Parkland High School sports teams (Penn: layoffs, school district, to move)

[benlilmom]

while our children are still very young now, we want to think long-term when we select a school district to move into. my husband heard that it is extremely hard to make the sports teams at parkland high school. does anyone know if this is true? are there varsity and JV squads (or A and B squads, etc.) so more can participate? we both played sports in high school and feel it was beneficial and hope our children can have the same experience. however, we went to much smaller high schools (~250-350/graduating class). thanks for any info about this.

[Pa Dutch]

although i can't answer your question with first hand experience, I will relate what I do know.

Nearly all of Parkland's sports teams are very competitive and usually very good. most of them make the playoffs, and it isn't uncommon for them to make state finals. As you probably already know, Parkland is a large district, so they have a big pool of kids to pick from. It isnt easy finding districts that excel in academics and athletics. Parkland does both. That said, unless your kids are good they probably wont make the team. But they may have practice squads, i'm not sure, especially with the recent budget cuts, they may not.

What Parkland does have though is very good community sports leagues. If your kids want to play sports, they will be able to do that. It however may not be on the Parkland high school(actually it's at the middle school) gridiron.

The district i'm in, East Penn, has the same problem, and overcrowding. Which doesn't seem to be a problem at parkland, yet.

[toobusytoday]

I have heard that as well. I recently found out that our small HS plays the larger schools in some sports and when we do, we generally don't fare well for the above reasons. We do however, have very good teams in certain sports, they just don't usually make the state level.

[docb51]

As mentioned above Parkland has great sports teams which also means they are tough to get into, but they also have good academics. East Penn is over crowded and getting more so as the years go on due to over building. Parkland has great community sports -- my kids were in the South Parkland Spoorts area and had a great time with soccer, baseball and lacrosse. If the kids want to get on the best teams they can.

[KristyLiz]

Originally Posted by Pa Dutch

although i can't answer your question with first hand experience, I will relate what I do know.

Nearly all of Parkland's sports teams are very competitive and usually very good. most of them make the playoffs, and it isn't uncommon for them to make state finals. As you probably already know, Parkland is a large district, so they have a big pool of kids to pick from. It isnt easy finding districts that excel in academics and athletics. Parkland does both. That said, unless your kids are good they probably wont make the team. But they may have practice squads, i'm not sure, especially with the recent budget cuts, they may not.

What Parkland does have though is very good community sports leagues. If your kids want to play sports, they will be able to do that. It however may not be on the Parkland high school(actually it's at the middle school) gridiron.

The district i'm in, East Penn, has the same problem, and overcrowding. Which doesn't seem to be a problem at parkland, yet.

True, true and true! We are in East Penn, and the situation is the same