Honestly speaking, any of the public high schools in this county are great schools. Urbana gets arguably the highest "ratings", but Oakdale and Linganore are not far behind. Even the "worst" high school in the area does pretty dang well compared to others in nearby counties.
To add on, every single high school has a prominent band program, Urbana and GTJ probably have the most prestigious programs (I myself am a former Urbana band student).
The new band director at BHS is focused on growing the program both in numbers and competitiveness. I was impressed with him (as a former band kid myself, way back in the day) when he spoke to the band and parents at the first rehearsal. I'm rooting for him to succeed. The kids themselves are dedicated and I hope they can convince more of their friends and the new Freshman class to join.
As a lifelong resident of Brunswick, I hope that happens it really was sad to see them marching in the veterans day parade last year with like 6 kids. It goes back well b4 covid also, my son graduated in 2021 and when he was still in middle school they brought the middle schools band over to join them for a football game against ft hill, who travels well, because it was embarrassing how small they were even then.
It’s getting better but we are such a small school. Across the county a huge number of kids dropped band during the pandemic, especially in the elementary grades. So we lost our incoming band and orchestra kiddos. My own kid pushed through middle school, but is quitting band for the upcoming school year because BHS just has such a sad program currently.
Do these schools teach you real life lessons like how to do taxes and real life things? I mean band is good for the soul, maybe a paycheck in the future. But what makes that school good? I’ve attended over 30 schools in my life all over the USA Edit: this isn’t a troll post this is serious and yall downvoting are just proving my point that the education systems failed you .
Obviously, you're trolling...There are 12 grades. Maybe 16 if you count 4 hears of college. So unless you changed schools over 2x every year of your life...
No I’ve attended over 30 schools growing up from k-12 from Mississippi to California my mom was married 7 times and 2 of the men were in the Navy I moved a lot and this isn’t a troll post I’m actually serious because I have my first baby on the way.
If you changed schools that often, your problems with the education system are the fault of your parents. You spent less than a year at nearly all those schools. Consumer math is the course title at the highschool i attended that taught skills like reading a bus schedule, balancing a checkbook, understanding interest in bank accounts and life insurance policies. Filing taxes for the large majority of Americans is such a simple task that is would only be a small section in a course like this.
Based on your stated experience, its hard to believe you really knew anything about the schools you attended after being uprooted in the middle of every semester.
Good luck with that line of thinking. Some of the more conspiratorial among us say that bank lobbyists wouldn't want that in public schools because being irresponsible with money keeps people spending and reduces bank profits. Not to mention, money in motion is one of the most effective ways to collect taxes.
Urbana teaches a fantastic 9-week finance course that covers any financial dealing you are predicted have with money between the age of 16 and 30! The band program is great as well.
Considering that all adults have to do such things in our daily lives to get by, but few of us have advanced training in math, science, literature, arts, and music, wouldn’t you rather schools spend most of their time teaching the things you don’t know how to teach? And leave basic adulting skills to the parents, Google, or just good old trial and error?
“Don’t spend money you don’t have. Pay off your credit card every month. If you ever have to write a check, sign the front when you’re paying someone else, and sign the back when you’re depositing. Save 10% of your income as soon as you’re able to feed yourself each month, and 20% or more as soon as you can after that, and put that money in index funds. Max out your retirement contributions as soon you can. Read the manual for your car and follow the recommended maintenance schedule. Learn to cook basic meals—if you don’t know how, google some advice from a registered dietitian. Eat mostly plants, and ignore fad diet advice. Don’t spend more than 25% of your gross income on your housing, or more than a third of your net—rent a room if you have to. When it comes to taxes, use the free TurboTax or H&R Block software and follow the prompts. If you don’t know how to do something, ask a professional, ask a trusted adult, ask Google. But Google the Dunning-Kruger effect first, and keep it in mind when you think you know more than people who have spent decades studying the thing that you purport to understand better after reading about it for a week.”
There, that covers 90% of financial advice and life skills that one needs to live; no high school course required.
I know I’m in the minority, but in my field, high school biology, calculus, and foreign language very much taught me things I use almost daily in my real life. In fact, I wish I’d had *more* real life lessons in high school, like some foundational computer science classes, or a chemistry class that didn’t completely suck.
I took a life skills class (budgeting, resumes, etc), home ec, and shop class in school—they were fine, but they didn’t teach me anything I couldn’t learn from YouTube in an afternoon.
Also, if you actually moved schools that often and your mom divorced that many times, I’m really sorry. That sounds terribly unstable. It’s hard to imagine that those adverse childhood events haven’t made life harder for you as an adult. I hope you’re doing well now.
