Our Lady of Lourdes in Bethesda

[Anonymous]

OLOL has a huge focus on inclusion of children with special needs right now. Good if you are a parent of a child with special needs, sometimes very challenging if your child does not have special needs.

[Anonymous]

St. Barts has a huge push to boost enrollment. A full time marketer working this site, and a parent base requested to do so. Yes, it is a great school. Some grades better than others. It is not a panacea for special needs kids. Quite frankly, they have more than they can handle. Some grades,are soft on bullying. This has lead to nice families jumping ship and the difficult ones staying. Hence the push for recruitment.

Shadow the grade you are looking at and keep reality based expectations.

[Anonymous]

We are an OLOL family that is very happy with the school and the welcoming environment. Our children do not have special needs. Those that do have several resource teachers available and the school works to include them in everything (science fair, school play). There is a new principal for next year. She has been with the school for many years and we anticipate she will continue the emphasis on inclusion.

[Anonymous]

OLOL is a horrible school. The kids are bullies and the big donors are favored by the principal who falls all over herself to excuse bad behavior by rich kids. The vice principal is a jerk too and unqualified. The individual teachers are hired because they know someone on staff or are related to someone on staff, many aren't qualified. The school is stuck in 1950 and has outdated materials and philosophy. If you want your kid to be bullied then send them to olol.

[Anonymous]

OLOL is a fantastic school. It has conservative and old school values which our family is happy to support. The school is not for everyone. We have experienced public schools (and one of the best in Bethesda) and the diversity, warm environment and ability to reach each child’s potential are just so much better at Lourdes.

[Anonymous]

A bunch of years ago wasn’t there a mass mutiny of families who were unhappy? People left in large numbers in protest? And now the school is fully populated again. That impressed me.

[Anonymous]

OLOL is not a “fantastic school”. It is a mediocre school and fine if you can’t afford a $30,000 a year episcopalian school (assuming you want faith based). The classes are overcrowded with more than 20 kids in the classes—some classes are 25-30 kids with only one teacher. The academics are not challenging. There are a lot of lovely traditions and the children are kind for the most part. The vice principal is bombastic and overbearing and tries to run rough shod over the rest of the administration, to the detriment of the school. Public school classes have the same class size or less, but often with two teachers or a teacher and an assistant. “conservative and old school values” can be good or bad depending on how you look at it. Today is “crazy socks” day at the school to to celebrate World Down Syndrome day. Every year I wonder why none of the parents of children with Down Syndrome don’t complain about calling it “crazy socks day”, but that is OLOL.

[Anonymous]

Our neighbors send their kids to OLOL. The 4th grade neighbor boy was looking at my 2nd grade MCPS student's math homework which was on a table, and said it was harder than his homework. That does not seem like a ringing endorsement to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OLOL is not a “fantastic school”. It is a mediocre school and fine if you can’t afford a $30,000 a year episcopalian school (assuming you want faith based). The classes are overcrowded with more than 20 kids in the classes—some classes are 25-30 kids with only one teacher. The academics are not challenging. There are a lot of lovely traditions and the children are kind for the most part. The vice principal is bombastic and overbearing and tries to run rough shod over the rest of the administration, to the detriment of the school. Public school classes have the same class size or less, but often with two teachers or a teacher and an assistant. “conservative and old school values” can be good or bad depending on how you look at it. Today is “crazy socks” day at the school to to celebrate World Down Syndrome day. Every year I wonder why none of the parents of children with Down Syndrome don’t complain about calling it “crazy socks day”, but that is OLOL.

For the record, "Crazy Sock Day" today is an international day of recognition, not just some quirky day at OLOL. I have a friend who teaches in an elementary school in Sweden and she posted pictures of everyone in her school wearing crazy socks, under a banner for World Down Syndrome Day.

[Anonymous]

Except that no one else calls it “crazy sock” day. Campaigns say “Rock your socks” or “wear colorful socks”. No one calls it “crazy sock” day. A simple internet search demonstrates this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OLOL is not a “fantastic school”. It is a mediocre school and fine if you can’t afford a $30,000 a year episcopalian school (assuming you want faith based). The classes are overcrowded with more than 20 kids in the classes—some classes are 25-30 kids with only one teacher. The academics are not challenging. There are a lot of lovely traditions and the children are kind for the most part. The vice principal is bombastic and overbearing and tries to run rough shod over the rest of the administration, to the detriment of the school. Public school classes have the same class size or less, but often with two teachers or a teacher and an assistant. “conservative and old school values” can be good or bad depending on how you look at it. Today is “crazy socks” day at the school to to celebrate World Down Syndrome day. Every year I wonder why none of the parents of children with Down Syndrome don’t complain about calling it “crazy socks day”, but that is OLOL.

Public do not have two teachers or one with an assistant and 20 kids in older grades is normal. In our public we have 22 and it can go up to I think 28 before its an issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OLOL is not a “fantastic school”. It is a mediocre school and fine if you can’t afford a $30,000 a year episcopalian school (assuming you want faith based). The classes are overcrowded with more than 20 kids in the classes—some classes are 25-30 kids with only one teacher. The academics are not challenging. There are a lot of lovely traditions and the children are kind for the most part. The vice principal is bombastic and overbearing and tries to run rough shod over the rest of the administration, to the detriment of the school. Public school classes have the same class size or less, but often with two teachers or a teacher and an assistant. “conservative and old school values” can be good or bad depending on how you look at it. Today is “crazy socks” day at the school to to celebrate World Down Syndrome day. Every year I wonder why none of the parents of children with Down Syndrome don’t complain about calling it “crazy socks day”, but that is OLOL.

Public do not have two teachers or one with an assistant and 20 kids in older grades is normal. In our public we have 22 and it can go up to I think 28 before its an issue.

It depends on which school and district. My kids were in a public charter school with 18 kids per class, 1 lead teacher, and 2 assistant teachers. They are now in DCPS with 21 kids and one teacher.

[Anonymous]

OLOL is a fantastic school. My child is really thriving and we love the community very much. Parents are warm and friendly and the children are exceptionally kind to each other. We moved from another school that had bullying issues and my child has been so happy here. The academics are ok, but if you need more challenging work, the teachers are supportive and happy to provide it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OLOL is not a “fantastic school”. It is a mediocre school and fine if you can’t afford a $30,000 a year episcopalian school (assuming you want faith based). The classes are overcrowded with more than 20 kids in the classes—some classes are 25-30 kids with only one teacher. The academics are not challenging. There are a lot of lovely traditions and the children are kind for the most part. The vice principal is bombastic and overbearing and tries to run rough shod over the rest of the administration, to the detriment of the school. Public school classes have the same class size or less, but often with two teachers or a teacher and an assistant. “conservative and old school values” can be good or bad depending on how you look at it. Today is “crazy socks” day at the school to to celebrate World Down Syndrome day. Every year I wonder why none of the parents of children with Down Syndrome don’t complain about calling it “crazy socks day”, but that is OLOL.

Public do not have two teachers or one with an assistant and 20 kids in older grades is normal. In our public we have 22 and it can go up to I think 28 before its an issue.

It depends on which school and district. My kids were in a public charter school with 18 kids per class, 1 lead teacher, and 2 assistant teachers. They are now in DCPS with 21 kids and one teacher.

Charters are a bit different. MCPS is one teacher except in classes with SN or other situations, like Title One.

[Anonymous]

This place is HORRIBLE. You don’t want to send your kid here. Unqualified teachers, nightmare principal who significantly favors donors, totally unqualified vice principal who doesn’t even have a college degree, outdated curriculum, a lot of shady things going on behind the scenes.