Unfortunately, a lot of the things you mentioned having problems with are going to be common wherever you go, especially at competitive studios, such as parents not being allowed in the room during class, not seeing costumes until they arrive, long rehearsal hours, and an overworked counter staff (since a lot of the time, the office staff at studios are parents of dance students themselves). I moved here from PG and the studios there all had pretty much the same ground rules.
It really depends on what you're looking for in terms of genre of dance for your child. Abigail Francisco's School of Classical Ballet is going to help you avoid a lot of the above problems because they don't have competitive groups, and so aren't stressing about that three or four times a year. However, Abigail's is really a classical ballet focus (Vaganova method, specifically); if you want your kid doing jazz, tap, lyrical, etc. they should be going elsewhere.
As to why you might be getting those answers when you ask about costumes, the truth is there really are a lot of groups (at least for most studios). Also, the people at the counter won't usually have a picture, since a lot of the time , the director or teacher picks it from their own costume catalogs. (There's no need for them to be rude about it though.)
In my own personal opinion (someone with experience at the other studios should jump in with info on the other Calvert studios), you're not going to get better quality than Julie Roger's or Calvert School of Dance, at least in Calvert County. Those are competitive studios, that teach many kinds of dance, the teachers and directors and choreographers are very high quality. However, the thing with competitive studios is that the directors rule with a pretty iron fist, and the competition groups tend to take priority, particularly for older students (age 10+).
Hope this helps. It really depends on what you want for your child. Please feel free to message me if you have any other questions about dance in Calvert County.
