9809 Broad St
Bethesda, MD 20814

Two issues in this school:1- Bullying2- RacismMy 7 year old child was physically attacked by other kids on the school bus EVERYDAY! it went for a while and he went from the happy child to screaming and kicking every day and I used to force him to go on the school bus not knowing what was waiting for him there, by the time he finally said what was going on it was too late he was traumatized and suffered bad anxiety, the school never bothered to protect him, and when I started driving him to school instead of using the bus I brought up that bullying issue with the school there was no investigation and all they told me is that they “tell kids to love each other”!!!! He after that faced more bullying in his classroom but not physical and his school turned into a hell so we decided to break our lease and move away from that area just to get him away from that school, now we’re in another school that is much smaller but they care for their children the principal knows the kids by name and he himself follows on any bullying complaint and at the slightest sign of bullying (no physical bullying there but some verbal) they take it seriously and they bring it to the parents attention before it escalates. Now about the racism, maybe my experience had to do with the fact that I’m an immigrant and have a thick accent, but what happened that proved to me they are in fact racist is that I was assigned for a volunteer opportunity to come to my child’s class who was extremely excited for that, the day before that event there was a STEAM night and I met the teacher/staff who was responsible for that volunteering event, we talked and I introduced myself to her, the next morning (the day of volunteering after I bought all the supplies) I received an email from her saying I cannot attend because I don’t have a proof for Covid vaccination, what she didn’t know is that there was a chain on emails that I received with a list of volunteering parents and their vaccine status and over half were m not vaccinated but welcome to join. So ya this school is BAD! But maybe your mile would vary if you’re not a minority (mainly immigrant) and if the child wasn’t prone to attracting bullies then maybe it’ll work with you, but I’d never gamble using my children because the trauma my son experienced in this school changed him for life, he has social anxiety and was diagnosed with PTSD and after a year of homeschooling then this good school he’s in now he’s finally going back to normal.

Honestly, the teachers at this school aren’t the problem, they try to do their job and teach. The real issue is the students. There’s a serious lack of discipline, and it feels like almost every bathroom has kids smoking. I’ve also heard about students bringing weapons to school, and it seems like the school doesn’t always find out. There are also gangs involved, and fights happen frequently. On top of that, there are a lot of students dealing drugs, and robberies happen daily. Overall, it’s a really unsafe environment because of the student behavior, not because of the teachers.

It’s horrible. I do not recommend it. Throughout the whole school year, we never had ONE lock down drill, and nobody talks about it. The teachers are sometimes rude, like they don’t even try to recruit good teachers. They don’t make you excited to learn and students can do horrible pranks with no consequences. Do not recommend AT ALL, do not send your kid here. Also anyone different is not acceptable, plus the dress code isn’t reinforced. My friend who is of color (which doesn’t even matter), was wearing a tube top and so was another girl who was white. Then old teacher walked by, nodding nicely at the white girl, but then started to call out on my friend on how inappropriate she was. Do not send your child here!!!