I know this is late to the party, but I would recommend not going to Loiederman if your child wants to be in the theatre. The lead theatre teacher here plays favorites in the worst possible way. She only casts the same handful of kids over and over, and these kids are never held to account for bad behavior. There was a kid who hurled racial slurs at a costume crew member during the last show. This was reported to the director, who yelled at the kid and then promised the aggrieved student that the consequences for that behavior would be that he wouldn't get cast in the next show. He was cast in a lead role in the spring musical. The teachers turn a blind eye to bad behavior backstage (verbal abuse, poor backstage etiquette, physical disregard for the hard work of the crew, kids destroying props that other students made for the show, treating costumes and costumers poorly, and a laundry list of unacceptable behavior), even when it affects the kids on crew who work hard to make the show look good. When kids bring these issues to light, they are blacklisted by this same teacher. She holds grudges, plays favorites and otherwise acts like an entitled middle schooler herself. The administration is complicit, as students who draw attention to the problems are lectured about their tone in addressing a teacher, and the problems persist.

Watching my kid's confidence in her abilities as a performer steadily drain away over her time at LMS has been heartbreaking. Don't waste your time and your child's self confidence. Zero stars. Would not recommend.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t get how this is working. If there are already limited seats for the program, and it’s really a choice process for select feeder schools how can there be limited opportunity for the students? How is there not more smaller performances or still two large performances and then smaller community/afterschool offerings. What exactly are the magnet students doing that they couldn’t be doing at their home school?

Electives!

I don’t know any other MS offers 3 years of theatre(last one is a HS credit level course), film, visual arts, dance, chorus including chamber choir.

It’s only a good thing with good teachers. The band teacher was not impressive. The digital music teacher was. The amazing orchestra teacher left for Blair.

Anonymous wrote:The school is just a wet blanket. How can it be an “arts school” but let just anyone in? There are many gifted stars, but the rest are just nobodies with no talent. When you just let anyone on that stage, you’re bringing down the talented students with you. I remember going to a dance recital there, and I honestly don’t know how the parents got through it sober. Lucky for me, I had my handy, dandy “Camera” flask

You are really nasty. Most of the kids parents probably cannot afford private lessons. But, it was pretty bad and it could be the teachers not the kids.

PP, however my DS do take private singing lessons, and I think in the playbills there is advertisement of acting coaches. I wouldn’t be surprised some students take that too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t get how this is working. If there are already limited seats for the program, and it’s really a choice process for select feeder schools how can there be limited opportunity for the students? How is there not more smaller performances or still two large performances and then smaller community/afterschool offerings. What exactly are the magnet students doing that they couldn’t be doing at their home school?

All the DCC “magnet” middle schools have 8 classes/year (alternating days of 4 blocks/day). So these students all get a 3rd elective. The type of additional electives offered depend on the school. I think all 3 of them are Title I or close to it so there are some additional programs/grants that teachers can apply for (the Strathmore choreographer for after school productions for example). But there are still almost 1,000 kids at each of these middle schools without much additional classroom and performing space.

Also, it’s not a magnet in the sense that kids audition or test into the school. So some kids may be at one MS because they didn’t want the other 2, not necessarily that they love the focus of the school.

It’s a great opportunity for kids who can’t access the multitude of private options available in this area. However, if you can I would put my time and $ towards things like ATA, Imagination Stage, Strathmore Children’s Choir, and private lessons.

If you kid is a serious artist, these are jokes. Strathmore choir takes basically everyone, it’s not very selective neither. I don’t know what ATA is. I’ve been to IS shows, I don’t know why they still exist, it’s terrible. It’s no competition to LMS shows.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t get how this is working. If there are already limited seats for the program, and it’s really a choice process for select feeder schools how can there be limited opportunity for the students? How is there not more smaller performances or still two large performances and then smaller community/afterschool offerings. What exactly are the magnet students doing that they couldn’t be doing at their home school?

Electives!

I don’t know any other MS offers 3 years of theatre(last one is a HS credit level course), film, visual arts, dance, chorus including chamber choir.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bumping this thread up again as we're considering applying to Loiderman for our artistically inclined daughter. Any fresh or recent experiences from the school year this far to share?

Several of the music teachers are terrible. Multiple kids left last and prior years for their home schools it was so bad.

They have a new choral teacher who a returning teacher that left the school due to staffing in previous years. He is pretty good. I don’t know about the band.

My kid who is into theatre, movie making and singing fits right in the school. He would like to do a chorus elective but no time after the foreign language class. 8 periods even/odd days is much more efficient than traditional MS 7 period days. My friends told me our home school students spent entire 6th grade for language 1A and 7th 1B. At LMS, at 7th grade we are doing 2A/2B.

The school is just a wet blanket. How can it be an “arts school” but let just anyone in? There are many gifted stars, but the rest are just nobodies with no talent. When you just let anyone on that stage, you’re bringing down the talented students with you. I remember going to a dance recital there, and I honestly don’t know how the parents got through it sober. Lucky for me, I had my handy, dandy “Camera” flask