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The issue with South River HS has not been with the quality of the school, but its geographic location. Its located in Edgewater MD, which is NOT even close to Crofton. In speaking with families in Crofton this later issue comes up all the time, which is a big reason for a new Crofton HS push.
Years ago if you had a student already in Arundel HS when the Arundel/South River HS split happen you could grandfather a younger family member into Arundel even though they would go to South River otherwise. Of course this is no longer the case.
The issue with South River HS has not been with the quality of the school, but its geographic location. Its located in Edgewater MD, which is NOT even close to Crofton. In speaking with families in Crofton this later issue comes up all the time, which is a big reason for a new Crofton HS push.
Years ago if you had a student already in Arundel HS when the Arundel/South River HS split happen you could grandfather a younger family member into Arundel even though they would go to South River otherwise. Of course this is no longer the case.
I never said South River is a bad school, in fact I said it's a good school. I just said that from what I saw on paper, Arundel seems a little nicer, and more convinient to Crofton kids. Also, South River isn't THAT far from Crofton. It's only 20 minutes away. There are kids in other counties who travel 30-40 minutes to school. However, Anne Arundel schools start really early in the morning, and a shorter commute to school would be a plus. But 20 minutes is still the farthest typical distance people live from school that should be acceptable.
Aren't they trying to build a high school there?
Last edited by HaileyFalconer; 08-17-2015 at 04:54 PM..
My post is how people who live in Crofton want to attend a high school IN Crofton, NOT Edgewater MD. Right now based on where you live in Crofton your student(s) can walk or ride a bike from from 1st thru 8th grade & remain IN Crofton.
Just adding my two cents here - when I was in high school I had the privilege of attending both Arundel High and South River High (due to moving homes). I personally liked South River more because the teachers seemed a lot more focused on student achievement. The sports teams were MUCH harder to get into (I played field hockey for 2 years at Arundel but didn't make the cut at South River) but both schools have equally successful teams.
As for elementary and middle school, I can only comment that I attended Waugh Chapel Elem (as an Odenton resident, your children would attend either Crofton Elem or Nantucket) and Arundel Middle. My little brother attends Arundel Middle right now and it seems to be a fine school still.
I really think the only schools in the general area that you should really be concerned about is Meade High School or Bowie High School. But I've never heard of Crofton being redistricted into those schools.
Crofton is in AA County and cant be rezoned for Bowie HS, which is in PG County. Crofton residents wouldnt attend Meade, it is zoned for Severn (Pioneer City a bad neighborhood), Hanover (Arundel Mills, nice area), Odenton (nice areas), Ft. Meade (self explanatory) and Laurel (Russett nice neighborhoods)
Just adding my two cents here - when I was in high school I had the privilege of attending both Arundel High and South River High (due to moving homes). I personally liked South River more because the teachers seemed a lot more focused on student achievement. The sports teams were MUCH harder to get into (I played field hockey for 2 years at Arundel but didn't make the cut at South River) but both schools have equally successful teams.
As for elementary and middle school, I can only comment that I attended Waugh Chapel Elem (as an Odenton resident, your children would attend either Crofton Elem or Nantucket) and Arundel Middle. My little brother attends Arundel Middle right now and it seems to be a fine school still.
I really think the only schools in the general area that you should really be concerned about is Meade High School or Bowie High School. But I've never heard of Crofton being redistricted into those schools.
Is South River really nice? I've heard that nowdays, the quality of the school dropped, not by much, but a little. I hear it's mainly due to overcrowding. I have a friend with a son there and she says he has a hard time getting help from his teachers because it's so crowded. I would send my kid to South River, but only if I lived in Edgewater or something.
I also know someone who's daughter was zoned for Arundel, but went to South River to do STEM, but dropped the program after a year because she said she wasn't getting what she needed and her daughter went to Arundel and did a lot better. I've heard a few success stories from South River on greatschools, but I've heard that overall both high schools are nice. My main priority is good scores (which both schools have) good teachers (I've heard good about Arundel teachers, mixed reviews on South River's), and some nice programs here and there.
