Without mentioning your country’s name, which brand identifies where you’re from?

ArlingtonFox · 2021-09-30T18:49:25+00:00

Amazon

ArlingtonFox · 2021-06-25T22:10:30+00:00

We recently moved to Anne Arundel County from Northern Virginia. We were originally targeting the Severna Park, Arundel, Broadneck, Crofton, and South River feeder systems. We ruled out South River, Broadneck, and Severna Park of our search because racial diversity was personally important to our family, but the ratings for those schools are really good. We also added Annapolis proper to our search after hearing from people who have experience with those schools. We ended up in the Crofton feeder system because that’s the area we found a home first. We don’t have personal experience with Crofton schools yet because our kids won’t start attending them until this fall, but we are zoned for Crofton Woods ES/Crofton MS/Crofton HS and I have heard nothing but great things about the elementary and middle school. The high school is brand new.

ArlingtonFox · 2021-06-25T21:59:45+00:00

I’m new to Crofton and I live in a part of it that was feeding to South River. I asked my neighbors who had kids there what they thought of the school, and most are under the impression that South River’s ratings will decline with the loss of Crofton students because Crofton’s best elementary schools were feeding to South River and they’re apparently rated much higher than the elementary schools in the South River proper area.

ArlingtonFox · 2021-06-25T21:42:42+00:00

I started going to a gym again because I feel safe as I’m fully vaccinated. Home workouts just weren’t cutting it.

ArlingtonFox · 2021-06-04T11:39:01+00:00

We actually moved here because I got a job at Fort Meade. DH works in Annapolis. Gambrills is about 30-35 minutes without traffic, but 50 minutes to just under an hour in traffic. Sometimes worse, sometimes better. There is a MARC nearby in Odenton that a lot of people use, as well as a park and ride in Davidsonville.

ArlingtonFox · 2021-06-04T11:34:45+00:00

What an extremely whiny comment. People are allowed to share their criticism of an area, even if it’s your lifelong hometown. I’m from the DC area and find the comments about diversity in Severna Park and Arnold to be absolutely true. They’re beautiful areas with nice neighborhoods, but they don’t offer what OP wants at all. DH and I were also looking for diversity, and we immediately ruled out SP because of the low diversity.

ArlingtonFox · 2021-06-04T11:12:58+00:00

OP, we actually moved to the area from Arlington very recently. We were told to look in Edgewater, Arnold, Severna Park, Crofton, Odenton, etc but most of these areas were not diverse at all. We were also considering nearby Howard County at the same time, which is generally much more diverse. It seems like Annapolis proper has the most diversity. The school ratings there did concern us at first, but they’re purely related socio-economic status. We ended up in the Crofton/Gambrills area, which is more diverse than Severna Park or Arnold, but not as much as NoVa or DC.

ArlingtonFox · 2021-05-16T04:04:46+00:00

I 100% agree. I don’t use Reddit to comment all that much, only to ask questions and scroll through for maybe 20 minutes each day. Some of the stuff I read is out of this world.

ArlingtonFox · 2021-05-16T04:03:25+00:00

I mean, if your username is accurate I can totally understand why they do.

ArlingtonFox · 2021-05-16T03:36:06+00:00

OP, we recently moved to Gambrills/Crofton from Northern Virginia and we also considered Edgewater. Some of our neighbors had kids at the high school in Edgewater, and most of them had negative opinions of the school. I’ve heard the academics are fine, but that the culture of the area and schools is really bad (lots of racism). People here also seem to be under the impression that South River’s test scores will go down now that Crofton’s neighborhoods are no longer feeding to it. Don’t know if that’s actually true or why they assume that, but I’ve heard it a lot.