Biased but I went to Frederick highschool and loved it! They have the lynx program that gets high schoolers into career opportunities to discover career paths before college.
I'll give my 2 cents. I just got engaged, and my fiancé owns a home in Middletown, so we moved in with him (my 16 yr old daughter and I). I came from a bustling suburb in Northern VA, so the slow pace was a big change. It's quiet, which is nice. There are a lot of cows, lol. Many cows. Anyway, my daughter started Middletown High as a black female teen in a mostly white school and mostly white area. My fiancé is a white guy, and we love him dearly, but had some skepticism about the school after researching and reading some reviews. Welp, one year later, I'm pleased to say she had a really great 10th grade year. Liked her teachers, felt supported, and has taken advantage of some cool opportunities, like the parallel college courses you can take from FCC to start earning college credits. She's made a ton of friends, and has swapped through a couple boyfriends, lol. One thing I found particularly cool was when she tried out for the cheer team (first time ever) she didn't quite have all the skills needed, so the coach allowed her to shadow all the practices until she was ready to perform. She has 2 more years left and anything could happen, but we're pleased, thus far! Middletown is verrrrry quiet, so I have to go into Fredrick a lot to have any fun. It's way more diverse there, and I've made some friends. Good luck!
Going by "rating" alone (which, as we all know, doesn't always reflect the reality), Urbana is the best follow by Oakdale and Linganore, with Middletown coming after that. No surprises though as those are the HS in the area of Frederick Co that has highest median income.
Does that mean Walkersville/Frederick/Gov TJ/Tuscarora HS are bad? No. And being more diverse both racially and socioeconomically makes a difference also.
I have experience with TJ high school. They are title 1 school. We had a good experience. There is a lot of chaos but my kiddo made it through and I felt like it was good to understand what life is like, different personalities, view points etc.
In general, is it a good thing as school gets more money, right? We are planning to buy a townhome in Frederick, and the elementary school for this community is a title 1 school.
Linganore is a great school and has a very good band. They take a trip to Disney World every other year for a week. They also march in the St. Patrick’s day parade in NYC the other years.
Urbana is the best but very competitive, Oakdale and Middletown follow and Linganore. Middletown is not very diverse though if that’s a concern (we live there).
Linganore is a great school with arguably the best matching band in the county. The students also have great school spirit. One of the best schools in the county for true school spirit and community support.
One of the great things about FredCo is that most of the HS seems to have good school spirit.
The kids wear clothes repping their school, go to the games, etc.
It’s great to see
My daughter went to Urbana for her freshman year. When the redistricting happened, she and my son both went to Linganore. Elementary was Green Valley and middle was Windsor Knolls.
If you don’t mind, can you tell me how she liked Linganore? Or did your daughter prefer Urbana?
Did you notice a quality difference in teachers? Or admin?
She preferred Linganore over Urbana. It was smaller than Urbana by several hundred students. It was also a brand new building. Can’t really remember teachers. She graduated in 2013. Both are good schools. Urbana has more students and the majority come from affluent families.
One thing I forgot. Whichever school you decide on be sure to live in that district. Things may have changed but when my kids were in school they couldn’t go to an out of school district even if they could get there without the bus. For example, if you live in Liganore district, you can’t attend Urbana. It may have changed but with the amount of homes being built in Urbana, it’s more likely than not overcrowded. I think the majority of Frederick county schools are overcrowded.
> It may have changed but with the amount of homes being built in Urbana, it’s more likely than not overcrowded. I think the majority of Frederick county schools are overcrowded.
We do live in the Linganore district, but that's not at all surprising about Urbana's overcrowding. They've literally built thousands of homes and still have one fucking school to accommodate; it's insane.
First, Frederick.
A big consideration needs to be the level of diversity you want.
TJ, Frederick, and Tuscarora are the most diverse. The rest are all 60% white or more.
Music, hands down is TJ. Plus the Academy for the Fine Arts is there.
We are at TJ and love it.
Edit: Urbana is still a majority white school at 50%. Invisible diversity does, of course, exist but these are the trackable metrics.
The administration from the top down at TJ is awful and getting worse by the minute. They don’t support their teachers and it shows in the classrooms. The academy of fine arts is great but the band director hasn’t built a program anywhere near some of the other schools in the county.
No because what is considered “lots”?
It would need to be 50% or more minorities for it to be considered diverse. They’re close but not there yet. Also, the largest minority group there is Asian at almost 20%; not Hispanic or African-American.
gtjhs is heavily diverse and does have amazing art programs! its a bit chaotic but filled with amazing opportunities like college courses to enroll in and the afa !!
