Marley Elementary School

My son, who just completed 4th grade, transferred to Marley at the start of the 4th quarter of Kindergarten. Every single teacher he has had at Marley has taken their time to learn his specific learning style and adapt to it. In particular, Mrs. Dennsteadt, his 4th grade teacher, has made a true difference in my son s life. He had her as a teacher a previous year, so we requested her again as soon as we learned she was moving to 4th grade. Mrs. Dennsteadt is an effective and fun teacher. She even invited my son to stay in class after school on Wednesdays, because she knew I got off work early on Wednesdays and would be able to pick him up, for the 5 weeks leading up to the MSA (MD State Assessment) exam, for 1 on 1 tutoring to prepare him for the test. She did this, she explained, because he was so close to grasping the concepts and strategies from class, and she knew that with a little extra one-on-one reinforcement he would fully understand. That, in my opinion, is a completely dedicated teacher who truly cares about each individual student, and we are SO LUCKY that my son had Mrs. Dennsteadt as a teacher for 2 years!!!! We love Marley Elementary AND Mrs. Dennsteadt!
--Submitted by a parent

It's a great school. The teachers and students are very diverse from different backgrounds...I think that is very important to grow up to be a tolerant person. My son has thrived, their speech program is great and they deserve this money for what they do for our kids.
--Submitted by a parent

My daughter is in 2nd grade and is having such a hard time compared to first grade. She has had trouble with a student in her class all year and neither her teacher or other faculty have made the correct changes to separate the children correctly. After it has drastically affected one child's ability to pay attention and numerous visits to the principals office they would do SOMETHING. After being moved to totally opposite sides of the room and the kid still won't leave her alone what are they going to do? Nothing. I am totally dissapointed with this school this year. Well...last year she was marked absent every time she was even late for school (5-15 minutes) and it took them 2 marking periods to fix it.
--Submitted by a parent

I have a son in the third grade at Marley Ele. He's attended since the 1st grade. When he arrived to Marley he could not read. He now reads at an above 6th grade level. He is excellent in math too. Mrs. Escobar has done an excelleny job with my son. He has ADHD,and she doesn't want him medicated. She has great patience with him and encourages him to do his best. I love this school. My oldest son,nieces and nephew also attended Marley.
--Submitted by a parent

I have a son in Kindergarten. This is his second year of kindergarten, as he was not ready to progress to the first grade this time last year. Last year he was in Mrs. Chesek's class, which is a level 5 class for children with special needs. My son is autistic with ADHD as well. The time and attenion that Mrs. Chesek and the teacher's aides gave to my son was incredible. Even though I had to make the hard decision to hold him back a year, he was able to progress to a regular kindergarten class this year, with the extra help needed in specific areas. Now he's definitly ready to go to the first grade this coming school year and I have the teacher's and staff at Marley Elementary to thank for that.
--Submitted by a parent

My experience has not been good. I had 2 children that needed early intervention and I had to write a letter to the principle to get started on trying to help them. I do not like the fact that the school psychologist insisted on medicating my son before he was even tested for learning disablities. They refuse to keep children back a year that may indeed need to take the year over again. They claim 'statistics' tell them not to hold a child back. My son has been pushed aside. This is not a problem with the teachers, but with the management of the school. Children who begin to fall behind should be indentified immediately and help with all available resources instead of waiting for parents to request meetings.
--Submitted by a parent

I have a daughter in Marley Ele. and she loves the school and so do I. She is in third grade and never needed any extra help with anything until this year. Her teacher Ms. Quinn reconized that my daughter was having a comprehension problem and immediatley got her extra help. That's what I love-a school that takes the inititive to reconize problems and do anything to rectify it.
--Submitted by Lisa Morgha, a parent