8348 Ritchie Hwy
Pasadena, MD 21122

My experience as a Special Education teacher at Old Mill Middle School South from 2016–2018 was one of the most difficult periods of my educational career.When I arrived at the school, I felt as though I was carrying the weight of prior allegations and was placed under a level of scrutiny that required me to constantly prove myself. Rather than feeling supported as a new educator, I often felt that assumptions had already been made about my abilities and professionalism.During my time there, I worked under Assistant Principal Courtney Roser and the principal serving during those years. While accountability and evaluation are important, my experience often felt more focused on documenting shortcomings than supporting growth. I frequently left meetings and observations feeling discouraged rather than developed.One experience that remains with me involved a classroom observation while I was co-teaching. During a district visit, I felt that my contributions were overlooked and that the focus was primarily on finding fault. Whether intentional or not, the experience left me feeling that conclusions about my performance had already been formed.What made this especially frustrating was that it did not reflect the work I was doing with students. During those years, I worked extensively with 7th-grade students receiving special education services and helped many improve their writing skills for the state assessment. I watched students gain confidence, strengthen their writing, and make meaningful academic progress. Those successes deserved recognition as well.More than ten years later, what I remember most is not a particular evaluation, but a culture that often felt lacking in trust, transparency, and support. Effective schools create environments where educators receive honest feedback, meaningful coaching, and opportunities to grow. My experience was the opposite.I have since moved on to larger opportunities and continued growing as an educator and leader. I share this reflection not out of bitterness, but in hopes that school leaders continue examining how workplace culture, evaluation practices, and leadership decisions affect educators. Every teacher deserves to be evaluated fairly, supported professionally, and judged on the full scope of their contributions to students.Unfortunately, that was not my experience at Old Mill Middle School South.

this school is absolutely terrible and the gym coach for is by far one of the worst people at this school

My kids loved this school. The pre-k program is amazing and the community schools programs for younger children were such a nice touch. The teachers are very kind and personable. If ever we had an issue the administration handled it swiftly and kept me in the loop. My family was very sad to leave, and cherished our moments at Southgate.