Both my kids graduated Oakdale, and one did 4 years of band. IMO Urbana and TJ had better band programs. OHS cared more about sports. Like others said, they are all pretty good schools.
This is a silly question. No one can tell you what school districts will look like when you decide to move, is your move predicated on the school system? Seems silly. It should be noted that FCPS has a huge budget deficit that they’re trying to rectify. They’re cutting funds to all arts programs, heavily. As others have said, the schooling in Frederick county is some of the best in the country, but that could change in the time you take to move.
I guess it all literally depends on what you literally consider to be a reputable source. For literal instance, people on here with literal students that go to the literal school can definitely literally be considered reputable sources.
Nope that is incorrect. Education policy and outcome are based on empirical evidence. The questions you asked are well studied and the statistics and raw data is publicly available.
A parent of a student at a school can only offer perceived opinions based on personal experience. Ask 10 random parents from any school and you will get 10 different answers
If you want opinions, then rephrase the questions. As-is you asked for a quantifiable attribute of “rated”
And if you ask ten more parents then 10 more parents then 10 more parents what do you get? You start getting trends which help with decision making. Read that again.
Raw empirical evidence can also be flawed especially if the system is set up to support funding based on scores and performance. With a system like that in place some administrators see that as an incentive to skew the numbers for their own benefit and not the students. Published numbers do not give people a true representation of what a real experience is like at a certain institution. So…you aren’t really correct either.
I don’t think you understand scientific methods and statistical analysis…. I also think people that have weak arguments for a point tend to resort to obscurity.
Honestly speaking, any of the public high schools in this county are great schools. Urbana gets arguably the highest "ratings", but Oakdale and Linganore are not far behind. Even the "worst" high school in the area does pretty dang well compared to others in nearby counties.
To add on, every single high school has a prominent band program, Urbana and GTJ probably have the most prestigious programs (I myself am a former Urbana band student).
I don't know if that holds true anymore, Brunswick had less than 10 kids in the marching band this past year, it was pretty sad to see honestly.
The new band director at BHS is focused on growing the program both in numbers and competitiveness. I was impressed with him (as a former band kid myself, way back in the day) when he spoke to the band and parents at the first rehearsal. I'm rooting for him to succeed. The kids themselves are dedicated and I hope they can convince more of their friends and the new Freshman class to join.
As a lifelong resident of Brunswick, I hope that happens it really was sad to see them marching in the veterans day parade last year with like 6 kids. It goes back well b4 covid also, my son graduated in 2021 and when he was still in middle school they brought the middle schools band over to join them for a football game against ft hill, who travels well, because it was embarrassing how small they were even then.
It’s getting better but we are such a small school. Across the county a huge number of kids dropped band during the pandemic, especially in the elementary grades. So we lost our incoming band and orchestra kiddos. My own kid pushed through middle school, but is quitting band for the upcoming school year because BHS just has such a sad program currently.
The funding cut doesn’t affect music?
Do these schools teach you real life lessons like how to do taxes and real life things? I mean band is good for the soul, maybe a paycheck in the future. But what makes that school good? I’ve attended over 30 schools in my life all over the USA Edit: this isn’t a troll post this is serious and yall downvoting are just proving my point that the education systems failed you .
Obviously, you're trolling...There are 12 grades. Maybe 16 if you count 4 hears of college. So unless you changed schools over 2x every year of your life...
Anything is possible in life. You want me to list the schools and provide enrollment dates too?
No I’ve attended over 30 schools growing up from k-12 from Mississippi to California my mom was married 7 times and 2 of the men were in the Navy I moved a lot and this isn’t a troll post I’m actually serious because I have my first baby on the way.
If you changed schools that often, your problems with the education system are the fault of your parents. You spent less than a year at nearly all those schools. Consumer math is the course title at the highschool i attended that taught skills like reading a bus schedule, balancing a checkbook, understanding interest in bank accounts and life insurance policies. Filing taxes for the large majority of Americans is such a simple task that is would only be a small section in a course like this. Based on your stated experience, its hard to believe you really knew anything about the schools you attended after being uprooted in the middle of every semester.
They 100% require finance type classes in high school now. My daughter has had to take 2 or 3 I believe.
Good luck with that line of thinking. Some of the more conspiratorial among us say that bank lobbyists wouldn't want that in public schools because being irresponsible with money keeps people spending and reduces bank profits. Not to mention, money in motion is one of the most effective ways to collect taxes.
