Best schools south eastern PA?? (Reading, Harrisburg: home, best school districts, design)

[Meandb12]

Can anyone say what areas on York or Adams Counties that have the best school districts, or at least which to avoid?? Any info. is helpful - looking for suburban to edge-of-rural area outside of York/Hanover/Gettysburg...or anywhere in between.

[jess6275]

Originally Posted by Jennifer Parschauer

Can anyone say what areas on York or Adams Counties that have the best school districts, or at least which to avoid?? Any info. is helpful - looking for suburban to edge-of-rural area outside of York/Hanover/Gettysburg...or anywhere in between.

I teach at Southwest (Hanover), my mom teaches at Dallastown (York) and my dad teaches at Southern (Shrewsbury). All are great! York County has great schools overall. I only am familiar with a few Adams districts, New Oxford is great, they have a LARGE ESL population due to their proximity to turkey and apple farms. Southeastern is the district that serves Stewartstown, which is on the southeastern edge of York County. It's very close (5-10 min) from Shrewsbury and Interstate 83. Shrewsbury is where I grew up - it's a great town and very convenient to Baltimore/Harrisburg.

[enviroman]

Originally Posted by jess6275

I teach at Southwest (Hanover), my mom teaches at Dallastown (York) and my dad teaches at Southern (Shrewsbury). All are great! York County has great schools overall. I only am familiar with a few Adams districts, New Oxford is great, they have a LARGE ESL population due to their proximity to turkey and apple farms. Southeastern is the district that serves Stewartstown, which is on the southeastern edge of York County. It's very close (5-10 min) from Shrewsbury and Interstate 83. Shrewsbury is where I grew up - it's a great town and very convenient to Baltimore/Harrisburg.

I have a serious question: Does the topic of intelligent design ever come up in the York SDs? I was not the biggest fan of York County as I felt it to be quite conservative (much more than m yliking).

[Meandb12]

Well nice to hear. My brother is in Gettysburg, and supposedly their schools are very good, but then again, his son is 4 and not yet in. Funny you mention ESL which I figured didn't exist out there being out of the cities, but we are coming from Austria after 9 years. Complicated mix - my husband was born and raised in Germany but with American/Canadian parents and I'm from Long Island originally. Our children speak English at home of course, and German (well, with a twist - a local Austrian dialect), the older 2 can read english quite well, but spell horribly (they are 9,7 and 5). We are planning to home school one year while in transition if this all goes as planned, but they might yet need some help in that area even afterwards. How are the ESL programs in the other districts? Are they "geared" more towards spanish speaking families? Any info is a help; thanks so much.

As for Intelligent Design - I have seen a few articles online - apparently it was in issue in Dover, but I think it was (unfortunately!) rejected. Is the area as conservative as I hear? What kind of churches are in the area? Is the county more Mennonite or Evangelical or what else is there??

[enviroman]

Originally Posted by Jennifer Parschauer

Well nice to hear. My brother is in Gettysburg, and supposedly their schools are very good, but then again, his son is 4 and not yet in. Funny you mention ESL which I figured didn't exist out there being out of the cities, but we are coming from Austria after 9 years. Complicated mix - my husband was born and raised in Germany but with American/Canadian parents and I'm from Long Island originally. Our children speak English at home of course, and German (well, with a twist - a local Austrian dialect), the older 2 can read english quite well, but spell horribly (they are 9,7 and 5). We are planning to home school one year while in transition if this all goes as planned, but they might yet need some help in that area even afterwards. How are the ESL programs in the other districts? Are they "geared" more towards spanish speaking families? Any info is a help; thanks so much.

As for Intelligent Design - I have seen a few articles online - apparently it was in issue in Dover, but I think it was (unfortunately!) rejected. Is the area as conservative as I hear? What kind of churches are in the area? Is the county more Mennonite or Evangelical or what else is there??

Uh, while I'd rather not get into the debate over whether or not to teach Intelligent Design, I have to say that I'm surprised you think it is unfortunate that it is not being taught. There are so many rational reasons not to teach it, and the reasons I've heard to teach it pretty much boil down to trying to get Christian religion back in public schools.

[Meandb12]

Right, without getting into the discussion, I think it's just plain old about options and presenting other "theories". I absolutely agree that religion should not be taught in the schools - but what are we afraid of; is it not best for the individual to decide? We are talking "theory" here. Sure, you can't present every angle all the time, but gee, considering how many people probably accept Intelligent Design in York County, I think it's a shame it gets no representation, while evolution, many feel, represents a "religion" (or lack therof) in and of itself. I hope this is a fair answer cause I'd like to get this thread back on track - thanks for your respect

So, any other opinion of these schools, their programs, their teachers, their facilities???

[enviroman]

Originally Posted by Jennifer Parschauer

Right, without getting into the discussion, I think it's just plain old about options and presenting other "theories". I absolutely agree that religion should not be taught in the schools - but what are we afraid of; is it not best for the individual to decide? We are talking "theory" here. Sure, you can't present every angle all the time, but gee, considering how many people probably accept Intelligent Design in York County, I think it's a shame it gets no representation, while evolution, many feel, represents a "religion" (or lack therof) in and of itself. I hope this is a fair answer cause I'd like to get this thread back on track - thanks for your respect

So, any other opinion of these schools, their programs, their teachers, their facilities???

I just put up a thread in the General US section about ID. Check it out.


To give some information:

York Suburban (74% Math/84% Reading PSSA 2005 11th grade)
Shrewsbury/Susquehannock High (66% Math/83% Reading)
Dallastown Senior High (64% Math/81% Reading)
Cedar Cliff High/Camp Hill (61% Math/67% Reading)
West York High (61% Math/74% Reading)

Those are the best high schools in York County according to PSSA scores.

Adams County performed significantly worse than York on the PSSAs:

Biglerville High is the only school to get more than 51% on Math (51% Math/61% Reading).

I'd stick to York County, I think.

[kjkga]

Bermudian Springs is by far one of the worst schools. And it ranks top for Adams County. Go figure. The teachers outright lie to the kids when it comes to the PSSAs and talks them into thinking these tests are a cursor to where they will be placed the next school year. Then they let them take more time to take the tests, along with coaching them along. These tests mean nothing but receiving funding. Yes, they only hire the teachers with the highest IQs, but that surely doesn't mean they have enough common sense to know how to treat some kids. And if your kid needs tutoring, forget it. You have to fork out the extra cash, because they never come through. They save the funding they receive for other things. STAY AWAY