Moving do Baltimore area, where to live? (Ellicott City, Towson: schools, college)

[Alexmed]

I also looked Perry Hall/White Marsh, the houses were new and beautiful. However, I felt a little bit lifeless in comparison with lutherville timoniun. I didnt see many places for entertainment in PH/WH, is that a right asessment? please help me as I am deciding between these 2 areas.

My favorite actually was Ellicott city but there is no way in the world I would find a 4 br , 2k square feet with a basement (no ranchers, I hate it) for aprox 460k.

[KLynch10]

I would take Lutherville/Timonium over WM/PH easily. White Marsh has the Mall are and the Avenue but it's a bit sterile and corporate. I definitely feels those areas just feel a little more trashy than L/T. A lot more bad tattoos, and obnoxioius cars, and tacky public displays. L/T has a lot of original stores, restaurants, people, and a lot of good looking people!

[davecj]

White Marsh you're mainly looking at the Avenue as mentioned above. It has gotten a lot better since they started putting restrictions on the kids loitering around.

[bmoreboy25]

welll if you want inner city urban living that is safe.....i would go with station north, mount vernon, federal hill, or locust point. Dont forget downtown baltimore. Easy walkable urban city communities

[Alexmed]

Originally Posted by bmoreboy25

welll if you want inner city urban living that is safe.....i would go with station north, mount vernon, federal hill, or locust point. Dont forget downtown baltimore. Easy walkable urban city communities

But I want very good schools. Do thay have it?

[carroll4628]

Howard County schools are great and I would take the 'rankings' with a grain of salt. I would argue the worst school in HC is better than many of the middle schools in other counties in MD (no I haven't looked through the data to prove it).

A few things to note: HCPSS does not follow a traditional path - all kids from ES go to the same MS go to the same HS. Each level has it's own attendence area. For example at Lime Kiln Middle School:

Clemens Crossing ES 34 5.5%
Dayton Oaks ES 179 29.2%
Fulton ES 139 22.6%
Pointers Run ES 261 42.5%

from http://www.hcpss.org/boundarylines/boe3plan_111511.pdf (broken link))

We were very happy with Worthington ES and Ellicott Mills MS (which feeds into Mt. Hebron). Our "10" elementary school in EC is above and beyond the "10" elementary school we have now in Dallas. Anyway, how do you put a ranking on class field trips, parent involvement, the presence of paraeducators, and the fun days (like Turkey Trot, Halloween parades, Winter Shows, Students v Teacher baseball, etc.) [They don't do field trips where we are now until the 4th grade. I had a great time on my 1st grader's field trip to the Air & Space Museum in DC. She might have learned something perhaps.]

It's also nice that the county provides not just the "meets" requirement for the schools but also the adv. if you really want to dig into the particulars:

http://www.hcpss.org/academics/msa_2011boe.pdf

However, if you're thinking GT programs, a friend at the district told me. Remember, they get one GT teacher for every 24 students (at the time, it may be different now). Do you want your child to be 1 of 40 (with 2 teachers) or 1 of 12?

You mentioned "rankings can make a difference whether you are accepted or not in a particular college (whether this is fair or not is another discussion)". You mean the rankings of your child (#1 or #2 in their class), not the school right? I find it hard to imagine that if your child was first in their class (of 1000+ students) at a public school in Maryland it would be some kind of detrement (now if we were in Mississippi...).

We felt the size of the school maters - four 3rd grade classes instead of 8 for example because we wanted the school to feel like a neighborhood where you would at least recognize everyone.

http://www.hcpss.org/schools/enroll_jan2012.pdf

Also, it's not just the schools that make HC great (and so darn expensive to live in). You're 30 min to downtown Baltimore and 45 min to DC. About a 30 min drive to BWI airport. The library system is remarkable. The county hospital has a pediatric unit (yes, you're child doesn't need to go in with the adults when she bashes her leg and needs stitches. But you may not need that.) The parks and recreation department is excellent - the parks and all the trails, the classes, the summer camps for kids. Shopping is pretty good. (They're putting in a Wegmans grocery store if you're a foodie. But Roots in Clarksville is good.) The area is ethically diverse - as of this year, HCPSS is a minority-majority system with cauc. students being less than 50%. There are students from 80 different countries who speak 30+ languages. Patapsco State park. Cute little downtown Ellicott City - brewery, wine bar, neighborhood Toy Store, fun fun. I think HC is pretty transient - yes there are people to grew up there. But compared to a place like Severna Park, you feel more welcomed when you're not the only 'outsider'. Our realtor told us we probably wouldn't like Severna Park as much because it isn't so transient. In EC we had neighbors from IL, NY, Kansas, Wales, Arizona, even some UCSB grads (like my DH) - all on our street. The last thing to mention is the presence of Ft. Meade and the NSA. Between 2009-11 we had new families every month it seemed getting transfered in. It makes a good discussion at dinner when a classmate's parent comes for lunch wearing their uniform. Can't say that about too many affluent neighborhoods.

I would recommend taking a hard look at HC.

[andrewpvs]

Hi,

So I've lived in the Baltimore area my whole life and I would definitely look at the Cockeysville/Hunt Valley area in Northern Baltimore County. It takes about 30 minutes to get into the city and is extremely safe. The public schools are very good (myself attending one) and it has all the amenities one could want. There is a beautiful resevior called Loch Raven that is close, there are two excellent malls within 15 minutes as well. It is close to Towson, which is a nice little area. All in all, I would definitely look at Cockeysville/Hunt Valley area.

[andrewpvs]

Oh, and also Lutherville Timonium is a great area as well. I live in Cockeysville, but Lutherville is right next door, its pretty much the same. There are some great areas to live in Lutherville and the schools are very good too.

[ChesapeakeSmitty]

I'd look in Anne Arundel. Check out Shipley's Choice/Severna Park ... around the Benfield Road area. Nice, somewhat upscale area with easy access on several routes to the city. Most of Millersville is nice too. Schools in AACC have a good reputation. Anne Arundel's property taxes are much lower than places like Howard county or Baltimore City. I-97 is easy access to Baltimore or Annapolis. I-32 is nearby and gives you easy access to BW Parkway, I-95 and I-70, so you're not trapped if there's an accident on your main route.

Do not look north of Baltimore. As bad as traffic is everywhere around the Balt/DC area it's terrible on the north side. Try to stay away from areas where you'll have to drive long distances on the Beltway, I-795, I-83 or I-95 outside the Beltway. I-70 can sometimes be a real pain also.

I worked downtown for years and you couldn't pay me to live in the city unless it was at one of those waterfront condos on the Inner Harbor. Just too much crime.

[eav1221]

Severna Park has some of the best schools in Anne Arundel County...Severna Park is only 25 min. to Baltimore. Not sure about the home prices because I'm only a teacher and we can't afford to buy in the towns we teach in, so I'm out of luck...but if I could buy, I would buy in Severna Park. It's safe, close to Annapolis and Baltimore, and the school system is awesome.