What is the good, the bad and the ugly of your PGCPS.

[Anonymous]

What do you love or hate about your kids school.

Gladys Noon Spellman
-Good - Fantastic Principal, really diverse student body (something like 30 countries are represented), great culture of respect and responsibility, outdoor classroom, great PE program, lots of technology in the classrooms, great parent liaison, active PTA, goes to 6 th grade, lots of beautification projects ongoing. Communications from the school have gotten a lot better.

-Bad - Art teacher is lazy, 1 of the music teachers is awful, big classes at upper grades (3-6), the teachers don't do many after school clubs or activities and only a handful show up at evening events. Up until recently they didn't have a competent AP so the Principal was overloaded. There is a new AP who seems great.

-The ugly- the playground is 25 years old and most of the grass area is taken up by mobile classrooms, the Guidance councilor is retired in place, some of the teachers are terrible and need to go.

[Anonymous]

Brandywine Elementary

-Good - Just average to me. However, it seems that the teachers care.

-Bad - Class sizes. 28-35 in a class

-The ugly - The class size!

[Anonymous]

Yorktown Elementary -

The good: I love this school. Love the principal; she seems so involved and caring. Most of the teachers have been great. They are very responsive and accessible.

The bad: We've had some amazing teachers but also a couple of lackluster teachers. This year my son is complaining that there are a few troublemakers in his class and the teacher can't seem to control them. Since he's a quiet and well-behaved kid sometimes I wonder if he's going unnoticed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Brandywine Elementary

-Good - Just average to me. However, it seems that the teachers care.

-Bad - Class sizes. 28-35 in a class

-The ugly - The class size!

FYI- if the large class size is due to limited physical space and your Principal has been denied mobile classrooms parents should consider going to a Board meeting and giving testimony. Our Principal requested classrooms twice and was denied. Our PTA president testified at a Board meeting and the Principal got a call from the facilities people within the week. We now have 3 and it allowed the Principal to add teachers to the lower grade levels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Brandywine Elementary

-Good - Just average to me. However, it seems that the teachers care.

-Bad - Class sizes. 28-35 in a class

-The ugly - The class size!

FYI- if the large class size is due to limited physical space and your Principal has been denied mobile classrooms parents should consider going to a Board meeting and giving testimony. Our Principal requested classrooms twice and was denied. Our PTA president testified at a Board meeting and the Principal got a call from the facilities people within the week. We now have 3 and it allowed the Principal to add teachers to the lower grade levels.

Thanks for this information.

[Anonymous]

Glenarden Woods

The good - engaged teachers, good principal, strong academics, newly remodeled building

The bad - it's not super close to our house, so a longish bus ride

The ugly - lots of homework, but we cap how much time DC spends on homework a night and it doesn't seem to affect her grades but this may change in the higher grades

[Anonymous]

Perrywood Elementary School

Good - Great principal, good and engaged teachers. The kids are respectful and absolutely wonderful, don't know what the hell happens when they get to Kettering Middle. The PTA

Bad - 3rd grade. The only grade my oldest kid got a C. I know across the board 3rd grade is a transitional year, but dammit.

Ugly - Common Core. I hate Common Core, but I get it and I get why they're doing it. However some kids are no built for Common core and need something much more traditional. Class size is a problem. Parking lot in the morning.

[Anonymous]

We also like Yorktown Elementary. Have only been there one year but overall really like it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do you love or hate about your kids school.

Gladys Noon Spellman
-Good - Fantastic Principal, really diverse student body (something like 30 countries are represented), great culture of respect and responsibility, outdoor classroom, great PE program, lots of technology in the classrooms, great parent liaison, active PTA, goes to 6 th grade, lots of beautification projects ongoing. Communications from the school have gotten a lot better.

-Bad - Art teacher is lazy, 1 of the music teachers is awful, big classes at upper grades (3-6), the teachers don't do many after school clubs or activities and only a handful show up at evening events. Up until recently they didn't have a competent AP so the Principal was overloaded. There is a new AP who seems great.

-The ugly- the playground is 25 years old and most of the grass area is taken up by mobile classrooms, the Guidance councilor is retired in place, some of the teachers are terrible and need to go.

I don’t usually peep over her often as I am in Howard County but I wanted to lightly touch upon your concern of afterschool clubs and activities. The after school clubs and activities in MoCo and HoCo are based on fundraising or donations from the PTA. Largely, parents find after school clubs or companies that do clubs to bring enrichment to their schools so that all children benefit. I would rein in the idea that teachers should do clubs after a long day with children. At some point parents should step in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you love or hate about your kids school.

Gladys Noon Spellman
-Good - Fantastic Principal, really diverse student body (something like 30 countries are represented), great culture of respect and responsibility, outdoor classroom, great PE program, lots of technology in the classrooms, great parent liaison, active PTA, goes to 6 th grade, lots of beautification projects ongoing. Communications from the school have gotten a lot better.

-Bad - Art teacher is lazy, 1 of the music teachers is awful, big classes at upper grades (3-6), the teachers don't do many after school clubs or activities and only a handful show up at evening events. Up until recently they didn't have a competent AP so the Principal was overloaded. There is a new AP who seems great.

-The ugly- the playground is 25 years old and most of the grass area is taken up by mobile classrooms, the Guidance councilor is retired in place, some of the teachers are terrible and need to go.

I don’t usually peep over her often as I am in Howard County but I wanted to lightly touch upon your concern of afterschool clubs and activities. The after school clubs and activities in MoCo and HoCo are based on fundraising or donations from the PTA. Largely, parents find after school clubs or companies that do clubs to bring enrichment to their schools so that all children benefit. I would rein in the idea that teachers should do clubs after a long day with children. At some point parents should step in.

Excellent point!

I know that at my daughters' school the staff are compensated for running clubs or other activities but I can understand wanting to get out of there at the end of the day. Teachers not showing up for special evening events is sort of disheartening though. When I went to the elementary school Christmas concert this year the only teachers that were there were the music teachers and 2 teachers who have children who attend the school.

[Anonymous]

bump

[Anonymous]

Bond Mill Elementary

The Good
Excellent principal who knows parents by their first names. And so far it appears that most of the teachers are good and care about the students. Also very diverse student body.

The Bad
The school is ridiculously old and the parking is severely limited. Also not all of the teachers are good but most of them are. We have a fairly strong PTO but we still need more parents engaged...including myself.

The Ugly
Did I mention the parking lot is the size of a stamp? Did I mention the school is as old as the Roman Empire?

[Anonymous]

To the parent responding about Perrywood Elementary, could you comment a little further on the quality of the school? For example, class sizes, teacher experience, support services, etc. This is my children's home school; however, I am still on the fence about sending them to public school and am considering private. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have kids at Barack Obama Elementary School? If so, whats your experience?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the parent responding about Perrywood Elementary, could you comment a little further on the quality of the school? For example, class sizes, teacher experience, support services, etc. This is my children's home school; however, I am still on the fence about sending them to public school and am considering private. Thanks!

Not the PP but you can look at the SY17-18 enrollment data and divide by the number of teachers per grade to get a rough idea of class size. You can download the data here. http://www1.pgcps.org/pasb/index.aspx?id=20160

For Perrywood:
K-22-23
1st-21-22
2nd 22-23
3rd 25-26
4th - 28-29
5th 26-27

Principals can adjust the number of teachers per grade even after the school year begins. Our daughter started K in 2010 and there were 28 kids per class on the first day of school. The Principal managed to get the money together to buy another teacher and that made the class size 21 per class. My daughter was in 4th grade last year at a different PGCPS and she had 28-29 kids her class. I think it is pretty common.