Schools

[mercsburgh]

Relocating into the area. In your opinion which schools are the best and should I base my move on them. I have three children all of school age elementary, middle and soon to be high school. I'm looking at either Southern Calvert County or St. Mary's. I'm finding out that I can get more house in the Lexington Park area but have heard negative things about the area schools. Park Hall, Spring Ridge and Great Mills VS Appeal, Mill Creek and Patuxent High. Is it worth the extra commute? Are Calvert schools better than St. Mary's? Please help and give me your thoughts on what I should do.

 

[vraiblonde]

I, personally, would live in Calvert. But St. Mary's has nice parts, too - just not Lexington Park. Maybe in the Hollywood and California areas, and Leonardtown.

 

[CMC122]

Where will you be commuting to for work?

 

[AK-74me]

I, personally, would live in Calvert. But St. Mary's has nice parts, too - just not Lexington Park. Maybe in the Hollywood and California areas, and Leonardtown.

 

[MMDad]

I, personally, would live in Calvert. But St. Mary's has nice parts, too - just not Lexington Park. Maybe in the Hollywood and California areas, and Leonardtown.

My kids are headed toward those schools. My daughter is at Patuxent elementary now, and my wife taught at Patuxent high. I commute all the way to St. Inigoes (40 min.), but the schools are the reason I don't move closer. The test scores, including SAT scores back that up.

I would never consider living in Lexington Park again.

 

[MysticalMom]

Avoid Spring Ridge Middle School and Great Mills High like the plague. If I could afford it my kids would be in private school.

 

[mrweb]

I, personally, would live in Calvert. But St. Mary's has nice parts, too - just not Lexington Park. Maybe in the Hollywood and California areas, and Leonardtown.

All the schools have their issues. Personally I was satisfied with Mill Creek and Patuxent High. Patuxent High School has a very strong arts program (which may be take a hit due to standardized testing and this wonderful "No Child Left Behind" stuff). It is, however, a tad more expensive in Calvert, for example gas and groceries. Still, I am happy in Calvert.

 

[mercsburgh]

Commute

Where will you be commuting to for work?

St. Inigoes

 

[MysticalMom]

St. Inigoes

Best town in the county.

 

[onebdzee]

Avoid Spring Ridge Middle School and Great Mills High like the plague. If I could afford it my kids would be in private school.

Ok....from my teenagers point of view about the High Schools

Great Mills High, also known as Ghetto Mills, has too many fights and the teachers "just don't give a sh!t about anyone but the smart kids"....have to agree with MysticalMom....avoid it like the plague

Leonardtown High(don't think there is a nickname?).....drama, drama, drama....emotionally draining for a teenager

Chopticon High....also known as Cow pie high....farmers, not too much drama, not too much fighting, a lot of "rich kids"

 

[sinwagon]

One thing that I like about the Patuxent/Appeal elementary that most relocating here do not know is that Patuxent Elementary is only k-2nd grade and Appeal is 3rd-5th. I think that is great! I moved here when my daughter was in 3rd and wish I had moved sooner for this very reason!

Not to mention, Ms. Haynie the principal at Appeal Elementary is excellant! She changed the times for the classes around when my daughter was there. The subjects that the children seemed to have the most problem or the school tested the weakest in got a few more minutes than those in which students performed better. She is wonderful! She is so down to earth and caring! My daugter came here from AA county and had issues in Math and AA county did not have special classes for math, only reading so she continued to fall behind. She is still slightly behind but has improved greatly! This is mainly due to the great teachers at Appeal (Ms. Mackall, Ms. Bylan, Ms. Turlington, Ms. Volack)and ofcourse the drive and support of Ms. Haynie.

So far Middle School at southern has been a struggle. I don't believe it has anything to do with the teachers, I just think the first year of middle school can make you or break you with all the changes. Next year I think will be much easier.

I think Patuxent High School is a great school. Sometimes there are a bit of "politics" involved with their policies and sports but for the most part it is very fair. Not too much trouble going on there and it seems to be very close knit as far as high schools go.

ALOT of scholarships come out of Patuxent for various sports and academics. I think it would be a wise choice to move into this school district.

 

[huntr1]

Calvert schools are generally better than St. Mary's.

North St. Mary's is generally better than South St. Mary's.

Our kid(s) go(es) to Lettie Dent Elem. which is the highest rated elem. school in St. Mary's from what I understand.

If I could have afforded Calvert, I woulda bought there.

 

[luvvme]

Well, I only see the obvious replies post so far(avoid Great Mills blah blah blah)...

Honestly, Would I send my children to GM? Yes. Do you wanna know why?because if you teach your kids right they will not fall in with the wrong crowd so all of the drama and fighting that occurs at all of the schools in this area would not be an issue. I graduated from Great Mills and I will be the first to admit that its not the greatest but neither are any of the others Leonardtown,Ryken, or Chopticon. A majority of my graduating class did go on to college or join the military. It all boils down to the character of your children either they are going to settle down and do their work, join clubs, play sports(you know all the things that you are supposed to do in high school) or they are gonna go wild --- and they can go wild in any school.

