Melwood Elementary School

Posted: July 30, 2025

My daughter has attended Melwood from kindergarten - 2nd grade and I must say that the experience as a parent sending my daughter to school for her first years, has been a nightmare. This is the worst school and I would not recommend to absolutely anybody. They are completely unorganized, there are extremely too many students to 1 teacher, & the cleanliness of the school is just sad. Teachers are overwhelmed, they hate their jobs, the interactions I’ve had with teachers and staff are absolutely baffling. The only person with professionalism in this school is the new principal. The administrators have put my daughter on the bus 3x and she had a yellow tag attached to her backpack her entire duration at Melwood that states she’s a car rider. However I had to find my daughter and pressure them to find her at dismissal several times because they had no idea where my child was. Each time she was on a BUS ! One time about to pull off and go God knows where ! At the time she was 6 years old and completely unaware of where we live, bus stops/routes/ etc. and the school was completely careless. One incident within the last year is her teachers being completely overwhelmed that they failed to send out requested paperwork, homework, or even invitations to award ceremonies. My daughter received honor roll 3x last year and one teacher failed to send out the personal invitation so we missed the awards ceremony for my daughter. She was very disappointed to not see me there. While my daughter was in this class, she would sometimes forget her backpack or homework in her cubby. Her teacher would not remind her and treat her like she’s in middle school. He told me i need to come pick the homework up everyday, bc he essentially doesn’t have time to make sure his student has her homework before leaving the classroom. lol I removed my child from that teachers class and they put her in the 2nd grade directors class. Which was an even worse nightmare. She was just as overwhelmed and also failed to tell us about the awards ceremony. Each parent is supposed to receive an invitation to come to the ceremony for their child and we didn’t get them. The teacher told me that I can watch my daughter on zoom. Just unprofessional and unfortunate these are the teachers responsible for our kids. Choose a better school. This isn’t it.

Posted: July 30, 2025

Posted: July 30, 2025

Posted: July 30, 2025

Posted: July 30, 2025

Posted: July 30, 2025

Posted: July 30, 2025

Posted: July 30, 2025

Posted: July 13, 2017

Posted: July 13, 2017

Posted: July 13, 2017

Posted: July 13, 2017

Posted: July 13, 2017

Posted: July 13, 2017

Posted: July 13, 2017

I firmly believe that all children have the capacity to learn and grow academically, and all children have the right to a high quality education that is immersed in rigorous practices and reaches the levels of exponential excellence. This sentence is the foundation of my philosophy and is the catalyst for why I wanted to be in education. In an ever changing World, it is our duty to make sure that our children have the necessary skills, tools and knowledge they need in order to be vibrant, productive citizens of tomorrow. Through a level of rigor that will not only challenge our children academically, but also stimulate them to think outside of the box can we as Melwood educators guarantee that our children will be ready for the challenges to come. As principal, it is my passion to build, model and empower educators so that they can un-tap the secrets deep within our scholar’s minds.

As Melwood’s instructional leader I am accountable to my scholars, practitioners and you for developing, articulating, and implementing a vision of learning that is shared by all. I promise to provide instructional leadership through transparency and by monitoring and aligning curriculum and instruction through the purposeful alignment to PGCPS’ ‘Promise of 2020’. I will ensure that our positive culture for learning continues to spread through the school house and community, and in doing so will provide all our scholars with the highest level of instruction, leading them to reach their goals of academic excellence.

I ask for your support and active voice as we work together to better serve your children, our scholars. I promise you that every decision made at Melwood is done in the best interests of our scholars.

A. Dalton
Principal - Melwood Elementary School

Posted: May 8, 2017

Posted: May 8, 2017

My family made the choice to enroll our children at Melwood. With all the "horror" stories you hear about PGCPS, please do not believe them! My children have not only enjoyed going to school every day, but they have excelled academically, socially and emotionally. I must admit I was nervous and did not know what to expect, especially after coming from a smaller school. Plus, I had developed a relationship/communication with Dr. Fossett and she was promoted, so I needed to get to know Mr. Dalton, but we have been pleased and have no regrets. The teachers communicate daily, they teach our children to be active learners, take responsibility for their own actions and learn globally. My 1st grader has come home asking if he could get a passport and travel to Japan, China, Asia- all around the world. He is engaged in his learning, increased his reading and math skills. My older child, has learned to be responsible for his work, takes initiative to study on his own (without reminders from me nor his dad), cares about his peers. This school is not only a school, but a family. Ms. McFarland, school counselor is the BEST! I've never have met a counselor who will follow-up with parents on any situation that may occur with their child. She engages with the children and they love her. They care about every child who walks into the door and will go extra lengths to be sure each child succeeds. As I walk into the doors of Melwood, the hallways are quiet, office staff friendly, and everyone has a smile on their face. I can continue to go on about the greatness of this school. I am a proud parent of Melwood!

