PGCPS- The good the bad and the ugly - Rate your school

[Anonymous]

Tis the season of making school choice decisions in PGCPS. What are your experiences with PGCPS schools? I'll start.

Gladys Noon Spellman Elementary - a mostly positive experience (Pre-K to Fifth). This year hasn't been great, but it could be the grade/staff.
Good- Caring teachers and administrators, no major discipline issues. Principal does respond to emails and has an open door policy.
Bad - Not a lot of afterschool activities or field trips. Communication is OK, but not great, especially from certain teachers. Since COVID, they don't offer parents a lot of opportunities to volunteer in the classroom. PTA is a lot less active than they were previously
Ugly - No TAG pull out this year which is a bummer.

[Anonymous]

Dora Kennedy French Immersion (we're only in the second year so still new) - mostly positive experience, engaged PTA, responsive administration, collaborative teachers

Bad - the building is awful and has a ton of problems

[Anonymous]

Kenmoor Middle School (TAG Program)
Good - Engaged teachers and admin, high quality instruction, lots of after school activities and field trips. Communication is good.
Bad = Class sizes can be really big. One year my kid's class was 32. This year is lower though.
Ugly - The bus situation this year was terrible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kenmoor Middle School (TAG Program)
Good - Engaged teachers and admin, high quality instruction, lots of after school activities and field trips. Communication is good.
Bad = Class sizes can be really big. One year my kid's class was 32. This year is lower though.
Ugly - The bus situation this year was terrible.

Another good is that they are going to have a new building this coming school year!

[Anonymous]

Hello, could you elaborate on the bus situation? Is it in a parent's best interest to drive and pick up their child rather than allow them to take the school bus?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hello, could you elaborate on the bus situation? Is it in a parent's best interest to drive and pick up their child rather than allow them to take the school bus?

You can not rely on the bus. It might be fine or you might need to drive your kid back and forth. For us, for the first 4 months of the school year the bus showed up so late that we ended up driving them/picking up from school. The afternoon bus was somewhat more reliable but they still only get home 40 min after dismissal and we only live 10 min from the school.
My other kid is at a different specialty program and we never even tried the bus because they would get to school late even if the bus showed up on time.

We have a big group at our bus stop and one or two parent stick around in the morning to make sure the bus shows and if not the stuff the kids in the minivan and drive them.