Recent, first-hand experience at Loiederman?

[Anonymous]

DC child offered a spot for 6th this fall. Some posts on this board share that their child is having a great experience, but I've seen others reporting that many teachers have left and students have returned to their home school.

TIA for any recent impressions!

[Anonymous]

My oldest is in eighth grade and has had a great experience. They were an out of bounds kid who came in knowing just two kids and have made some really good friends. On the whole the teachers have been really good, minus this year’s math teacher. There are some behavior issues in the student body but honestly doesn’t sound worse than what friends report at other schools.

[Anonymous]

How is the admin? Our DC would need 504 accommodations for ADHD…

[Anonymous]

Also interested in Loiderman experiences. My DC is very artistically minded and the arts focus seems appealing on its face.....

[Anonymous]

It’s exactly as you described. All schools in middle have their issues but the teacher turnover is a huge red flag and kids returning to their home schools. Some of the arts teachers are not good and kids are better off at their home schools depending on the home school. The bonus is an extra elective class. You are better off taking outside classes vs the commute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s exactly as you described. All schools in middle have their issues but the teacher turnover is a huge red flag and kids returning to their home schools. Some of the arts teachers are not good and kids are better off at their home schools depending on the home school. The bonus is an extra elective class. You are better off taking outside classes vs the commute.

Is this first-hand knowledge, PP? The arts teachers that aren't good - are those the visual arts teachers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s exactly as you described. All schools in middle have their issues but the teacher turnover is a huge red flag and kids returning to their home schools. Some of the arts teachers are not good and kids are better off at their home schools depending on the home school. The bonus is an extra elective class. You are better off taking outside classes vs the commute.

Is this first-hand knowledge, PP? The arts teachers that aren't good - are those the visual arts teachers?

I don’t know about the visual arts but yes, personal experience. Some of the academic teachers were very good but we were very disappointed with others. However that can be at every school. See how good the art teacher is at your home first. I wish I listened to the warnings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s exactly as you described. All schools in middle have their issues but the teacher turnover is a huge red flag and kids returning to their home schools. Some of the arts teachers are not good and kids are better off at their home schools depending on the home school. The bonus is an extra elective class. You are better off taking outside classes vs the commute.

Is this first-hand knowledge, PP? The arts teachers that aren't good - are those the visual arts teachers?

I don’t know about the visual arts but yes, personal experience. Some of the academic teachers were very good but we were very disappointed with others. However that can be at every school. See how good the art teacher is at your home first. I wish I listened to the warnings.

WOW! Thank you.

[Anonymous]

We returned to our home school. Daughter now in HS, so pre-Covid experience for us.

The school has such potential, and that's the disappointing part.

[Anonymous]

Another LMS parent- the school has so much potential but not enough support from MCPS or the community. The PTSA tries but there’s far more work needed than they can do. There has also been a lot of teacher turnover- they lost a number of great teachers last year who moved to other MCPS schools. My DC has had several teachers already say they are not coming back next year. Discipline is severely lacking but I don’t have good comparison to other schools.

If your child is interested in going to LMS for theater, they reject over 100 kids every play. They do the same number of plays as every other MCPS school but far more kids try out than they can manage. So basically it’s just 8th graders and a few 7th graders in the plays.

If your child is interested in going to LMS for music, ask your home MS if they do other MoCo programs like East County Strings. LMS did this last year but I haven’t heard if that will be offered this year. Other MS programs have year round after school music programs that seem more competitive than LMS.

I also thought it would open more options for HS but so many of the DCC HS are over capacity that they will not take you if you are not already zoned for that specific HS. If you’re trying to get into Blair for example- it’s not going to happen unless it’s already your home HS.

In hindsight, even with the extra class, I wish we had stuck with our home MS. But we’re in it for now……

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the feedback—indeed disappointing. Sounds like it was a stronger program in years past.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another LMS parent- the school has so much potential but not enough support from MCPS or the community. The PTSA tries but there’s far more work needed than they can do. There has also been a lot of teacher turnover- they lost a number of great teachers last year who moved to other MCPS schools. My DC has had several teachers already say they are not coming back next year. [b]Discipline is severely lacking but I don’t have good comparison to other schools.[i]

If your child is interested in going to LMS for theater, they reject over 100 kids every play. They do the same number of plays as every other MCPS school but far more kids try out than they can manage. So basically it’s just 8th graders and a few 7th graders in the plays.

If your child is interested in going to LMS for music, ask your home MS if they do other MoCo programs like East County Strings. LMS did this last year but I haven’t heard if that will be offered this year. Other MS programs have year round after school music programs that seem more competitive than LMS.

I also thought it would open more options for HS but so many of the DCC HS are over capacity that they will not take you if you are not already zoned for that specific HS. If you’re trying to get into Blair for example- it’s not going to happen unless it’s already your home HS.

In hindsight, even with the extra class, I wish we had stuck with our home MS. But we’re in it for now……

FWIW, we have a kid at another Silver Spring MS and discipline is also severely lacking. Talking to other parents around MCPS and it seems to be the case for most MSs (if that makes you feel any better).

[Anonymous]

Discipline is a bigger issue at all MS and HS this year. Still having a significant amount of post-pandemic feral teens who think school is their playground to hang out with friends and not go to class. It’s not just LMS.

[Anonymous]

This is second hand experience but a good friend of mine has her son there and he is loving it. Not a theater kid but he likes the music and art and has good teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Discipline is a bigger issue at all MS and HS this year. Still having a significant amount of post-pandemic feral teens who think school is their playground to hang out with friends and not go to class. It’s not just LMS.

This has nothing to do with Covid. And, some of it is parenting.