Please tell me about Sligo Middle School

[Anonymous]

Everyone raves about Oakland Terrace and Flora Singer on this forum. I would love to hear about Sligo Middle School? (Come to think of it, Woodlin, another favorite ES, also feeds into Sligo I believe.) I seem to remember reading that the strong PTAs from the elementaries were going to bring their might to the middle schools and improve things? Any word on whether this is happening/has happened? TIA!

[Anonymous]

I don't have direct experience with the school yet, but I can fill in some information. Once the boundary changes are fully phased in, OTES will feed to Newport Mill MS and Flora Singer will feed to Sligo. I think this is still a couple years away. (The old feeder pattern had only a small portion of OTES students going to Sligo.) Having two strong feeder schools (Woodlin and Flora Singer) should help Sligo to improve. There is also an ongoing school improvement process at Sligo now involving middle school and feeder elementary school parents, so there seems to be some momentum for improvement.

[Anonymous]

I believe there is a meeting about school improvement at Sligo coming up. You could call the school for the date.

[Anonymous]

It is scheduled for May 8th at 7:00 at Sligo.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the date.

[Anonymous]

This is an interesting thread. We have not heard good things about Sligo Middle as well but looked at the schools feeding in and have hopes that things may be changing for the better. Up until now I am wondering if alot of parents go private / catholic school after elementary...

[Anonymous]

Was anyone able to attend the meeting? I was not able to go. And is it true that the principal just resigned? When I googled for the mtg I saw that in a headline but when I clicked on the link it said article had been removed (it was in the Patch). Any updates??

[Anonymous]

Here is the article, I just found it.

http://www.gazette.net/article/20130508/NEWS/130508883/1022/sligo-middle-school-principal-resigns-amid-changes-at-school&template=gazette

I too wonder. Do families move to other areas for middle school or go to private or parochial schools? I did meet some families in the area who said a lot of kids in the neighborhood go to Sligo.

[Anonymous]

The meeting was a total waste of time. I am a parent at a feeder school with a younger kid so we are a few years away from middle school. I was incredibly disappointed with the way the meeting was run...it was just a lot of bureaucratic nonsense with corporate speak thrown in. There were members of Montgomery County Schools' administrative offices there and yet they did nothing to address parental concerns. I am delighted to principal has resigned. He seemed like a complete waste and if they get a charismatic, good leader in, perhaps things could improve. They mentioned enrollment is really down which impacts how much funding and resources are dedicated to the school.

We think about moving before we would send our son there. Not sure what we will do. Depends how things pan out in the next few years.

[Anonymous]

With a child in one of the feeder schools, I believe that in the past most people moved, went to a magnet or went private. That sentiment seems to be changing with more families indicating that they will stick around. Perhaps because of that, there has been a lot of parent activity and involvement in the improvement of Sligo and Newport recently and I am cautiously optimistic that both schools will improve as this trend continues. I am encouraged by the news that the principal is moving on. Hopefully a clean slate and an opportunity for real change.

There are a lot of involved parents at Woodlin and Flora Singer so I would be surprised if that involvement didn't continue as their kids approach Sligo.