to actually eat. More time for lunch is the one schedule change I’d vote for.
Bathrooms:
You have to use an app called Smart Pass. You log which class you’re in and which bathroom you’re going to. You get five minutes. If you go over, you’re supposed to show your teacher when you get back, but nobody really does that. Whether or not your teacher actually lets you go depends on the teacher and what’s happening in class — if they’re in the middle of teaching something important, they’ll usually make you wait.
Lockers:
There are lockers, but most kids don’t get to use them — there aren’t enough to go around, and a lot of them get used for teacher storage. So everyone carries everything in a backpack all day. Backpacks get really heavy. Your kid will need a good backpack that actually holds up.
Phones:
The official rule is that your phone has to be powered off and in your bag. Most kids put it on Do Not Disturb instead so it doesn’t go off, and if a phone does go off in class, the teacher usually just says “hey, turn it off, put it in your bag.”
If you get caught actually using your phone, what happens depends on the teacher and the time of day. If it’s during an important lesson, or if you’re cheating on a test, your phone gets taken away and your parent has to come pick it up. If it’s the end of the day and you have a chill teacher, they’ll usually just tell you to put it up. Teachers are technically supposed to take it, but they often don’t.
Most kids don’t really follow the no-phone rule. They just hide it. If you don’t get caught, nothing happens.
Chromebooks:
You get a school Chromebook and you take it home. You’re responsible for charging it. If you don’t charge it, you get a “signature” (more on that below).
A bunch of game websites are blocked, but there are ways to get around it — sites like “unblocked games” that kids find. If a teacher catches you playing a game, they can block that specific site for you so you can’t get back on it.
Stuff parents would freak out about that’s actually fine:
Zeros in the gradebook. Teachers sometimes enter a zero just to flag that something hasn’t been turned in. It doesn’t mean your kid is failing. It’s basically a placeholder so the kid (and you) know there’s missing work. Don’t lose your mind when you see one — check what it’s for first, then tell your kid to do it.
Signatures. When your kid gets in trouble for something small, they get a “signature.” But they get signatures for everything — being a minute late, talking to a friend, not charging their Chromebook, forgetting homework. Signatures aren’t a big deal. They’re more like a tracking system than actual punishment.
Whether your kid will fit in. Bailey is a really big school. That sounds intimidating, but the size is actually why almost every kid finds their people. There are tons of friend groups and lots of different kinds of kids. From what I’ve seen, no matter what kind of kid you are, there’s going to be someone who wants to hang out with you.
Bullying. This is the one parents worry about most, and from what I’ve seen, it’s not really a thing at Bailey. Some kids get made fun of sometimes, but they still have friends. Nobody’s actually a bully — and if someone is acting like one, they end up getting made fun of themselves, because being a bully is not cool. People just don’t like you if you act that way. So while every parent should pay attention to their kid’s social life, I wouldn’t go in expecting a big problem.
Stuff parents wouldn’t think to worry about that’s actually annoying:
The front office takes forever for early pickup. If you need to pick your kid up early, give yourself extra time. It usually takes the office at least 10 minutes to actually pull the kid out of class. So if you’re in a hurry, get there earlier than you think you need to.
No snacks during the day. In 8th grade, lunch is pretty late in the day. In 7th grade, it’s pretty early. Either way, kids get hungry and you can’t eat in class — most teachers don’t allow snacks. Some teachers are chill about it, but most aren’t. So if your kid eats early lunch, expect them to be starving by the end of the day.
So that’s how Bailey Middle School actually works. Hopefully if you’re thinking about sending your kid here — or if your kid is about to start— this gave you an idea of what a real day looks like instead of just the numbers you see on a school rating site.