Bare Hills

My daughters attended Arlington. In an attempt to register my youngest child (the others are in high school and college) for the upcoming school year I called Arlington and was met with a completely unprofessional demeanor by the the principal. Within a matter of minutes, based on the interaction, I made the decision that my daughter wouldn’t attend and so would not recommend that school. While Arlington was good for my older kids as it’s a tech school with a Google partnership, I find them lacking in their ability to manage the kids, provide a quality learning environment (overcrowding to the point students take class in hallways and portables), or even be respectful to the parents. Given the financial commitment to improve the school, I would assume the staff would also be upgraded or provided some training so they aren’t so belligerent and rude over simple questions. If I am calling to ask questions, rudely directing me to “just go online” and hanging up is disgusting.

I was a student of MWS from Kindergarten to the end of sixth grade, and I’d have never expected it to go so downhill after the principal changes a few years ago. To all parents, I am literally begging you not to send your kids here. The education, teachers, students, were all great years ago, but since then it has changed dramatically. There are fights almost every day, and the teachers don’t seem to do anything about it. The teachers bicker and gossip about the students like children— they should not be educators. The students being elementary and middle schoolers, they need to have inspirations. Most of the time family isn’t enough, so they take school with them too. The teachers will literally bully the students, and then the students will bully the other students. You will not be learning. In sixth grade, I had an 100 in every single class. Though, for some reason, I can’t quite seem to remember ever having any piece of work that was graded. Or any piece of work, end of sentence. The school lunch is just normal Baltimore City Public School lunch, it’s going to be bad no matter what. The staff that is hired to care about students mental health, do not care about students mental health. The staff also does not seem to care about the importance of the fact that those 8th graders are supposed to be high schoolers next year, not stingy 1st graders. Transferring was the best decision that I have ever made. I’m not joking, do not go to this school.

This preschool is the best of the best. The community is warm and nurturing. The director is fantastic - an experienced teacher herself and beloved by the other teachers and parents. The teachers are exceptional — professional, experienced, dedicated. Previous to this school, our daughter attended 3 daycares in the DC metro area (each claimed to have preschool curriculums with all the “accreditations” … NAEYC, etc). The instructional quality at the daycares did not even come close, truly you cannot really even compare them. It was night and day. Grace Preschool provides everything you could want in an early childhood education environment. They go above and beyond with their programming and have a great sense of what is developmentally appropriate for each of the age groups. In particular the kindergarten program is so wonderful it’s almost surreal. The teacher is a highly skilled veteran teacher with a very kind and relaxed demeanor. The class size is small (but not too small) so they are able to get creative with their activities - e.g., every Friday they cook something related to the letter of the week. There’s also a nice sense of community among the students, no cliques or bullying. Most importantly, you can feel that your child is loved and cherished here. I feel so lucky we found this place. Only wish we could stay longer. It is a big source of joy for us to know that this is our daughter’s foundational school experience. I will always look back on the time she had at Grace Preschool with gratitude.