March Elementary School

My two children attended March. They both received an excellent education. The small size of the school allowed us to get to know the teachers, staff, and other parents well. The teachers are dedicated and the staff is friendly and efficient. The PTA is active, supporting events such as Odyssey of the Mind. The PTA is also active at school board meetings, representing the voices of the parents. The music program is excellent, with the opportunity for choral and instrumental instruction as well as large-group performance. Instrument lessons are free and there is an instrument scholarship program for lower income families. The student body is fairly diverse in terms of ethnicity, background, and preschool preparation level. We were happy to have our children engaging with so many students from backgrounds that differ from ours. My guess is that some of the school's lower test scores reflect this diversity and the challenges that are inherent in it, but I know that many of the students are achieving at a very high level and go on to be very successful at the junior high and high school levels. If you live in the neighborhood, traveling to and from March is an easy walk. Many students are walkers so the parents have a built-in opportunity to mingle before and after school. There is also a sizable population of students who ride the bus from other parts of the city. The teacher turnover rate has been higher than ideal for the past few years due to budget issues across the Easton school system, but I don't believe that the quality of instruction has suffered significantly. One exception is the enrichment program that is available for students who are in need of individualized instruction (either far behind or far ahead), which has varied in quality over the years as the instructors have changed.