Esperanza Middle School

22790 Maple Road

Lexington Park, MD 20653

School District

St. Mary's County Public Schools
Grade

6-8
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:16
Type

public

School Map for St. Mary's County Public Schools

GreatSchools Rating

The school rating calculation is based on four ratings: the Student Progress Rating or Academic Progress Rating, College Readiness Rating, Equity Rating, and Test Score Rating each designed to show different facets of school success. Learn more about GreatSchools Ratings

Reviews

Submitted by parent on December 14, 2023

This school has gotten so bad over the years. I honestly wish my kids didn't have to attend, but unfortunately, given the district we live in, this is the middle school they need to attend. This school is horrible when it comes to your kids getting bullied or harassed. The administration dance around the issues, and until you make some kind of threat, they don't care to resolve anything. Get the BOE copied in emails, or make a threat to go to the school and all of a sudden things get taken care of momentarily. Students are allowed to call your kid derogatory names, harass your kid, throw things at your kid, etc. and they barely bat an eye. But your kid does something back finally after taking it for so long, and all of a sudden they want to discipline your kid. This school is such a joke. They don't follow their own policies, but expect the students to.
Submitted by other on September 05, 2023

My son attended this school a few years ago. Most of the teachers were knowledgeable and dedicated. The real problem was the administration and the arrogant behavior that characterized many of its representatives. I had the disgrace to take part in a meeting for my son; that meeting was, to say the list, a circus. No other comment.
Submitted by student on April 18, 2018

I dislike this school very much. I just moved here, but never have I ever disrespected teachers or a school in general. The teachers at this school gave me pressure that not even I can deal with. When you are sick, they tell you to go to the nurse and if the nurse says you don’t have a fever, she doesn’t give sympathy and makes you go back to a clas to deal with. Teachers also don’t like it when you ask too many questions. They think you are being annoying and tell you. Some of my friends from school have experienced teachers who yell at them directly for no reason and my friend have an anxiety attack because of that. I have gotten in trouble for reading because I was supposed to be doing work for home room, but I finished all of it and she said I couldn’t read and made me sit in the front of the room. Substitutes aren’t proper teachers. They are teachers from other classrooms trying to substitute other subjects that they have no idea about. One substitute called us dogs and verbally yelled at us and said horrble things. The school gives no time for student appreciation and teachers are constantly eating in front of us. Therefore I think this school is not recommendable.
Submitted by parent on December 08, 2014

This school is an amazing place to send your child too. The teachers are great and so is the office staff. The principal is just wonderful. My child is so very happy that she goes here. The only thing negative i have to say is that the art teacher is not so nice to really anyone in her classes and she is really so strict its ridicules. She has called me about my child ripping unwanted paper up and throwing it away. The art teacher complained about the noise my daughter was making with ripping the paper. And then proceeded to give my daughter a demarit. Othet that that I really love this school they handle bullying problems right away too. Its a great school.
Submitted by parent on November 25, 2014

The administration at this school is terrible about dealing with and confronting the bullies that have been harassing our child at this school. The blame always seems to be put back on my child. Yes I know my child is not innocent, but when your daughter goes to the bathroom to be confronted on multiple occasions and told they were going to beat her up...it really makes your child feel unsafe. Our child was physically assaulted at this school as well by a boy, police report on file. Bullies leaving notes in my child's locker(obviously shoved through the vent holes), but when we asked for them to check the camera footage...our child's locker is too far away to see who was tormenting our child. Our advice...do your research and make the extra effort to possibly go to a private school instead.
Submitted by parent on May 22, 2014

Everyone said this was a better school than Spring Ridge. WRONG. I have had children in three different middle schools in two states, and I found the administration at this school to be appalling. If my child dressed the way the principal does, she would never leave home. And, during one 504 meeting where I tried to express my concerns about things that were affecting my son's overall experience at school, I was told that it was an academic meeting and was not the forum for those concerns. Did you know bullying and executive function issues don't affect academics?! The "revised" 504 plan was shoved under my face and I was told to sign. End of discussion. I later talked with a friend who is a high school administrator in another state who assured me that my concerns were definitely valid for discussing in that venue. My daughter was also bullied there, something she has not experienced since we have left the area. If it hadn't been for the chorus teacher and the positive influence she was simply by nature, I would have homeschooled my daughter. As if middle school weren't hard enough, this had to be the worst.
Submitted by other on March 17, 2014

Honestly, I love this school, but one day, I got slapped for opening a bus window by some girl for no reason and my teacher encouraged me to write a report, so I did and no teacher or principal has done anything and I had this red mark on my face.
Submitted by parent on January 18, 2014

My school's academics is a joke. All they are focused on is the MSA's and we learn absolutely nothing. You will be totally unprepared for high school and wont get into college if you arent in honors classes. The principal is the worst. They dont care about challenging the students at all.
Submitted by other on June 07, 2013

I hate the school. There are too many stupid mistakes that the teachers make on grading. Not to mention the constant fights that happen constantly. And the school does a TERRIBLE job informing parents and students of upcoming events
Submitted by parent on July 07, 2011

We were not happy with this school and made the decision to pull our child out after one year here. Unless your child is lucky enough to get placed in honors classes then they will not get a fair education. Only kids who are in honors math get placed into classes such as Spanish or other good classes. If you move here during the year they will place them in whatever class they have space for, which means your kid can be placed in lower classes just because that is where the space is available. Although this might be one of the better schools in the area as far as public education goes, that does not mean it is a good school by most standards.