4426 Winding Oak Dr
Olney, MD 20832

This school has done a poor job of supporting and protecting our child. They have a serious bullying problem which they pretend to be helpful with and will meet with you and talk about how seriously they take things but the reality is that they don't really do anything about the problem. After numerous incidents in over a year and several meetings we finally called the police. The officer asked if we had filled out the bulling form/incident report, at this point the staff acknowledged the existence of the form and informed us that we could have found it anytime online. This was precisely the type of thing we had been asking them about but they had kept from us because these forms when submitted count against their record. I do think the teachers are good and have tried to support our child but the administration is not up to par.

14 years ago, we moved into the area and I obsessively reviewed the school sites in order to pick the house with the best cluster of schools. Belmont was rated very highly. We visited the school and it felt like the right fit for my kids. We purchased a house in the cluster. Looking back on it, it was not a good choice for my children. My son's 1st-2nd grade teachers were very good but 3rd-5th were terrible. He was struggling and the teachers said it was attitude. We knew it wasn't and after researching his symptoms and finding the best doctors, he was diagnosed with extreme anxiety and ADHD. Even after the diagnosis, the teachers didn't believe us and it took us way too long to get the 504 plan locked down. My husband and I would leave meeting after meeting with the teachers and principal extremely frustrated. Throughout the years, I've heard horrible stories from my daughter about the teachers at Belmont. I wished she would have told me these things at the time so I could have confronted these teachers. The teachers at Rosa Parks and Sherwood High School were completely different. They respected 504 plans and appreciated parent outreach.What's so interesting is that Sherwood High School was rated the lowest in the cluster scale but both of my children had very positive high school experiences with their teachers and excelled academically. Both are in top colleges now.Here's my advice to the moms out there who are trying to pick the right schools for your children - ask questions to see if the school teaches to everyone or just the high performers. If I could go back in time, I would ask how teachers ensure that everyone is learning. The moms who loved Belmont had children who did very well academically and didn't need extra help. If your child may need some extra help, make sure the support and motivation to provide it is there. Despite our unhappiness with Belmont, there were many good teachers in middle and high school who made a big difference for our children.

My child started high school this year and is in special education and has an IEP. The administration staff are unresponsive and ignore emails from parents. The only school in MCPS that continues to hold virtual IEP meetings. He was put in a Math 180 intervention but there was only one teacher trained in the program so my son chatted with classmates and played on his cell phone for 8 weeks until the school finally gave attention to him with a electronic classroom focused on Delta Math. His IEP provides a dedicated para to assist him with staying on task due to his ADD. We are 10 weeks in to the year and still no para has been hired. Very frustrating and disappointing.