Bethesda
BRADLEY HILLS
397 students, 24 classroom teachers, grades K-5
Sandra Reece, principal at Bradley Hills Elementary School, is quick to give credit when asked why parents love her school so much. “Part of the reason we have a successful school is the level of parental involvement,” she says. “We have a lot of parents here who do un-fun things to help us. They volunteer an hour here or there, making copies for teachers, cutting things out, supervising children before school in the mornings. These are very low-visibility kinds of things. But parents are just as committed to coming in and being that kind of resource as they are to volunteering in the classroom.”
That, she says, allows the school’s teachers to concentrate on things besides paperwork and filing. And for their part, teachers put an emphasis on communicating with families: the school participates with schoolnotes.com, which allows them to send home daily assignments, notes and reminders via e-mail. “Parents can log on from anywhere and see what their children are doing,” says Reece. “It gives the parents a chance to be connected.” That’s especially important for the youngest students, who are often unresponsive to the perpetual “what did you do today” conversation over dinner. “Kindergarteners will tell you they played at recess or they don’t remember what they did,” says Reece. “The system makes it easy for us to tell parents that they had an assembly or they went out looking at leaves. Then, it’s easy to weave that into the conversation for the evening and draw out what the child’s impression was of that day, and to really engage them about school.”
Parents give Reece much of the credit for the school’s popularity. “She’s a fabulous principal,” says Beth D’Arcy, whose fourth child will follow her siblings to Bradley Hills in the fall. “She’s there to greet the kids every day at the curb, in every kind of weather.”
D’Arcy says that while Reece has made changes in her first few years at the school, its strong teaching staff has always been impressive. “I can honestly say I’ve liked every teacher we’ve had,” she says.
BURNING TREE
503 students, 34 classroom teachers, grades K-5
Parents at Burning Tree Elementary hear about schools that are not welcoming to parents, but they have no idea what that is like. “They really encourage parents to get involved,” says Olivia Lai, parent of a fourth grader and president of the school’s PTA. “Parents can get into the classroom pretty much anytime. Everyone there feels like education is a real partnership between the parents and the staff.”
Because of that, parents stay busy organizing a host of special activities and events. Burning Tree’s students have enjoyed a circus-themed math day, with booths that featured special giveaways for solving math problems, a science fair with judges from the National Academy of Sciences and an international night. With a large international population at the school, the night featured costumes, food and traditions from more than 50 countries.
“It’s really nice for my children to be in classes with kids from all over the world,” says Lai. “They’re getting a fantastic education.”
The school’s teachers place a lot of emphasis on public speaking, and children are encouraged to present everything from book reports to plays in front of their classmates. One class this year presented their own version of a wax museum, with children dressed as their favorite historical figures, offering verbal presentations on those people. Parents were invited and the day was popular with both families and students.
“We’re constantly asking them to talk about what they’re reading, what they’re thinking, and to solve problems,” says Principal Helen Chaset. “We give them a lot of practice talking. And the teachers are very good at creating motivating kinds of group experiences where the kids get up in front of others to speak.”
CARDEROCK
312 students, 20 classroom teachers, grades K-5
Children at Carderock Springs can anticipate learning everything on the county’s official curriculum to be sure, but they also spend a lot of time talking about values and what it means to be a decent person in society.
“The guidance counselor and the principal have monthly Pillars of Ethics,” says PTA President Maxine Schnitzer. “Every month, we focus on a different pillar. The counselor goes into the classrooms and has weekly sessions to talk with the children about respect: What does it mean to have respect? How can we model respectful behavior? They do a lot of role-playing: When we start talking out of turn, is that respectful behavior? We’re constantly meeting with the children and talking about what it means to be respectful, what it means to be a good friend, what it means to be loyal, what it means to be honest.”
The school also places a strong emphasis on writing skills—starting in first grade, students are required to produce pieces of independent writing, whether in the form of poetry, haiku or narrative. Parents volunteer in the classroom to provide one-on-one support for these activities, helping children edit and perfect pieces that teachers have reviewed.
Principal Susan MacLaughlin says she spent a good bit of the summer before her first year at the school meeting with parents to find out what they liked and what changes needed to be made. She’s led Carderock Springs for three years now, and continues to hold those meetings and make changes based on parents’ input.
One of those changes was to institute a daily homework e-mail that goes to parents of children in grades three through five. It outlines the day’s homework along with upcoming projects and other information. “Communication is important,” says MacLaughlin. “Parents know what’s going on and they can help support their children.”
WESTBROOK
318 students, 27 classroom teachers, grades K-5
“We are one of the few elementary schools in the county that is a true neighborhood school,” says PTA President Renee Kannapell of Westbrook Elementary. “Parents love that fact. Almost all of the children can walk to school and so a lot of parents see each other on a daily basis. “The teachers are well-supplied and they have a lot of support from our principal,” she says. “They do some amazing programs.”
The programs include a fourth-grade unit about the Chesapeake Bay during which students visit St. Mary’s City, talk about the watershed and ways to improve its health, and complete hands-on experiments and projects.