I don't think Crofton would ever get zoned to Meade HS. It would get zoned to Annapolis HS before it would get zoned to Meade HS. Meade HS only serves Hanover, Severn, and "Odenton" (Seven Oaks, not the central part). Bowie HS is close by, but it's in another county. The rest of Odenton, Crofton, and Gambrills will never be zoned to Meade or Annapolis HS because Arundel is close by and it's serving them, so nothing to worry about .
Also, the sports thing surprises me. I always thought Arundel, Old Mill, and Broadneck were the three biggest athlete schools in that county. Even when I was growing up in Howard County, the atheltes at my high school knew of Arundel because they were so good.
I think a Crofton High School would be nice because not only would it be good for Crofton, but for the rest of the part of the county. I have a friend who lives in Crownsville and lives closest to Arundel High, but her kids are zoned for Old Mill which is an additional 10-15 minutes away. Maybe with Crofton HS, they can redistrict Crownsville from Old Mill to Arundel
Last edited by HaileyFalconer; 08-18-2015 at 11:32 AM..
When I was in middle school (and still today) I thought that the AACPS people had no idea what they were doing. Among other things, they frequently assign students living in certain area codes to different schools based on no apparent logic whatsoever. I went to Crofton Middle School some years ago (and did not enjoy it, although a portion of that can simply be attributed to the tendency of middle-schoolers to be jerks to one another). Due to the ridiculous districting policies of AACPS, I would have been going to South River High School (forty minutes away) according to the county in spite of the fact that I live considerably closer to Arundel High School. I ended up forgetting the whole thing due to my dislike of large public school and looking into smaller private schools, and I ended up finding a private school which (while not much closer than South River) I was much more interested in, and my parents were able to pay for it.
And yes, a Crofton High School has been badly needed for some time now in my opinion and the opinion of many others. Not exactly sure where they would put it, but it would sort out some of these bizarre issues.
When I was in middle school (and still today) I thought that the AACPS people had no idea what they were doing. Among other things, they frequently assign students living in certain area codes to different schools based on no apparent logic whatsoever. I went to Crofton Middle School some years ago (and did not enjoy it, although a portion of that can simply be attributed to the tendency of middle-schoolers to be jerks to one another). Due to the ridiculous districting policies of AACPS, I would have been going to South River High School (forty minutes away) according to the county in spite of the fact that I live considerably closer to Arundel High School. I ended up forgetting the whole thing due to my dislike of large public school and looking into smaller private schools, and I ended up finding a private school which (while not much closer than South River) I was much more interested in, and my parents were able to pay for it.
And yes, a Crofton High School has been badly needed for some time now in my opinion and the opinion of many others. Not exactly sure where they would put it, but it would sort out some of these bizarre issues.
From what I hear, AACPS owns x acres of land near Crofton Middle School and they want to build the high school there. I also read that they're currently doing an MGT study which is basically a study of all the facilities
in the county and capacities, etc., so that the county can base it's construction projects off of the study and it's recommendations. This study was mainly funded to figure out if they need to build a Crofton High School or not, and I'm sure they will find they need to when the results come out this September. Both Arundel and South River are at/over their capacities. Also, apparently, they're building a new Old Mill High School which will hold less students than the current structure can.
With a Crofton High School, the Arundel/South River split issue will be solved, and their will be room for redistricting from other county schools into the Arundel and South River High School Feeder systems. For Arundel, they could redistrict Crownsville from Old Mill to Arundel, and for South River, they could redistrict some of Annapolis HS students near the South River bridge to South River HS. There could also be redistricting in Severn from Meade HS to Old Mill HS if needed. But it probably won't be needed, because I hear the population at Meade HS has been declining a lot lately.