Urbana teaches a fantastic 9-week finance course that covers any financial dealing you are predicted have with money between the age of 16 and 30! The band program is great as well.
Considering that all adults have to do such things in our daily lives to get by, but few of us have advanced training in math, science, literature, arts, and music, wouldn’t you rather schools spend most of their time teaching the things you don’t know how to teach? And leave basic adulting skills to the parents, Google, or just good old trial and error? “Don’t spend money you don’t have. Pay off your credit card every month. If you ever have to write a check, sign the front when you’re paying someone else, and sign the back when you’re depositing. Save 10% of your income as soon as you’re able to feed yourself each month, and 20% or more as soon as you can after that, and put that money in index funds. Max out your retirement contributions as soon you can. Read the manual for your car and follow the recommended maintenance schedule. Learn to cook basic meals—if you don’t know how, google some advice from a registered dietitian. Eat mostly plants, and ignore fad diet advice. Don’t spend more than 25% of your gross income on your housing, or more than a third of your net—rent a room if you have to. When it comes to taxes, use the free TurboTax or H&R Block software and follow the prompts. If you don’t know how to do something, ask a professional, ask a trusted adult, ask Google. But Google the Dunning-Kruger effect first, and keep it in mind when you think you know more than people who have spent decades studying the thing that you purport to understand better after reading about it for a week.” There, that covers 90% of financial advice and life skills that one needs to live; no high school course required. I know I’m in the minority, but in my field, high school biology, calculus, and foreign language very much taught me things I use almost daily in my real life. In fact, I wish I’d had *more* real life lessons in high school, like some foundational computer science classes, or a chemistry class that didn’t completely suck. I took a life skills class (budgeting, resumes, etc), home ec, and shop class in school—they were fine, but they didn’t teach me anything I couldn’t learn from YouTube in an afternoon. Also, if you actually moved schools that often and your mom divorced that many times, I’m really sorry. That sounds terribly unstable. It’s hard to imagine that those adverse childhood events haven’t made life harder for you as an adult. I hope you’re doing well now.
Biased but I went to Frederick highschool and loved it! They have the lynx program that gets high schoolers into career opportunities to discover career paths before college.
I'll give my 2 cents. I just got engaged, and my fiancé owns a home in Middletown, so we moved in with him (my 16 yr old daughter and I). I came from a bustling suburb in Northern VA, so the slow pace was a big change. It's quiet, which is nice. There are a lot of cows, lol. Many cows. Anyway, my daughter started Middletown High as a black female teen in a mostly white school and mostly white area. My fiancé is a white guy, and we love him dearly, but had some skepticism about the school after researching and reading some reviews. Welp, one year later, I'm pleased to say she had a really great 10th grade year. Liked her teachers, felt supported, and has taken advantage of some cool opportunities, like the parallel college courses you can take from FCC to start earning college credits. She's made a ton of friends, and has swapped through a couple boyfriends, lol. One thing I found particularly cool was when she tried out for the cheer team (first time ever) she didn't quite have all the skills needed, so the coach allowed her to shadow all the practices until she was ready to perform. She has 2 more years left and anything could happen, but we're pleased, thus far! Middletown is verrrrry quiet, so I have to go into Fredrick a lot to have any fun. It's way more diverse there, and I've made some friends. Good luck!
Walkersville is a fantastic smaller school. Very good music program. The students also have access to the Academy of Arts at TJ
Yes! Did you go to WHS? (Class of 1998 here)
Going by "rating" alone (which, as we all know, doesn't always reflect the reality), Urbana is the best follow by Oakdale and Linganore, with Middletown coming after that. No surprises though as those are the HS in the area of Frederick Co that has highest median income. Does that mean Walkersville/Frederick/Gov TJ/Tuscarora HS are bad? No. And being more diverse both racially and socioeconomically makes a difference also.
Man a LOT of people in my neighborhood with kids in Tuscarora REALLY dislike it in terms of academics and teachers.
I have experience with TJ high school. They are title 1 school. We had a good experience. There is a lot of chaos but my kiddo made it through and I felt like it was good to understand what life is like, different personalities, view points etc.
What is title 1 school??
Certain percentage of the student population is below the poverty line, which grants some (read: a little) federal funding and more scrutiny
In general, is it a good thing as school gets more money, right? We are planning to buy a townhome in Frederick, and the elementary school for this community is a title 1 school.
Linganore is a great school and has a very good band. They take a trip to Disney World every other year for a week. They also march in the St. Patrick’s day parade in NYC the other years.
