Those that have moved from DC to Baltimore...

[Anonymous]

Only out of towners love Guilford. You can buy a $3 million house for $800,000 in a beautifully manicured neighborhood. Then, your house is burgalized, or you are mugged or your car is stolen because Guilford is bordered by one of the worse neighborhoods in Baltimore. Any one seriously considering moving to Guilford needs to drive down Greenmont Ave and see what the environment is on the eastern side of the neighborhood. You can be sure your realtor won't take you there.

Tuscany canterbury, Homeland (Charles Street adjacent), Tuxedo Park, Cedarcroft, the Orchards, Roland Park are all reasonable safe.

[Anonymous]

"None of the public schools in Baltimore city are particularly good, though the ones you mention are better than most. My kids attend public school in Baltimore County, there is no public school in the city I would send them to. Those that live in the city that can afford private or catholic schools for the most part do so."

This person is clearly uneducated about city schools. I live in Roland Park and there are plenty of people in the neighborhood who send their kids to the Roland Park public school. They have been recognized as an Blue Ribbon school by the state of Maryland, marking it as one of the best in the state.


At the end of the day regardless of schools the major determining factor of your child's success is you. I can't tell you how many friends I have who spend outside of their means to send their kids to private school or move to an overpriced suburb, only to have them go to the same colleges as the people from good city schools with good parents go to, mainly the University of Maryland. If you are considering moving to Baltimore save yourself some money and thoroughly research the public and privates. They are a few good publics. Off the top of my head at the elementary/middle level I know Roland Park, Hampstead Hill, and Mt. Washington are all great.

[Anonymous]

*listed as a Blue Ribbon school*

[Anonymous]

*there are a few good publics* Looks like I was typing too fast

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"None of the public schools in Baltimore city are particularly good, though the ones you mention are better than most. My kids attend public school in Baltimore County, there is no public school in the city I would send them to. Those that live in the city that can afford private or catholic schools for the most part do so."

This person is clearly uneducated about city schools. I live in Roland Park and there are plenty of people in the neighborhood who send their kids to the Roland Park public school. They have been recognized as an Blue Ribbon school by the state of Maryland, marking it as one of the best in the state.


At the end of the day regardless of schools the major determining factor of your child's success is you. I can't tell you how many friends I have who spend outside of their means to send their kids to private school or move to an overpriced suburb, only to have them go to the same colleges as the people from good city schools with good parents go to, mainly the University of Maryland. If you are considering moving to Baltimore save yourself some money and thoroughly research the public and privates. They are a few good publics. Off the top of my head at the elementary/middle level I know Roland Park, Hampstead Hill, and Mt. Washington are all great.

[/quote

I'm the poster you quoted and I have friends with kids at both RP and Mt. Washington. I wouldn't send my kids there -- the classes are too large- 30 kids in most classrooms, and I've heard too many reports of serious behavior problems in the class room. In the county, class sizes are closer to 20 per class. To me, that justifies living outside the city (as does the considerable lower property taxes). The Blue Ribbon designation is pretty meaningless, a high number of mediocre schools have been given the designation and the designation is given out to a good number of schools each year.

[Anonymous]

To each his own. I have a doctorate in education and know for a fact that overall Roland Park is a good school. At the end of the day the proof will be in the pudding. Will your kids go on to have stations in life much different from your friends who sent their kids to Mt. Washington and Roland Park.....probably not. My kids went on to the University of Michigan, Cornell, and M.I.T. All of them are successful and all attended public city schools.

[Anonymous]

We moved from dc to baltimore and love it.. Do lots of research on finding the right neighborhood for your family. We ended up in a wonderful neighborhood in the county (just outside of the city line) with a great public school, pool, and active community association. We pay lower taxes and have lower rates of crime (though that still exists). And yes, there are lots of people born and raised here and who have lots of family in the area. But making friends isn't hard, you just have to be nice and leave the competitiveness of dc in dc. Our neighborhood and school is full of nice, well-educated, people who are really engaged in raising great families. My husband's salary is the same as dc, but he almost never works night/weekends/holidays so our quality of life as a family is a lot better. Dc is great, but baltimore has been great for us too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To each his own. I have a doctorate in education and know for a fact that overall Roland Park is a good school. At the end of the day the proof will be in the pudding. Will your kids go on to have stations in life much different from your friends who sent their kids to Mt. Washington and Roland Park.....probably not. My kids went on to the University of Michigan, Cornell, and M.I.T. All of them are successful and all attended public city schools.

Since my friends are planning to switch to private or move to the county by middle school, I'll never know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To each his own. I have a doctorate in education and know for a fact that overall Roland Park is a good school. At the end of the day the proof will be in the pudding. Will your kids go on to have stations in life much different from your friends who sent their kids to Mt. Washington and Roland Park.....probably not. My kids went on to the University of Michigan, Cornell, and M.I.T. All of them are successful and all attended public city schools.

Roland Park elementary/middle is an excellent school. I have friends who have sent their children there, and their children have been well-prepared to enter highly competitive (public and private) programs at the middle and high school level. Most of my friends in the city opted out of the public system for high school, but there are some very well regarded public high school options.

I think people who make blanket statements condemning Baltimore city schools are indicating they have little knowledge of them. I don't have a vested interest; I live in the county and am in highly regarded public schools. Highly regarded public schools which offer my children the same education that my friends' children in Baltimore city are receiving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To each his own. I have a doctorate in education and know for a fact that overall Roland Park is a good school. At the end of the day the proof will be in the pudding. Will your kids go on to have stations in life much different from your friends who sent their kids to Mt. Washington and Roland Park.....probably not. My kids went on to the University of Michigan, Cornell, and M.I.T. All of them are successful and all attended public city schools.

