Questions about school districting and a few specific extra curriculars

[Anonymous]

TL;DR: Looking for a favorite public school (HS and middle) when it comes to a few family interests like band, cross country, battle of the books, etc. Magnet programs are new territory for me and are overwhelming.

We’re moving your way this fall with a 10th grader, 6th grader, and 4th grader. We are only looking at public schools. Because of the grades of the kids and our complete inexperience with the area, I’m not sure I can navigate magnet applications (that’s a thing, right? For all counties or just some?) for the first few years—meaning #1 will go to whichever school we’re zoned for and stay there until he graduates. We are in the early stages of picking a community (looking at parts of Anne Arundel and Calvert counties so far, but PG would be an option; I’m not sure Howard is in our price range) as our jobs allow some flexibility as far as location. I would love some feedback on where to start based on a couple family interests:

1. A wide offering of AP/IB classes would be a welcome change, but we are much more concerned about growth and experience than school ranking.
2. We have 2 in band right now and 1 that would like to try orchestra. A marching band would be ideal, but we’d like to avoid anything so competitive that the sophomore won’t even get to participate.
3. The sports our kids play or want to try are swim, cross country, and archery. Could we be lucky enough to find a middle/HS group that has all 3?
4. Is Battle of the Books a thing at any schools in the area? It looks like it exists but maybe through the library? Our current school district has a team and our middle schooler would like to continue in the new school, if possible.

Thanks for the help!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TL;DR: Looking for a favorite public school (HS and middle) when it comes to a few family interests like band, cross country, battle of the books, etc. Magnet programs are new territory for me and are overwhelming.

We’re moving your way this fall with a 10th grader, 6th grader, and 4th grader. We are only looking at public schools. Because of the grades of the kids and our complete inexperience with the area, I’m not sure I can navigate magnet applications (that’s a thing, right? For all counties or just some?) for the first few years—meaning #1 will go to whichever school we’re zoned for and stay there until he graduates. We are in the early stages of picking a community (looking at parts of Anne Arundel and Calvert counties so far, but PG would be an option; I’m not sure Howard is in our price range) as our jobs allow some flexibility as far as location. I would love some feedback on where to start based on a couple family interests:

1. A wide offering of AP/IB classes would be a welcome change, but we are much more concerned about growth and experience than school ranking.
2. We have 2 in band right now and 1 that would like to try orchestra. A marching band would be ideal, but we’d like to avoid anything so competitive that the sophomore won’t even get to participate.
3. The sports our kids play or want to try are swim, cross country, and archery. Could we be lucky enough to find a middle/HS group that has all 3?
4. Is Battle of the Books a thing at any schools in the area? It looks like it exists but maybe through the library? Our current school district has a team and our middle schooler would like to continue in the new school, if possible.

Thanks for the help!

The school pyramid that I would go into in PGCPS is Greenbelt Elementary/Greenbelt Middle/Eleanor Roosevelt High School. ERHS has a fantastic music program and a lot of AP classes. I know that Greenbelt Middle has a good music program as well. Not sure about marching band but it looks like they have a pep band. All three are solid schools, even outside the specialty programs. Samuel Ogle or Benjamin Tasker Middle School followed by Bowie High School would also be a decent option. PGCPS sports teams are not nearly as completive as other districts.

If you can move further out, schools zoned for Northern High School or South River High Schools are solid choices.

I don't know of any schools that have archery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
The school pyramid that I would go into in PGCPS is Greenbelt Elementary/Greenbelt Middle/Eleanor Roosevelt High School. ERHS has a fantastic music program and a lot of AP classes. I know that Greenbelt Middle has a good music program as well. Not sure about marching band but it looks like they have a pep band. All three are solid schools, even outside the specialty programs. Samuel Ogle or Benjamin Tasker Middle School followed by Bowie High School would also be a decent option. PGCPS sports teams are not nearly as completive as other districts.

If you can move further out, schools zoned for Northern High School or South River High Schools are solid choices.

I don't know of any schools that have archery.

Thank you!!

[Anonymous]

Anne arundel has an IB magnet program for both middle and high schools. For middle schools, if you are inbound for that school, you automatically do IB and then other kids can get in via application/lottery. For high school IB, all spots are application/lottery.
All the non-ib schools have a wide range of ap classes
https://www.aacps.org/Page/6119

All Aacps schools have band, orchestra as classes, and many have really excellent music programs.

I don’t know if aacos schools that have archery, although Anne Arundel Archers does things through park and rec for kids. As far as I know they all have swim and cross country.

Happy to answer any Aacps specific questions! We’ve been really happy with our kids’ experience there.