Westbrook welcomes visits from Bethesda’s Imagination Stage for special drama activities. The school also participates in the Mad Science program, which offers participatory science activities and unique science equipment to its students. Kids take part in after-school classes in everything from photography, cartooning and claymation to group piano lessons and tae kwon do instruction.
Principal John Ewald says he tries to be visible in the school’s halls. He invites parents to a monthly coffee to talk, and holds monthly student powwows, where he asks the children how they’re doing and what the school might change to make their lives easier.
“I work to respond to all phone calls and e-mails within 24 hours, and to be as transparent and accessible as possible for staff, parents and students,” he says.
“It’s a very unique school,” says Kannapell, who has three children there in the first, third and fourth grades. “It’s going to be very sad for me, and probably for my son as well, to move on after next year.”
WYNGATE
523 students, 33 classroom teachers, grades K-5
Principal Barbara Leister laughs while talking about her leadership style. “I guess if you asked parents, you’d hear that I’m very direct,” she says. “But as a parent and a grandparent, I don’t ever want to hear about things last. So I work to keep them informed.” She does that through a biweekly school newsletter and by encouraging the teaching staff to send home similar documents once a month.
Every spring, Leister spends eight days meeting with parents to talk about any concerns they have. And she’s careful to spend much of her time walking the school’s halls and talking to students about what they do and don’t enjoy in school.
“I try to wear the shoes of the parent or the child or the teacher whenever they’re in my office and try to see the school from their point of view,” she says.
Leister clearly is on to something. The readers of Bethesda Magazine voted her “Best Elementary School Principal” in the January/February issue.
Parents say that Wyngate’s teachers are so accessible and so responsive to e-mails and phone calls that they often forget to mention that—they just take it for granted. “I always get an answer,” says parent Tacha Steimer. “I e-mailed a teacher one morning with a question and got an answer back before school even started.”
Beyond that, Steimer says, their evident happiness with the school carries over to students, who pick up on their good attitudes and emulate them. “The teachers are really dedicated,” she says. “They want to teach there. They like each other—it’s very collegial in the school. They’re there because they want to be there, period.”
Steimer says that beyond being an excellent school from an academic perspective, Wyngate also has a great sense of community. “You go for pick-up and it’s like social hour,” she says. “You can’t get out of there for 30minutes, but that’s in a very good way.”
Chevy Chase
NORTH CHEVY CHASE
306 students, 24 classroom teachers, grades 3-6
Students entering North Chevy Chase Elementary School in the morning had better be ready to greet Principal Gary Bartee, and do so while looking him in the eye in a respectful manner.
Bartee greets each student every morning, says PTA President Eden Durbin, and if the kids don’t look him in the eye, he’ll bring them back to do it again. “He’s really checking in with them,” she says. “He’s looking to see if they’re ready to learn that day, if they’re in a good place to start the day.
“A friend of mine had a fourth grader in a very anxious patch this year,” she continues. “Mr. Bartee would shake the child’s hand every morning, look him right in the eye and check in with him. If he could tell the child was on shaky ground, he’d have the counselor right there and they’d start the day by talking things out and figuring out where the anxieties were.”
For his part, Bartee says it’s a practice he started 12 years ago and finds extremely helpful in shaping the day. “You can miss people sometimes,” he says. “They may be the stars academically. It might be the kid who’s just quiet, doing everything he’s supposed to do every day [who] people don’t notice. I don’t ever want to miss one child.”
Each student takes advantage of special programs designed to enhance learning through hands-on activities. Fifth graders worked with senior citizens this year to present their life stories, and parents were invited to come hear the final stories being presented.
“One parent told me recently that they thought this was a happy place,” says Durbin. “Teachers are really committed to that. The children feel like it’s a happy, safe place for them. And it’s fun!”
SOMERSET
374 students, 27 classroom teachers, grades K-5
Fourth graders at Somerset Elementary School spent a good part of this year’s science class time learning about the Chesapeake Bay and its environmental health. As part of that, they learned about the impact plastic grocery bags have on the bay when they’re not disposed of properly.
When it came time to choose their service project for the year, the decision was a no-brainer. To help take some of their community’s plastic bags out of circulation and out of the watershed, the students worked together to order and sell 500 reusable fabric shopping bags printed with the school logo.
All students at Somerset participate in a service learning project that combines community involvement with lessons learned in school. First graders work with staff at the Children’s Inn at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda to provide photo frames, door hangers and other craft items to families there. Second graders not only collect food for the Manna Food Center, but deliver the food and stock the shelves themselves— all while using their collections to enhance lessons on categorization and graphing.
“I feel like it’s a very warm place,” says PTA President Iona Klayman. “The teachers really make an effort to interact with the students. And the teaching quality is excellent.”
“We share a belief that our kids can succeed,” says Principal Laurie Gross of the school’s teachers. “Every grade level has a service learning project. Our kids get a chance to do for others while they learn, and we think that’s part of what makes them wonderful people.”