Middle schools - I went to Spring Ridge Would I send my kids there probably not--too much drama ...I don't like the way the staff does things

As far as Elem. Schools you mentioned Park Hall ...I live right beside it and I went there a few years --its ok. My mom works at White Marsh(in mechanicsville/charlotte hall) she seems to like the way they do things much better than her old school Carver.


Really I wouldn't want to send my kids to any school in this county--my suggestion-- Move close to Waldorf and send you kids to those schools(I know u work in St. Inigoes and thats a long commute my dad works in st Inigoes thats why we live in Park Hall) --really I mean that.

 

[Christy]

Well, I only see the obvious replies post so far(avoid Great Mills blah blah blah)...

Honestly, Would I send my children to GM? Yes. Do you wanna know why?because if you teach your kids right they will not fall in with the wrong crowd so all of the drama and fighting that occurs at all of the schools in this area would not be an issue. I graduated from Great Mills and I will be the first to admit that its not the greatest ....

Why, if given the choice ahead of time, would you choose to send your child to a school that you yourself would consider as "not the greatest". :shrug:

Personally, I'm not big on ANY public school, so we suck it up and pay for private school. :shrug:

 

[MysticalMom]

Honestly, Would I send my children to GM? Yes. Do you wanna know why?because if you teach your kids right they will not fall in with the wrong crowd so all of the drama and fighting that occurs at all of the schools in this area would not be an issue. I graduated from Great Mills and I will be the first to admit that its not the greatest but neither are any of the others Leonardtown,Ryken, or Chopticon. A majority of my graduating class did go on to college or join the military. It all boils down to the character of your children either they are going to settle down and do their work, join clubs, play sports(you know all the things that you are supposed to do in high school) or they are gonna go wild --- and they can go wild in any school.

I'll agree with this. I have no choice but to send my kids to these schools. I have 2 girls in Spring Ridge. And 1 getting ready to graduate from Great Mills. They're good girls. I've had no drama with THEM specifically. They have a good goal oriented group of friends and are honor roll students. It really DOES depend alot on raising good kids.

While I personally hate the general "atmosphere" of both schools and the BS drives me nuts(bomb threats constantly..some real ahole punk kids...the fights...the drama..the TERRIBLE admin.) my girls are coming through unscathed and are, with the help of their parents, decently educated.

 

[janey83]

I graduated from Great Mills about 5 years ago, and while there are problems, if your kids are focused on schoolwork and don't fall in with the bad crowd, then they'll do fine. GMHS offers AP classes, honors, and CM courses. Athletics are decent too, well when I was there, they were. Every school has problems, that's a given. I went to GMHS and I just graduated from college. :shrug:

 

[MMDad]

I graduated from Great Mills about 5 years ago, and while there are problems, if your kids are focused on schoolwork and don't fall in with the bad crowd, then they'll do fine. GMHS offers AP classes, honors, and CM courses. Athletics are decent too, well when I was there, they were. Every school has problems, that's a given. I went to GMHS and I just graduated from college. :shrug:

Tell them what you learned to swap at GMHS...

 

[janey83]

Tell them what you learned to swap at GMHS...

that was college, and I never went through with it

 

[LexiGirl75]

Welcome to the county of saints

You have to think about what type of people you and your children are.

Two things to know is that you can move somewhere in St Mary's and culture shock them or you can move somewhere and stifle them with boredom.

If I have it right the cities go something like this as far as Beverly Hills to Compton.

Leonardtown, Hollywood, Mechanicsville, California, and Lexington Park. The rest is either farm life, military world, or fishermen turf.

Personally, I like it here in Lex Pk and so does my youngest son. Oldest one didn't stay even a year and moved back with Dad. The youngest's school is nice. We've experienced school spirit like you would see it on the Disney channel and so I am impressed.

On the other hand I don't know what the future holds but from what I gather the two middle schools in Lex Pk have either always been scary or have recently gotten worse. If it could get under control and turned around I would stay.

I truly believe in public education because it's the real world from a child's view and is a great start to getting survivor skills. Most children are a reflection of their home-life and a collaboration of unique souls in a safe and balanced atmosphere can help children discover themselves.

At the same time if a school has issues with guns, threats, gang-fights (organized/unorganized) then of course that is not a safe nor balanced environment and of course you wouldn't send your children to these places.

So, don't only consider the good areas/schools vs. the bad but think about what your children need. Maybe you will discover that they want/need a healthy mixture of both. Most children do.

Good luck

 

[Abby]

Schools can vary in many different ways, of course, and some get the crap deals. But like was mentioned, if you teach your kids well they'll be ok.

However, if you have a choice of areas to move to, I'd pick Calvert. I grew up in Anne Arundel, where the schools are a nightmare and half the seniors are undercover DEA. I sent my son to school down here fully expecting to be disappointed in what I found. But who knew? The teachers are cooperative, the programs proactive and the schools are reasonably well-equipped. Don't know about St. Mary's, but I've been very satisfied with the schools here and our son is happy- so much so that I finally relented after five years and told my husband we don't have to move back north.

To be honest, I was resisting the inevitable- he's an original. I know now we weren't moving anywhere. This place is like a black hole- once you enter the event horizon, you're never coming out.