Branchville

I'm extremely disappointed with the bus service at Paint Branch Elementary. The timing is consistently terrible – my pre-K child's bus arrives around 5 PM, even though school ends at 3 PM. What's worse, one day the bus actually took my child back to the school, and they were there until 5:30 PM with only the janitor present. While I'm not accusing the janitor of anything, the fact that there was no staff supervising my five-year-old is unacceptable. This school needs to seriously improve its transportation and supervision. I cannot recommend Paint Branch Elementary based on this experience.

My kids attended this school from grades 1-5. It was a really mixed experience - some great teachers, some lousy, some bordering on verbally/emotionally abusive. The principal was unwilling to act when issues were brought up, and my son developed anxiety in large part because of feeling unsafe in his classroom over two years. I was in touch with other families who experienced the same with one teacher in particular. The parent community and family engagement are great, as is the counseling staff and many of the specials teachers. It's too bad the principal has been unwilling to remove teachers with a documented history of issues in order to make the school a safe place for all kids. I wish I'd pulled my kids earlier.