4202 Garrett Park Rd
Silver Spring, MD 20906

The teachers are highly qualified and engaged and the staff is dedicated to student learning. Class sizes are small, and the facilities are excellent. The PE teacher, art teacher, music teacher, media specialist and counselor are all out of this world - the school really loves their kids and helps them to do their best.

It is shame to observe what appears to be a lack of support or protection for staff members working with children with disabilities. There seems to be insufficient oversight and enforcement of policies designed to maintain a safe working environment for employees.Staff members are exposed to behaviors such as hair pulling, scratching, having water thrown on them, and other inappropriate actions. While there is an understanding of the unique challenges present for children with special needs. However; there should be a system put in place such as suspension or expulsion if necessary for continuous troubled acts from specific students. It is particularly disheartening to see the direction the organization has taken since the departure of Dr. Mugee, there appeared to be a stronger commitment to maintaining a safe environment for both staff and students.

A. Mario Loiederman Middle School was one of the worst school experiences I ever had, and I believe parents should be very cautious before sending their children there.My experience was not just about strict teachers or normal middle school drama. I dealt with serious bullying and harassment, including an incident where students attempted to pants me and record it. That is not harmless joking. That is humiliating, violating behavior, and it should have been treated as a serious safety issue from the beginning.The school also had a major discipline problem. Security staff would try to yell commands at students, but students would openly disrespect them, flip them off, and say things like, “You’re not my parent.” That kind of environment made it feel like the adults did not have real control over the building, and students who wanted to cause problems knew they could push boundaries.I also find it very telling that Google reviews for K–12 schools are no longer available. Whether or not this school directly requested that change, schools like Loiederman benefit from it because former students and parents have fewer public ways to warn others about what they experienced. A public school should be able to handle honest criticism, especially when that criticism involves bullying, harassment, discipline failures, and student safety.In my experience, Mario Loiederman failed at its most basic responsibility: keeping students safe. I hope the school has improved since then, but based on what I went through, I would strongly warn parents to pay close attention to how this school handles bullying, harassment, and discipline before trusting it with their child.