Baltimore City schools

[Anonymous]

The only city elementary-middle school I would be comfortable with is RPEMS. I know families there and I think highly of them and they've been happy with their RPEMS experience. Some go private for high, others are going to the IB program at City or the top tracks at Poly. They've made it work and RPEMS is pretty solid. If you're a comfortable professional family who can provide the stable home life and educated parents to round off the academic experience at the school, then RPEMS will be just as fine as any county elementary/middle equivalent, which would namely be the Towson high pyramid, which is usually the alternative for people looking in North Baltimore but on the fence due to schools.

There are decent programs at other city schools but they're not compelling enough to make me decide against selling up and moving to the county for the schools. Then the rest of the system is abysmal.

Regarding high schools, once more it's a mixed bag. The School for Arts is the true gem of the system. Poly and City have pros and cons. Facilities are shabby and I won't forget the winter not long ago that Poly had no heat. City's IB program is great, but you do have to balance it against the tradeoffs. People have made them work, but I don't think I'm the person who would be willing to do that.

To summarize: you can get a good education in the city schools, but you need to know what to do and where to go and be willing to accept the many limitations or tradeoffs.

[Anonymous]

Don’t do it

[Anonymous]

Baltimore City teacher here. I see city schools as a last resort. It's for parents who don't have other choices. North Avenue is a hot mess. I would never subject my kid to this dysfunction if I had a choice. Look into Towson schools if you want to be close to the city. I'm not a fan of the county either but it is definitely the lesser of the two evils by far.

[Anonymous]

I mean you are moving to a state that is pretty low on NAEP even in the suburbs and then choosing perhaps the most dysfunctional system. The Kirwan Commission report is prettt damning - for all the money spent - Maryland 9th graders are about 3 years behind European countries and two years behind the leading US state: Massachusetts. If that doesn’t convince you then nothing will. I came from bleeding hearts and went to similarly dysfunctional public schools in NE city. Why put this added burden on your child?

One other thing I would consider to be the breaking point - these schools are filled with lead pipes: known neurotoxin and no safe minimum level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hello,
Is anyone aware of a similar forum for Baltimore City schools? We are relocating to the area and considering living in Locust Point or Riverside. We have heard great things about these neighborhoods and the schools (Francis Scott Key and Thomas Johnson) but I'd love to learn more about the schools. I'm aware of the City's reputation and I know test scores do not give the full picture but being from out of state, I'm not sure where to look for reviews, or people to talk to. The schools' pta fb pages do not allow you to join unless you are a parent of an enrolled student.

Is anyone familiar with these schools? Any insight?

My child will be starting K in 1.5 years. What questions should I be asking when evaluating schools? Thanks!

The only elementary schools that are considered good are Mt. Washington and Roland Park and a few of the charter schools such as the Green School. All of these schools are in North Baltimore. People either move out of Locust Point before kids are school age or commute to the North Baltimore private/catholic schools, which are about 20 minutes away.

how many decades have passed since you last looked at Baltimore city schools? Thomas Johnson has by far the best test results in the city. Roland park is in decline. FSK is the on the rise. A lot of families are in locust point or moving there. It’s the safest neighborhood in Baltimore and one of safest urban neighborhoods anywhere in the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hello,
Is anyone aware of a similar forum for Baltimore City schools? We are relocating to the area and considering living in Locust Point or Riverside. We have heard great things about these neighborhoods and the schools (Francis Scott Key and Thomas Johnson) but I'd love to learn more about the schools. I'm aware of the City's reputation and I know test scores do not give the full picture but being from out of state, I'm not sure where to look for reviews, or people to talk to. The schools' pta fb pages do not allow you to join unless you are a parent of an enrolled student.

Is anyone familiar with these schools? Any insight?

My child will be starting K in 1.5 years. What questions should I be asking when evaluating schools? Thanks!

The only elementary schools that are considered good are Mt. Washington and Roland Park and a few of the charter schools such as the Green School. All of these schools are in North Baltimore. People either move out of Locust Point before kids are school age or commute to the North Baltimore private/catholic schools, which are about 20 minutes away.

how many decades have passed since you last looked at Baltimore city schools? Thomas Johnson has by far the best test results in the city. Roland park is in decline. FSK is the on the rise. A lot of families are in locust point or moving there. It’s the safest neighborhood in Baltimore and one of safest urban neighborhoods anywhere in the US.

