Laurel Ridge Elementary

[Anonymous]

Hello,
We are considering moving to Kings Park West, which is zoned for Laurel Ridge ES. We read on a previous forum that there have been some concerns with the school's administrators, teacher morale, and teachers leaving the school. Does anyone have any recent thoughts about the school, or know if and how these issues are being addressed? What has your experience been at Laurel Ridge ES? We are considering moving there for the schools, and have been concerned given the new Great Schools ratings.

Thanks for any feedback you can provide.

[Anonymous]

It looks like you were reading comments from over 3 years ago if you were looking at the Great Schools forum.

Regarding the overall ratings, what is your race. If you're white, then your kid will do fine as the GS rating for white kids is a 9.

[Anonymous]

I believe the principal changed a few years ago and an unpopular AP left the school and is now a principal somewhere else in FCPS. Our teacher is new to LR, but seems to like it.

Our DD is in K and isn't in the immersion program. We've been pleased with the school, but it's been surprising what a black box the school has been. Even after a conference, I don't have a strong idea what their day is like beyond knowing their general schedule. We get random papers sent home and DD mentions STEAM as one of her specials, but I have no clue what it entails.

The school community is uniformly upper middle class. It's racially diverse, though.

I had to drop something off during the day and saw.so.many.parents milling around. The parent community is super active, there.

There are a ton of activities that run around 50 bucks that the PTA sponsors.

[Anonymous]

The school is much better with the change in administration and there should be less turnover. The main issue now is that the principal allows each grade level to sort of run itself, and that's why some grade levels hardly communicate. It would be a better school if each class weren't in lockstep with the others in that grade.

It will be fine for your family.

[Anonymous]

LRES immersion family here - administration seems to have improved significantly especially since a toxic AP got promoted and left last year. It has definitely stabilized. Parent community is very active as a PP said. It's a great school, but really, all of the schools in that pyramid are terrific. You can't go wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LRES immersion family here - administration seems to have improved significantly especially since a toxic AP got promoted and left last year. It has definitely stabilized. Parent community is very active as a PP said. It's a great school, but really, all of the schools in that pyramid are terrific. You can't go wrong.

A "toxic" AP got PROMOTED and left? How does a toxic AP get promoted?

[Anonymous]

It was astonishing. Reminded me of Trump being elected president. The principal announced it and staff stared at each other in amazement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LRES immersion family here - administration seems to have improved significantly especially since a toxic AP got promoted and left last year. It has definitely stabilized. Parent community is very active as a PP said. It's a great school, but really, all of the schools in that pyramid are terrific. You can't go wrong.

A "toxic" AP got PROMOTED and left? How does a toxic AP get promoted?

Do you really not understand how this works? Administrator sucks, so they get “promoted” away from their current job. Now they can go suck elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

OP, here. Thank you for your feedback!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It was astonishing. Reminded me of Trump being elected president. The principal announced it and staff stared at each other in amazement.

Parent here. I cheered when I got the email. She was a bully.

[Anonymous]

We've been here for years. The school is excellent in terms of academic performance, extras, after school activities, and now with that awful AP gone, the leadership has been down right amazing.

What's interesting about the community is that it isn't an academic hot house. The kids still do excellent on things like the SOLs. And what's really interesting is how many parents pass up AAP at White Oaks to keep their kids either because they prefer their children to stay in the immersion program or that they just like the school because it's a neighborhood school where nearly 80 percent of the kids live walking distance. The parents in the community really do seem to work as a block and advocate for the kids.

I know people complain a lot (and I hated the old AP), but I think the teachers and school community and principal are all fantastic (the previous principal was awful and only lasted a few years before being run off by parents. He's working in the gatehouse now and has a random title).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was astonishing. Reminded me of Trump being elected president. The principal announced it and staff stared at each other in amazement.

Parent here. I cheered when I got the email. She was a bully.

What poor school now has her as principal? Want to make sure I avoid it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was astonishing. Reminded me of Trump being elected president. The principal announced it and staff stared at each other in amazement.

Parent here. I cheered when I got the email. She was a bully.

What poor school now has her as principal? Want to make sure I avoid it.

Powell

[Anonymous]

I think any concerns you may have read about were from a few years ago. It's a great school with very involved families. The staff is not micromanaged (something I miss greatly now that I'm at a different school). I actually didn't have a problem with the former AP others have mentioned, but I do know that her style rubbed some the wrong way.

[Anonymous]

I wanted to chime in and say this school feels like the kind of school I went to in the 80's. Kings Park West actually feels like a time machine in a lot of ways. It's very, very family friendly and very down to earth while having excellent academics. We shopped around a ton for a home and there were very few large communities that feel as retro. Even Burke, generally, has a 90's planned development feel.