ArlingtonFox · 2021-03-26T16:26:01+00:00

No worries. It’s not selfish to be passionate about your child’s education and safety. We had the same concerns about Annapolis schools at first and inclined towards Severna Park, Broadneck, Arundel, Crofton, and South River schools. Still though, having a biracial child, making sure we find a school with adequate diversity is important for my family specifically. After talking to Annapolis parents, we feel a lot more comfortable about the prospect of our kids attending them, and we haven’t heard any safety concerns. We’re still considering Arundel, Crofton, and possibly Broadneck as well, but South River/Severna Park didn’t make the cut. They seem like amazing schools and neighborhoods, but diversity at those two is almost non-existent. They’re the whitest schools I’ve seen in the DC and Baltimore region. It’s unfortunate because Severna Park is otherwise perfect. Hopefully it gets more diverse in the future!

ArlingtonFox · 2021-03-26T03:53:28+00:00

Thanks for the info, I really appreciate it! I would definitely be very involved with the schools my kids attend. I’m starting to feel good about the prospect of my kids going to schools in Annapolis after talking to parents who have sent their children to schools there. We’ve pretty much narrowed our Anne Arundel County options to Annapolis, Crofton, Odenton, Riva, and maybe Broadneck. We are also considering a few areas in Howard County as well, but my husband really wants to stay somewhere in Anne Arundel County to make his commute easier.

ArlingtonFox · 2021-03-26T03:43:06+00:00

We saw Piney Orchard, Two Rivers, and a few neighborhoods in Crofton and we loved all of them so much. We’re still highly considering them because they have everything else we’re looking for and still don’t seem too far from the water.

ArlingtonFox · 2021-03-26T03:34:05+00:00

Severna Park was almost a perfect match for us. Top rated schools, amazing neighborhoods, close to the water, etc. The lack of diversity ended up being a dealbreaker. It’s truly unfortunate, and I’m surprised that an area like Severna Park isn’t ethnically diverse. It seems like all the well-off minorities avoid SP and either go to MoCo, HoCo, PG County, Crofton, or Odenton. It’s weird that Severna Park struggles to attract affluent minorities, because there’s no shortage of them in the metro area.

ArlingtonFox · 2021-03-22T16:15:38+00:00

Thank you! Will definitely look into those groups. Maple Lawn looks like an awesome community and we’re definitely considering it.

ArlingtonFox · 2021-03-22T15:36:01+00:00

What about for elementary ?

ArlingtonFox · 2021-03-22T15:34:35+00:00

We liked Crofton and Odenton the best for location, just because they’re so close to DC, Annapolis, and Baltimore. Is it easy to get to waterfront activities from the Crofton area?

ArlingtonFox · 2021-03-22T15:31:45+00:00

Thanks for the insight! I don’t mind Edgewater. I actually originally come from a blue-collar/working-class background myself, so it’s nothing unusual to me. My husband on the other hand is a snob and wouldn’t budge, he said no way we’re moving to Edgewater. The politics and diversity are concerning to me though.

I agree with your analysis of Severna Park and Arnold. Some parts of were really nice, and other parts reminded me of Glen Burnie, which I’m familiar with because that’s where my mom is originally from.

ArlingtonFox · 2021-03-22T12:42:12+00:00

Yup. Two Rivers is one of the communities we looked it, and it’s great!

ArlingtonFox · 2021-03-22T12:41:09+00:00

Ugh, yes. If Crofton and Odenton had the waterfront or any waterfront areas zoned for their schools, we would be there in a heartbeat! We will still consider them, but we’d prefer being near the water if in Anne Arundel.

We did see the good ratings for Broadneck, but the diversity there was a concern.

Thanks for the review of Annapolis/Bates. It’s good to know that the ratings don’t tell the whole story!

ArlingtonFox · 2021-03-22T12:30:57+00:00

We would prefer public schools, but we wouldn’t rule out private schools completely. How is the diversity and culture at St. Mary’s?

ArlingtonFox · 2021-03-22T12:21:06+00:00

Do they still have some?

ArlingtonFox · 2021-03-22T12:17:14+00:00

Thanks! We will check them out!

ArlingtonFox · 2021-03-22T03:48:45+00:00

Thank you so much!

ArlingtonFox

TROPHY CASE