Roland Park elementary/middle is an excellent school. I have friends who have sent their children there, and their children have been well-prepared to enter highly competitive (public and private) programs at the middle and high school level. Most of my friends in the city opted out of the public system for high school, but there are some very well regarded public high school options.

I think people who make blanket statements condemning Baltimore city schools are indicating they have little knowledge of them. I don't have a vested interest; I live in the coun. ty and am in highly regarded public schools. Highly regarded public schools which offer my children the same education that my friends' children in Baltimore city are receiving.

That's a nice statement, but it just isn't accurate. Talk to your friends about the curriculum, number of students in the classroom, and facilities --no comparison between even the "best" schools in the city and the schools in the county. Mt. Washington, which is consistently touted here as a wonderful school doesn't even have a playground for its K-2 school. Classes are overcrowded at RP, Mt. Washington, and other "good" schools because the community can't fill the classroom, so kids are bussed in until the class is deemed "full."

[Anonymous]

Baltimore City crime is horrific and astonishing. I dread this summer with it's hot days and nights.

OP, please pick the safest area possible. You can get some idea from looking at the Baltimore Sun crime map while working with your realtor. Baltimore County has lower crime states in general, as others have said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Baltimore City crime is horrific and astonishing. I dread this summer with it's hot days and nights.

OP, please pick the safest area possible. You can get some idea from looking at the Baltimore Sun crime map while working with your realtor. Baltimore County has lower crime states in general, as others have said.

Link to the Baltimore Sun crime map? A Google search didn't turn one up.

I've been following crime in Roland Park since I moved here 2 years ago using a Baltimore city police service map that comes out weekly, and while it does happen, its results are comparable to the crime in my similar DC suburb, so I'm curious if I'm missing something.

[Anonymous]

That's a nice statement, but it just isn't accurate. Talk to your friends about the curriculum, number of students in the classroom, and facilities --no comparison between even the "best" schools in the city and the schools in the county. Mt. Washington, which is consistently touted here as a wonderful school doesn't even have a playground for its K-2 school. Classes are overcrowded at RP, Mt. Washington, and other "good" schools because the community can't fill the classroom, so kids are bussed in until the class is deemed "full."

I tend to agree with others who say Roland Park and Mount Washington are good schools. I have relatives attending both and their parents are more than satisfied.

You still failed to address the important point, do kids from Roland Park and Mount Washington with decent parents end up in a similar place in life as kids going to privates or to schools in the count? I think this was an interesting point raised. If they do all tend to end up in a similar place then issues of class size etc. are kind of moot. Do you know of academically inclined Roland Park or Mount Washington kids who were unable to get accepted into competitive colleges? I only happen to know one graduate of Roland Park and they are currently excelling at Hopkins.

Here is a link to the Baltimore crime map the city has plenty of crime, but in Roland Park there does not appear to be a problem http://www.baltimorepolice.org/your-community/crime-map

Am I missing something here?

[Anonymous]

Live in Ellicott City.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
That's a nice statement, but it just isn't accurate. Talk to your friends about the curriculum, number of students in the classroom, and facilities --no comparison between even the "best" schools in the city and the schools in the county. Mt. Washington, which is consistently touted here as a wonderful school doesn't even have a playground for its K-2 school. Classes are overcrowded at RP, Mt. Washington, and other "good" schools because the community can't fill the classroom, so kids are bussed in until the class is deemed "full."

I tend to agree with others who say Roland Park and Mount Washington are good schools. I have relatives attending both and their parents are more than satisfied.

You still failed to address the important point, do kids from Roland Park and Mount Washington with decent parents end up in a similar place in life as kids going to privates or to schools in the count? I think this was an interesting point raised. If they do all tend to end up in a similar place then issues of class size etc. are kind of moot. Do you know of academically inclined Roland Park or Mount Washington kids who were unable to get accepted into competitive colleges? I only happen to know one graduate of Roland Park and they are currently excelling at Hopkins.

Here is a link to the Baltimore crime map the city has plenty of crime, but in Roland Park there does not appear to be a problem http://www.baltimorepolice.org/your-community/crime-map

Am I missing something here?

Yes, you can't do the comparison because most kids with higher SES don't go through the system past fifth grade so there really isn't any basis for the comparison you are claiming would come out in your favor (and the majority never even enter the public system). The criticisms I've heard of these so-called good schools (and I do agree they are better than the majority of city schools) is that the facilities aren't great because city has no money to put into them (no playground is an issue for most people), the advanced curriculum is way behind county or public schools (because so much effort goes into dealing with those kids who come to school behind from lower SES areas),and that class sizes are very large. There is a lot of educational research on why each of these factors can hurt students. With a lot of outside work, I suppose a parent could make up for these deficiencies, or they could just send their kids to a school that doesn't have these same challenges (either one of the many private schools that parents in those communities tend to use, or move to the county for better publics). You may be willing to bet on putting your kids in the Baltimore city school system for K-12, but it isn't accurate to claim most higher SES families who live in Baltimore city are willing to do so. Similarly, my friends who have moved outside the city public system have found their kids behind initially, particularly in writing and math. Telling people that the Baltimore City school system is great, IMO, is inconsistent with the truth, and not what most people here believe. The curriculum and facilities really are behind both the privates and county publics. Your claim that these factors don't matter isn't really credible to me.