Posted: April 24, 2017

My child is a 3rd grader at Melwood. I love everything about the school. Leadership is so important. When Mrs. Fosset left, I wont lie I was concerned because she set the bar so high. However new principal Mr. Dalton is amazing. He's very approachable and the energy of the school has not changed. Very smooth transition. I love the frequent communication between my child's teacher and I. I love that she is always up to date on schoolmax so there are never surprises as far as grades.

Melwood has set the bar high for me and no other school in PGCPS compares!

Posted: April 13, 2015

This year has been my first experience with the Prince George's Country public school system. I had heard horror stories over the years; however, to my great surprise, under the leadership of Mrs. Fossett, Melwood Elementary School's staff members have dispelled all of those negative myths! Mrs. Fossett has demonstrated the perfect combination of no-nonsense professionalism coupled with deep care and nurturing for the students. With Mrs. Fossett's leadership style and the excellent tutelage of Ms. Williams, my kindergarten scholar has excelled! As a "new learner" she has embraced the importance of her academic studies and has developed a desire to continuously excel. I sincerely appreciate the Melwood Elementary School staff for their hard work and dedication. I especially appreciate Mrs. Fossett and Ms. Williams' dedication, professionalism, accessibility, responsiveness, and willingness to go above and beyond they are exceptional representatives for the entire Prince Georges County school system! I applaud you!

Posted: March 25, 2015

My children are excelling at Melwood Elementary School! My son had difficulties at his prior school, he was almost retained. His teachers were very harsh and tense. This year, his teacher is more hands-on, and keeps me informed. My son's grades are almost the complete opposite to last year! My daughter is in kindergarten and she is blossoming as well. The first day of school was so exciting! Ms. Manners (dance instructor, THE BEST dance instructor) had children at the front door playing drums to greet all students, parents and staff. The school was nicely decorated. The staff members were all on their posts with huge smiles and in their "flight" themed outfits. Amazing! The school has many activities to keep the children and parents involved and excited. My son plays trumpet, they are both in the Good News Club, they have dance weekly, media time, Spanish.....we truly enjoy being the parents of Melwood Hawk scholars!!

Posted: September 6, 2014

All I can is WOW, the staff is really on point and show great concern for the children. Back to school night covered all areas from lunch to bullying. I fill my child is safe. Jobs well done!

Posted: May 11, 2014

Caring teachers and lots of individual attention. Schools get such a bad reputation in Prince Georges but this school is an undiscovered gem.

Posted: December 17, 2013

The school has had some issue due to the inclement weather.The buses dont come on time or they just dont come at all.They have to fix this because if the weather the children have to sit out in the cold until the bus comes. I dont feel that that is right. They could possibly freeze to death.Other than that the school is great

Posted: November 11, 2013

The school allows bullying, there are many children with behavioral issues and being medicated for their issues. These children bully other students and know problematic children. These children pick fights recess and are not expelled or disciplined. If your child is the victim and you complain, the school will target your child and try to put them on a "counseling plan" which is a paper trail to mark your child as a problem child. The classes are over crowed. The staff is very unprofessional.

Posted: August 11, 2013

I love the teachers my child have had so far and the principal is awesome. My child have some reading disabilities and the teachers involve have been great in helping her to achieve what is needed to get her back on task and stay on task.

Posted: November 15, 2010

I used to go to this school now my kid is going to that school and I really love it .

Posted: March 22, 2010

This school could be much better if it had a total administration make over. I have to admit that there are a few staff members that are truly concern about the students. But they need more parents to become more involved in their child(ren) education and behavior. Parents need to become advocates for their child(ren). If this occurred, then this school would be much better because they will be force to their jobs accordingly. There are a lot of kids struggling with classwork and teachers are stating and thinking that the child is 'just lazy'. I am pretty sure that I am not the only parent who has heard that from a staff member at that school. But, That is not the case. That child may have a learning disability and is unable express his/her needs.

Posted: February 23, 2010

My kids love going to school and i am impressed with their academic progress. I love the mixed culture and the obviously caring staff. Off course I would like to see more extra cullicular activities and special programs, but the basics are great, now WE need to work on the icing on the cake.

Posted: February 21, 2010

My children have attended this school for 5 years and I've seen some good and not so good factors. More support to the curent Administration is needed. The PTA needs an entire makeover and a new approach; please step into the new millennium. More enrichment programs are also needed. Region IV, MUST DO BETTER!!!! The only thing that is currently saving parent & student moral is the fact the most of the teachers are caring and compassionate.

Posted: December 2, 2009