I was curious so I looked up the school reports on the Baltimore City school sites and compared Thomas Johnson to Roland Park. What is fascinating is while Thomas Johnson may look to have overall higher scores for the two elementary metrics (Math 3-5 and English Arts 3-5), when you look at the statistical breakdown by demographics, most racial demographics are doing better at Roland Park, and white kids especially are doing better at Roland Park. And scores are higher for the middle division at Roland Park than Thomas Johnson. Notably higher. I suspect RPEMS being much bigger and more diverse versus Thomas Jefferson being much smaller that is probably discrepancy in the overall scoring.

https://www.baltimorecityschools.org/schools/233 (Roland Park)
https://www.baltimorecityschools.org/schools/84 (Thomas Johnson)

Thomas Johnson is 1/3 the size of Roland Park and it must be a lovely small environment but I suspect this school suffers from many kids moving out after the first few years because the families moved to the suburbs. People don't hang around Locust Point / Federal Hill or Canton to raise families into middle and high schools. A few exceptions, sure but they are not the rule. The narrow rowhouses get cramped quickly. Parking is a pain in the neck with kids.

And Locust Point is not more safe than Roland Park in any meaningful sense.

[Anonymous]

locust point is much safer than roland park for the simple reason that it is not adjacent to high-crime areas. safety is not only about crime figures in the exact area but also it's general location relative to other areas. it really is the safest neighborhood in the city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:locust point is much safer than roland park for the simple reason that it is not adjacent to high-crime areas. safety is not only about crime figures in the exact area but also it's general location relative to other areas. it really is the safest neighborhood in the city.

Roland Park is not adjacent to any high-crime areas either....

Your point is?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:locust point is much safer than roland park for the simple reason that it is not adjacent to high-crime areas. safety is not only about crime figures in the exact area but also it's general location relative to other areas. it really is the safest neighborhood in the city.

I guess yiu never heard of North Federal Hill? Or Digital High? Or the Inner Harbor? All of which currently have crime issues and are immediately adjacent to Locust point


Locust Point is relatively safe for a downtown neighborhood, but not as safe as the Roland Park area.

Generally a pretty stupid argument in any case as both areas are among the safest in the city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hello,
Is anyone aware of a similar forum for Baltimore City schools? We are relocating to the area and considering living in Locust Point or Riverside. We have heard great things about these neighborhoods and the schools (Francis Scott Key and Thomas Johnson) but I'd love to learn more about the schools. I'm aware of the City's reputation and I know test scores do not give the full picture but being from out of state, I'm not sure where to look for reviews, or people to talk to. The schools' pta fb pages do not allow you to join unless you are a parent of an enrolled student.

Is anyone familiar with these schools? Any insight?

My child will be starting K in 1.5 years. What questions should I be asking when evaluating schools? Thanks!

The only elementary schools that are considered good are Mt. Washington and Roland Park and a few of the charter schools such as the Green School. All of these schools are in North Baltimore. People either move out of Locust Point before kids are school age or commute to the North Baltimore private/catholic schools, which are about 20 minutes away.

how many decades have passed since you last looked at Baltimore city schools? Thomas Johnson has by far the best test results in the city. Roland park is in decline. FSK is the on the rise. A lot of families are in locust point or moving there. It’s the safest neighborhood in Baltimore and one of safest urban neighborhoods anywhere in the US.

Zero years, I have school age kids. I only know people who have moved ouT of Locust Point once their kids are school age. I am sure some stay but everyone who has been in Baltimore for a decent amount of time is familiar with the fact that the downtown neighborhoods primarily attracted singles,myoung couples and empty nesters. The typical migration is to North Baltimore or the county once kids are school age, where there are public, private and parochial school options unmatched elsewhere in tHe are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mount Washington and RP elementary are both good schools but there are others that are perfectly fine too. Hampstead Hill in Canton, Thomas Johnson in Riverside are both very good. FSK has a new-ish principal who is doing great things for the school.

Never heard of any of these, perfectly fine by Baltimore city standards isn’t what I would want for my own kid. Even RP and Mt. Washington are just average compared to good county elementary schools.

Op, Baltimore city has bussing so there are no true neighborhood schools except for the undesirable schools. You may want to look at the socioeconomic data for the schooks you are considering as they will be pulling from a fairly large cachement and keep in mind that a school with a lot of kids below poverty line is going to be stretched in terms of meeting student’s needs.

What do you mean by this?

Students can apply to attend schools from outside their neighborhood. About a third of the kids that attend Roland Park elementary live elsewhere in city. The city does not supply school buses but the kids arrive to school via the city bus system.

It’s a good system that allows kids from less affluent parts of the city to attend the schools in more affluent parts. It also ensures that the best regarded schools are never under enrolled.