Baltimore City Charter Schools - Looking for Info

[Anonymous]

Hello, all. Right now I am looking at four charter schools in Baltimore for K. Please share any information you might have on the following. I could really use the help. Thanks in advance!

Schools:

Patterson Park
Creative City
Hampstead Hill
Tunbridge

Is anyone else considering these schools? My son is either in or very close on the waiting list. The other charters yielded wait list numbers in the hundreds.

[Anonymous]

I am in Baltimore and have a child at a different charter school. It is very hard to comment on your query without more information about your child and your family. Are any of the schools especially difficult to get to? What is your child's temperament? I know people with kids at all of those schools. I have not heard great things about Creative City, but then again, it is the newest on the list and may be experiencing growing pains -- or it was simply not a great fit for that family.

Of the schools on your list, the only one that I have visited is Tunbridge. Tunbridge is a lovely facility but I found the school itself pretty standard in terms of its academics (i.e. my gut said it has the same heavy-testing focus as the traditional public schools in the area.) But maybe that environment is a good fit for your child and your family? I have a friend whose child is in 3rd grade at Tunbridge and they are very happy. Good luck with your choice.

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much for your reply!

I am interested in progressive education and an understanding that young children do not work best chained to desks. Project based learning and arts infused curriculum are important.
I was able to visit three out of the four schools that I listed. I loved the small class sizes and all of the arts curriculum at Creative City. The students were really engaged and the teachers seemed great. It is really new though. Could you please elaborate on negative things that you've heard?

Hampstead Hill was beautiful with lots of staff/resources, but they use direct instruction and I found it too rigid and systematic for our daughter. They don't infuse critical thinking and creative play in their main lesson, but save them for "enrichment" sessions twice a week (and I think that's only for the highest and lowest achieving students...pulled out separately from the rest of the class).

Patterson Park was actually really great with a very engaging principal and such a warm sense of community. It is less rigid than Hampstead Hill, but maybe not as much art as Creative City (although they still bring in artists and have lots of resources). Overall, I was pretty impressed, but would welcome additional info.

I have not toured Tunbridge yet, but we are still just on the waiting list...which means right now I am between Patterson Park and Creative City.

[Anonymous]

10:46 here.

If you are interested in project-based progressive education then I don't think that Tunbridge is the school for you. Creative City would seem like a good fit. The family I know who is there is hoping to switch to City Neighbors, but that might just be a geographic preference. My gut says that the newer charter schools tend to have a higher turnover of students and staff than the more established ones, which would probably make Patterson Park my choice.

Out of curiosity, what number are you on the Tunbridge wait list?

[Anonymous]

Hi there,

I'm familiar with all 4 schools, and it sounds like your preferences would lean you towards Creative City if your primary goals is progressive learning. If you live closer to Patterson Park though, I'd choose Patterson Park or Hampstead vs. making that drive every day.

The poster above is right on regarding the pros of each school and their style of instruction. Patterson Park and Hampstead Hill are both very resourced and have great principals. Tunbridge seems like a middle-of-the-road charter school: lots of parent involvement, but not particularly noteworthy. I didn't get a good vibe from the school personally when I toured. Parents aren't allowed to walk their children to their classroom, which was a red flag for me. Creative City is indeed new, has had some leaderships bumps, and it's location is not convenient for many parents, but it has a lot of good energy right now, and is gaining resources. I think it's a wild card that hopefully doesn't go down the road of Roots & Branches. Of those schools, Creative City is the only one without a uniform.

Patterson Park and Hampstead Hill are also PreK-8, which is helpful for middle school and if you have younger kids who might be in PreK one day. Creative City is working on a middle school, but it will be at a different site, and nothing is for sure yet.

Good luck - we were in the same spot last year!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi there,

I'm familiar with all 4 schools, and it sounds like your preferences would lean you towards Creative City if your primary goals is progressive learning. If you live closer to Patterson Park though, I'd choose Patterson Park or Hampstead vs. making that drive every day.

The poster above is right on regarding the pros of each school and their style of instruction. Patterson Park and Hampstead Hill are both very resourced and have great principals. Tunbridge seems like a middle-of-the-road charter school: lots of parent involvement, but not particularly noteworthy. I didn't get a good vibe from the school personally when I toured. Parents aren't allowed to walk their children to their classroom, which was a red flag for me. Creative City is indeed new, has had some leaderships bumps, and it's location is not convenient for many parents, but it has a lot of good energy right now, and is gaining resources. I think it's a wild card that hopefully doesn't go down the road of Roots & Branches. Of those schools, Creative City is the only one without a uniform.

Patterson Park and Hampstead Hill are also PreK-8, which is helpful for middle school and if you have younger kids who might be in PreK one day. Creative City is working on a middle school, but it will be at a different site, and nothing is for sure yet.

Good luck - we were in the same spot last year!

10:46 again. Just curious: What's the story with Roots and Branches? (Asking because a long long time ago we considered joining the founding team there, but never wound up doing it.) For what it's worth, I have a kid at City Neighbors.