Also, I'm hoping the MGT study will show that some of the schools in that area need upgrades badly. Arundel looks so old and crumbly in some of the pictures I saw, it looks like it needs to be rebuilt. South River looks like a prison, it needs to be renovated SO badly. And in other feeders, Severna Park HS looks like a crappy elementary school, but apparently they're already working on that. The only decent looking schools I saw were Broadneck, Northeast, and North County. But apparently Broadneck isn't really new either, with most of it being built in the 80s or early 90s I think. It still looks really new though, but I'm sure some kind of renovation must be needed somewhere in it.
In Howard County, like all of the high schools are in a pretty neat condition. And the last high schools we saw were in the earlier 2000s, I think.
Last edited by HaileyFalconer; 08-20-2015 at 09:51 PM..
From what I hear, AACPS owns x acres of land near Crofton Middle School and they want to build the high school there. I also read that they're currently doing an MGT study which is basically a study of all the facilities
in the county and capacities, etc., so that the county can base it's construction projects off of the study and it's recommendations. This study was mainly funded to figure out if they need to build a Crofton High School or not, and I'm sure they will find they need to when the results come out this September. Both Arundel and South River are at/over their capacities. Also, apparently, they're building a new Old Mill High School which will hold less students than the current structure can.
With a Crofton High School, the Arundel/South River split issue will be solved, and their will be room for redistricting from other county schools into the Arundel and South River High School Feeder systems. For Arundel, they could redistrict Crownsville from Old Mill to Arundel, and for South River, they could redistrict some of Annapolis HS students near the South River bridge to South River HS. There could also be redistricting in Severn from Meade HS to Old Mill HS if needed. But it probably won't be needed, because I hear the population at Meade HS has been declining a lot lately.
Also, I'm hoping the MGT study will show that some of the schools in that area need upgrades badly. Arundel looks so old and crumbly in some of the pictures I saw, it looks like it needs to be rebuilt. South River looks like a prison, it needs to be renovated SO badly. And in other feeders, Severna Park HS looks like a crappy elementary school, but apparently they're already working on that. The only decent looking schools I saw were Broadneck, Northeast, and North County. But apparently Broadneck isn't really new either, with most of it being built in the 80s or early 90s I think. It still looks really new though, but I'm sure some kind of renovation must be needed somewhere in it.
In Howard County, like all of the high schools are in a pretty neat condition. And the last high schools we saw were in the earlier 2000s, I think.
They've been talking about a Crofton High School for a couple decades. It hasn't happened yet because the AA School Board can't show a need for one to the State, which funds a lot of school construction. The reason they can't show need is because of the empty seats in high schools across the County and the refusal of the Board to redistrict.
The County also has a school repair/upgrade/maintenance backlog in the billion dollar range.
They've been talking about a Crofton High School for a couple decades. It hasn't happened yet because the AA School Board can't show a need for one to the State, which funds a lot of school construction. The reason they can't show need is because of the empty seats in high schools across the County and the refusal of the Board to redistrict.
The County also has a school repair/upgrade/maintenance backlog in the billion dollar range.
That logic is pretty crappy of AACPS imo. I don't see why Chesapeake HS being at under capacity would benefit the town of Crofton. The Pasadena schools are like the only schools under capacity, and maybe Southern HS, which is also far from Crofton. But maybe AACPS would try to pull something sneaky like redistricting local Edgewater kids to Southern HS so that Crofton kids will continue going to South River HS. It's like the AACPS high schools don't even serve their true local areas anymore. There are kids in Crownsville going to Old Mill instead of Arundel, kids living in Arnold that go to Severna Park instead of Broadneck, and Crofton doesn't even have a local high school. I'm sure the MGT study will support a Crofton HS though.
FYI The AA County School Board is appointed at the MD State level NOT elected by the tax payers of the county, which has been an issue for years. The current AA County Executive Steve Schuh is highly in favor of a new (13th) high school for Crofton.
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