319 Hampden Ave
Narberth, PA 19072

This is a great school on paper...unfortunately it's much more complicated when you look under the hood. Pros: -The location is great. -Academic achievement is solid.-The students are good when their needs are being met.-The facilities are fine and managed well.Cons:-The administration is...and let me emphasize this...terrible. Just irresponsible and unresponsive. I don't know how much of this is due to policies set from above that they can't implement, but it is unacceptable. Students who need 1-on-1 support often don't get it...or get it far too late. The stated policy is to disengage from problem students rather than to allocate more resources to help them. The district as a whole takes their spec-ed staff and substitutes for granted...as if they still operating in a world where there is no teacher shortage. They regularly use subs who aren't certified in spec-ed to manage spec-ed classrooms to support students with severe mental health and behavioral issues. They drag their feet on getting IEPs as well. The union seems to be pretty much non-existent across the district...otherwise its unlikely they'd be able to stretch their staff to this extent by holding the "carrot" of long-term employment and good benefits over their heads. The irony is that when positions to open up, they often hire from outside of the district instead of their long-term subs who put the time in. The worst part is that the administration never takes any accountability. If they give teachers absurd expectations, it's always the teacher, specialist, aide, or sub's fault--never the admin. It's a shame, because there are a lot of great teachers in the district who are getting stretched thin and burned out.-this is more of a general issue with public education now, but it is just as much an issue at BM and LMSD: the screens. Administrators encourage you to put kids on the computers frequently. It is terrible for their mental health, impulse control, and attention spans. There is no issue with having students work in a computer lab for a period or two each day, but the Chromebooks and iPads are in the rooms all of the time...often for activities that don't actually need to be digital. Often times you literally have to physically separate the children from these devices, as many of the apps are "gamified" in a manner similar to addictive phone games. The admins are not receptive to these issues.

Go Dragons Welsh Valley is the best middle school out there right now

Lower Merion has fallen a long way. The lack of transparency, arrogance, and litigiousness of the district are horrific.

Great school, great teachers, and overall nice kids. The support that they offer is fantastic.