Friendship Heights

best teachers, reports are accurate for my kids.clean school

Pearl Sample was not originally the school I wanted my children to attend when I moved to the area. I could not have been more wrong. PS has been nothing but great to my children. The can see their growth as they move through grades. If I have had any issues they have always been address accordingly. Go PS!

Many students are below reading level. One of my kids complains about how they have to do indoor recess when personally all kids should have all of their recesses outside, as long as weather permits. They're cooped up all day. I'm disappointed in the lack of field trips one of my kids gets. 1 of the comments says, title 1, more funds, but I don't see where the funds are going. Kids will come home to tell me they've been harassed, touched, or hit by a student and the teacher always failed to inform me. Unless your kid knows who did it, teachers won't want to provide information. Lack of diversity when it comes to educators. Mainly white females. We need more male educators or educators of different ethnicities or backgrounds. A lot are usually new and from PA. It's like pulling for teeth trying to find out what all your kid is learning about. Always vague answers. Whatever happened to syllabi in school?

Excellent school! We have been so impressed!

We pulled out after too many issues.What is represented in the tour is NOT what we experienced.Our experiences included:being lied to about small class sizehigh teacher turn over year to year and sometimes mid-year, to include 5 different heads of School in 4 years plus a rotation of office staff and other admin support that is hard to keep track...poor communication from office but especially teachersrude and defensive responses when problems arise or questions are asked and they will back their teachers even when they are wrongInconsistent and confusing behavior expectationsfavoritism in how discipline is appliedcurriculum implementation is poor and “improvements” on acknowledged weak areas not deliveredusing movies instead of in person instruction A LOT (and denying/ downplaying this occurring) low opportunity for meaningful parent involvementdecreased and often hostile partnership with parents contrary to mission statementPG movies being shown WITHOUT parent permission or notification"we know best" attitude toward parent (opposite of how it's represented in handbook...this is NOT a partnership)sense that something isn’t right…At the end of the day, paying for that experience did not make sense for us anymore.Other things to know:One grade per class is typical. Instead of hiring another teacher they will create a big class. Rarely, there will be 2 classes per grade.Curriculum is Abeka. The teachers do not use all components. There is no adjustment for individual student needs. Science, writing, and history curriculums are weak and they acknowledged this but did nothing year to year to correct.Extracurricular offerings vary year to year and also mid-year - seem to struggle with staffing. Sports are limited (boys basketball and girls volleyball) and begin in middle school.No science labs. No library. No foreign language. No academic clubs.Art class is not consistent year to year...one year was crafts, one year never saw anything created, and another year was just weird stuffThere is a PTA. They are not involved in any decisions. They fundraise, support staff and host an occasional family activity.