Belmont Elementary School

19528 Olney Mill Road

Olney, MD 20832

School District

Montgomery County Public Schools
Grade

K-5
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:14
Type

public

School Map for Montgomery 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 September 24, 2023

14 years ago, we moved into the area and I obsessively reviewed the school sites in order to pick the house with the best cluster of schools. Belmont was rated very highly. We visited the school and it felt like the right fit for my kids. We purchased a house in the cluster. Looking back on it, it was not a good choice for my children. My son's 1st-2nd grade teachers were very good but 3rd-5th were terrible. He was struggling and the teachers said it was attitude. We knew it wasn't and after researching his symptoms and finding the best doctors, he was diagnosed with extreme anxiety and ADHD. Even after the diagnosis, the teachers didn't believe us and it took us way too long to get the 504 plan locked down. My husband and I would leave meeting after meeting with the teachers and principal extremely frustrated. Throughout the years, I've heard horrible stories from my daughter about the teachers at Belmont. I wished she would have told me these things at the time so I could have confronted these teachers. The teachers at Rosa Parks and Sherwood High School were completely different. They respected 504 plans and appreciated parent outreach.What's so interesting is that Sherwood High School was rated the lowest in the cluster scale but both of my children had very positive high school experiences with their teachers and excelled academically. Both are in top colleges now.Here's my advice to the moms out there who are trying to pick the right schools for your children - ask questions to see if the school teaches to everyone or just the high performers. If I could go back in time, I would ask how teachers ensure that everyone is learning. The moms who loved Belmont had children who did very well academically and didn't need extra help. If your child may need some extra help, make sure the support and motivation to provide it is there. Despite our unhappiness with Belmont, there were many good teachers in middle and high school who made a big difference for our children.
Submitted by parent on June 07, 2022

Belmont has a wonderful set of faculty that are dedicated to teaching these kids and keeping respect as a top priority.
Submitted by parent on June 07, 2016

An amazing gem of a school. Close knit community, active community and PTA, visible and hard working principal and staff. Fun events for the students.
Submitted by parent on May 12, 2016

Bunch of Racists. Person of color beware!!!horrible front office( with claws) and incompetent principal( dont be fooled by the fake smile) one grade u get good teacher, other grade not so good. Ur luck. PTA is huge, but whats the point if you even dont feel welcomed, and ur voices not being heard. Cant wait to move out of area.
Submitted by parent on August 11, 2015

Let me start with the teachers are great, but the administration and principal leave a lot to be desired. The principal did everything in his power to keep my 5 year old delayed daughter with a pretty demanding IEP out of his school because they did not want to and flat out said couldn't handle her IEP. Also my older daughter who is biracial was being picked on by classmates about being "black" and that it was not ok to be. Brought it to the schools attention and never heard back. My older daughter was also sexually harassed by a classmate and the principal refused to tell me what happened so I had to get the story from my child. Then when I called him to see what they were doing about it the principal told me that he and the parents of the boy were working on what they thought was an appropriate punishment. Seriously? If you ask the parents they aren't going to want their kid in trouble so why would you ask them to punish their child. This was not acceptable to me and since the school nor the parents ever required the child to apologize to me child for requesting her to perform a sexual act on him I went to the school with MCPS sexual harassment policy and demanded that they file sexual harassment papers. Since school was letting out the principal didn't want to be bothered with the paperwork, but o-well that's your job and if you aren't going to follow protocol then I will remind you what that it. As I stated previously the teachers are good, but if you need the office to help you with anything you better know how MCPS works and stand your ground. Parents and children are very clicky.
Submitted by parent on May 07, 2015

Moved to this school in the middle of the school yr from fairfax county, and absolutely love it. Principal is amazing, so are the teachers. Small community based school with excellent activities by PTA. My daughter looks forward to go to school every day, and thats the most important thing for me. The curriculum is great , my only complaint is that no foreign language is taught in montgomey county public schools. Thanks to the teachers , principal and Pta for all their dedication, keep up the good work.
Submitted by parent on November 23, 2014

Relocated from Rockville for this school and community. Love the Olney community and we love the small size of this school. The new principal is enthusiastic and is holding teachers accountable. He knows parents and students by name and the teachers vary by grade like any other school but what makes this school exceptional is its community and dedication to helping our children succeed not just in education but in life skills.
Submitted by parent on August 26, 2014

An outstanding school. The teachers work hard to make sure the needs of every child are met and the principal is enthusiastic and a very good listener. The PTA is very active and engaging. Couldn't be happier with our choice of schools.
Submitted by parent on July 19, 2014

My child just finished Kindergarten and it was a positive overall experience. Unfortunately, my child had a substitute because the regular teacher missed the entire year on maternity leave. The the sub was very caring and tried hard, but was just not up to par with the full-time teacher skill-wise. PTA registration is huge, as they very strongly urge you to join at the beginning of the year, like some sort of cult recruiting campaign. However, parental involvement really isn't any stronger (or weaker) than any other school. The facilities (infrastructure) are average at-best and I understand the school will be torn down in the next 3-4 yrs (something to think about). Fortunately we're not sticking around the area anyway. I think the 7 rating is accurate. I would prefer Cashell or Olney Elem, but that's not my district. The Olney community is full of friendly people but, frankly, it's nearly impossible to make new friends. People in this area prefer to stick to their own circle of friends and concentrate on work. A big reason we'll be leaving the area in the next year or so (we relocated from another state).
Submitted by parent on September 05, 2013

Great School, bring lot of support with students needs , excellent communication with teachers and all the staff ....love PTA they work very hard ,lots of PTA involvement
Submitted by parent on April 29, 2013

Belmont Elementary - Nice school with dated facilities. Decent staff with a few exceptional teachers. Class sizes are huge - my daughter has 29 students in her class. Teachers like (need/expect) lots of parent classroom volunteers. Like other MoCo Elementary Schools - constantly changing targets, testing and grading about every other year. I, P, ES for grades? Dopey! Teach to the MSAs so can't be particularly creative or innovative.
Submitted by parent on March 27, 2011

Lots of PTA involvment, All the teachers are very nice and helpful. Principal is just OK...