Rohrerstown El School

Our daughter attended NSM for third grade and half of fourth grade,and while she was happy and academically stimulated in the lowerelementary class, she was bullied and taunted in her upper elementaryclass.In lower elementary, her teachers were incredibly nurturing and wefelt that she was part of a kind, open, and accepting community. Herteachers got her excited about new topics like deep time, history andgeography.Upper elementary, unfortunately, was a nightmare. She was physicallyattacked, isolated, excluded, and bullied daily. A pair boys took tofrequently calling her a "nerd" and a "dork." Our daughter reportedthat a group of students never seemed to be engaged in their work butinstead spent their time in the hallway gossiping and taunting others.After she started waking up in the middle of the night shaking andtalking about feeling deeply isolated at the school, we decided topull her out mid-year.While initially thought NSM would be a good fit because it emphasizesallowing children to follow their passions, we found that few of ourdaughter's peers seemed interested in academics which deepened herisolation. Our daughter often spent less than an hour a week on mathat the school, and while she learned no new math in a year and a halfat NSM (she did get extra practice on material she'd already learned),we were fortunate to find that Mathnasium was able to rekindle herinterest in the subject and keep her learning.Reflecting on our daughter's unhappy experience in upper elementary,we think there are some random reasons things didn't go well for her,like ending up in a class with a group of kids she didn't connectwith. We also think there were more systemic reasons, such as the verysmall class size, the lack of emphasis on academics, and thepermissive environment.Our daughter's experience at NSM was by no means universal, and wehope that sharing their experience will provide more information tofamilies considering the school. Our daughter is now thriving bothsocially and academically in her local public school.

One of the best schools around. My kids attended when they were located in Millersville and again after their move to Columbia Ave. Same high quality education and the entire staff is beyond great! Always putting the children first while providing the highest quality of education!

There is no other private school out there like St Leo the Great. It's a community we are blessed to be a part of. So thankful we chose to send out children to this school since Pre-K to 8th grade.