Benjamin Banneker High School

There are some aspects of Meridian that are positive. The salary is comparable to that of public schools in DC. There is generally no more than about 20 students per class.However, the school is lacking in internal structure, disciplinary consistiency, and measures put in place are often reactive opposed to proactive. Policies and procedures have been created as a "last-minute" decision and reaction to egregious behaviors by students and emergency events. There isn't school wide structure of behavioral expectation and parents aren't made aware of student conduct expectations and policies. In most school districts things like bullying policies and student personal safety policies (suicidal ideation, unsafe behaviors) are well communicated to staff and made explicitly clear. This is not true for Meridian. As a staff member I had to hunt for this information, which in some cases didn't exist. There are staff members in roles they are not qualified for. Roles that typically require higher level degrees, licensure, and certification were given to individuals who have not completed such qualifications. Students display unsafe and disrespectful behavior and language at the middle school on a regular basis. There are constantly students leaving class without permission, cursing and being vulgar, verbally threatening other students and adults, with little consequences. Sometimes the consequences didn't match the severity of the behavior. The expectation is often that behavior plans or plans for accomodations to take place with students that aren't effective or even possible, given the wide range of disrespectful and inappropriate behaviors that are constantly taking place throughout the building. Upon departure from the school, I gave 2 weeks notice and was swiftly given a letter by an individual in HR that stated that my last date of employment would be the day before I gave my notice. The letter almost was gaslighting in nature; making it seem like I chose the much earlier date and that I wouldn't be paid for time after that date. I was not given an explanation. Staff morale was low almost from the beginning of the school year. Staff appreciation events were hosted, but was never followed up with real staff support and school wide restructuring. At last I was aware, there are no plans to improve anything as far as foundation or structure for the upcoming year in spite of negative feedback Meridian has recieved from staff.

The staff make every child feel valued and build an environment that makes my child want to come to school. There is a community focus and a recognition that education does not start when crossing the school threshold. The teachers are great, experienced, and value each child. Many of the student population have inter generational trauma that is not their fault but can be challenging to address at scale. But it’s acknowledged and supported with wrap around services that offer hope of progress.

I had an incredible experience while teaching under the leadership of Principal Mair for seven years. Those years spent with her and my associates were truly amazing. When she was replaced by our new principal everything changed for the worse. I only hope the very best to all of the remaining staff.

We had high hopes for our son's first year at Garrison Elementary, particularly after Principal Kip spoke so highly of the staff and described the 4thgrade class that my son would be joining as "unusually kind" . My son's experience has been far from kind. Garrison failed to meet my expectations of providing a safe learning environment for my child, which has now resulted in an unexpected mid-year withdrawal.Bullying/School SafetyBetween August-December, my son has been bullied on more than one occasion. I met with with Principal Kip after the first incident to express myconcern regarding my son's safety and more specifically, that no one from the school had contacted me to inform me of the incident. Theschool officer was on the playground during recess and was aware of the incident, but the incident was never reported.It's now January and yet another bullying incident recently occurred on the playground during recess. An adult eventually intervened and escorted my son to see the school nurse. The school officer was made aware of the incident and yet again, no one contacted me to inform me that my son was being seen by the school nurse in relation to this incident (not the nurse, the school officer, or anyone else from the school).CommunicationCommunication needs improvement, in addition to the lack of communication related to the above-mentioned incidents. I raised concern with not having a parent teacher's conference. Principal Kip assured me that a parent teacher conference would be scheduled the following week. Still no parent teacher conference was ever scheduled. Communication concerning field trips has been minimal. For example, permission slips have been sent home for signature, seemingly more so focused on waiving liability to DCPS rather than providing adequate details beyond the date and location. Other pertinent info (i.e., departure and return time, plans for lunch, method of transportation) was never shared. The fourth grade class rode the Metrobus for their last field trip due to financial constraints rather than for a learning experience. While I can appreciate the creativity of the teachers making it happen, perhaps the PTO or individual parents may have been willing to support if this was communicated in advance.On a positive note, I do have to say the IEP team (Ms. Dorn, Mr Saxton, and Mr. H in particular) were genuinely committed to doing what was in the best interest of my son throughout the IEP evaluation process.

The staff work very hard but the expectations of them from administration seem unreasonable. There always seem to be staffing issues- high teacher turnover, unfilled teacher positions, staff out/ resigning. In the primary classrooms, the class sizes are more reasonable than lower elementary and upper elementary. In primary, there are also 2 adults in the classroom and only 1 in the upper grades where the class sizes are over 25 students in most classes. Supervision of students during non-academic times seems to be a challenge due to the staffing issues. Behavior issues are not addressed consistently which results in undesirable behaviors increasing instead of decreasing and ultimately disrupting learning. There don't seem to be any consequences in elementary for misbehavior. There are also issues with communication from administration to both families and staff. Do not expect to receive prompt responses from administration unless you have an important role in the school community. I think that this school could improve significantly if administration was more open to disclosing the problems within the school and working with families and staff to create and implement a plan to address the problems.