13 Ritchie Ave
Silver Spring, MD 20910

Administration doesn't really care if your child learns. They only care if your child passes and graduates, so their numbers do not decline. My child a few teachers who weren't very well at teaching, but instead of allowing our child to retake classes, they offered online classes thT did not cover the material in the syllabus and served only to pass the course. Many students have caught on and opt to fail classes and take the easy way out. Just let at state-wide and nationwide tests scores along with the number of our students enrolled in remedial classes in college. Tells the true story of how well Montgomery Blair students are prepared. When reaching out to about half the teachers about my child's performance, about half do not bother to respond. I do not want my other children to attend this school.

My daughter had the best 4th grade teacher! She enjoyed all the fun activities and flexible seating options in her teacher’s very accommodative room. Especially the couch. She’ll definitely miss 4th grade! Furthermore, this school has been great to us.

My son attended this school for two years before we moved to get away from this school and their sad excuse for leadership. My son was the victim of violence on several occasions at the hands of the same aggresor. Every time I brought the incidents to the Vice Principal, I was given the same answer, they would talk to the children. Every altercation was instigated by the same child, and nothing was ever done but the Vice Prinicipal had high hopes, that by doing nothing something would change... As time went on it became very difficult to get my son to go to school. He did not feel safe there and I can't blame him. I can't stress enough how disappointed we are by the lack of action of this administration. I've never said this about a school but I HATE this school and I am so excited to leave this community in the past.

My child has had some caring teachers at this school that have gone the extra mile for them, and to those people I am grateful. However, the education is not an 8/10. We moved here for the schools. We were happy with the elementary schools. Maybe 1 underwhelming teacher out of 8. Solid administration. True 0 tolerance for bullying, and caring staff. But, something has to come forward about the culture of the middle school, because I know kids now in their mid-20s who suffered here, and now it's my child. I've spoken with a lot of different parents, and anyone, regardless of style, who had to take on the school regarding a violation of the law or policy became an enemy. This is not a place where one feels that the administration and counseling offices, in particular, are there for the love of children. Bullying is not addressed seriously whether relational, discriminatory, or threats of violence. And teachers and students are both guilty. In 6th grade, my child reported their friends were depressed, by 7th/8th grade their friends became the bullies or went silent, because that is what it is to survive here when you know adults will not have your back, at home or school. So many kids feel this way and speak of it to each other, but the adults at home remain ignorant as children think mine is odd for speaking to their parent, and the school is worse - even when they know, they don't act, and they mandate silence, so other parents do not know what threats exist. Schools are rated partially on how much they use suspension, but when their "creative solutions" are not creating a safe atmosphere, stepping up their game may be needed to show kids that 0 tolerance is 0 tolerance when it comes to bullies. Here, children know that bullying IS tolerated, and it's the way to stay safe. There should not be this many middle schoolers considering whether it is worth it to keep living, and there should not be this many middle schoolers turning to brutality towards each other as a result of that hopelessness. The brutality is desperation. Lack of early intervention leads to more serious problems. Children are driven into medical and mental crises from stress. I am personally exhausted by fighting for what are literally bare minimum laws and policies. MCPS relies on the fact that it is expensive and difficult to win litigation against schools, and many would not see private school tuition as a win in this area. Simply wanting schools that follow the law is too much to ask.