Penn Manor High School

This is our first year at Lafayette. I think the principal and staff are wonderful. There are after school activities, sports and groups that meet. There are free breakfasts and lunches for all students, regardless of income. What I feel is lacking is the gifted/ accelerated program. But there is a wonderful warmth and diversity to the school that lacks in many suburban schools. The school is working hard to improve parent involvement and there is a strong anti-bullying program implemented. I would recommend this school.

A lot of fighting is happening.The teacher act like they don’t want to help you and be mean,look at you ,like you did something wrong.And makes you feel like you did something wrong by the way they talk to you.The teacher looked at me raising my hand and ignored me when I need help. I go up to them for help they say they can’t help me.

N/A

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.