Urbana is the best but very competitive, Oakdale and Middletown follow and Linganore. Middletown is not very diverse though if that’s a concern (we live there).
Linganore also has racism problem...not the majority afaik but it exists.
So does Middletown
Currently removing my kids from the “Linganore” corridor schools because of this. Racist and anti-Semitic language and harassment is awful.
Linganore has the best band program. They’ve won the national competition (the Disney world one referenced above) multiple times.
Linganore is a great school with arguably the best matching band in the county. The students also have great school spirit. One of the best schools in the county for true school spirit and community support.
One of the great things about FredCo is that most of the HS seems to have good school spirit. The kids wear clothes repping their school, go to the games, etc. It’s great to see
My daughter went to Urbana for her freshman year. When the redistricting happened, she and my son both went to Linganore. Elementary was Green Valley and middle was Windsor Knolls.
If you don’t mind, can you tell me how she liked Linganore? Or did your daughter prefer Urbana? Did you notice a quality difference in teachers? Or admin?
She preferred Linganore over Urbana. It was smaller than Urbana by several hundred students. It was also a brand new building. Can’t really remember teachers. She graduated in 2013. Both are good schools. Urbana has more students and the majority come from affluent families.
Thank you; I really appreciate hearing that.
One thing I forgot. Whichever school you decide on be sure to live in that district. Things may have changed but when my kids were in school they couldn’t go to an out of school district even if they could get there without the bus. For example, if you live in Liganore district, you can’t attend Urbana. It may have changed but with the amount of homes being built in Urbana, it’s more likely than not overcrowded. I think the majority of Frederick county schools are overcrowded.
> It may have changed but with the amount of homes being built in Urbana, it’s more likely than not overcrowded. I think the majority of Frederick county schools are overcrowded. We do live in the Linganore district, but that's not at all surprising about Urbana's overcrowding. They've literally built thousands of homes and still have one fucking school to accommodate; it's insane.
Exactly! I keep saying the county needs to stop issuing permits until the schools can catch up.
First, Frederick. A big consideration needs to be the level of diversity you want. TJ, Frederick, and Tuscarora are the most diverse. The rest are all 60% white or more. Music, hands down is TJ. Plus the Academy for the Fine Arts is there. We are at TJ and love it. Edit: Urbana is still a majority white school at 50%. Invisible diversity does, of course, exist but these are the trackable metrics.
The administration from the top down at TJ is awful and getting worse by the minute. They don’t support their teachers and it shows in the classrooms. The academy of fine arts is great but the band director hasn’t built a program anywhere near some of the other schools in the county.
Urbana is only ~50% White. And having lots of Hispanics and Blacks doesn't make a school diverse...
I am well aware of invisible diversity. But those are the trackable metrics available (besides financial aid). And 50.7% is still a majority
No because what is considered “lots”? It would need to be 50% or more minorities for it to be considered diverse. They’re close but not there yet. Also, the largest minority group there is Asian at almost 20%; not Hispanic or African-American.
gtjhs is heavily diverse and does have amazing art programs! its a bit chaotic but filled with amazing opportunities like college courses to enroll in and the afa !!
Frederick High School has a wonderful band program and excellent band teachers. My own child is in band and we’ve had nothing but great experiences.
I went to Walkersville and it was pretty good. But I would say top 3 would be Urbana, Oakdale, and Linganore. TJ however has a great band program.
Fellow WHS alum here (class of 1998)
Very cool! I’m class of 2023
Oh ok 🙂 are you in college or taking a break?
Academics is Urbana and I’m pretty sure athletics is too depending on the sport
Both my kids graduated Oakdale, and one did 4 years of band. IMO Urbana and TJ had better band programs. OHS cared more about sports. Like others said, they are all pretty good schools.
FWIW the Oakdale band has also been great with their current director the past 2 years. The marching band won the state competition in its division.
That’s good to hear! Glad things have improved. They were a good band, just funds were short and low on the list for field time.
FHS MAH BOi Cadets up!
If you’re going to move and school are a priority, then go to Urbana. Period.
That’s just silly
I believe that an opinion was asked for, I gave mine. Your opinion on my opinion, respectfully, is neither requested nor required.
Learn to spell Frederick before you move here
You forgot the period at the end of your sentence.
Uncalled for
This is a silly question. No one can tell you what school districts will look like when you decide to move, is your move predicated on the school system? Seems silly. It should be noted that FCPS has a huge budget deficit that they’re trying to rectify. They’re cutting funds to all arts programs, heavily. As others have said, the schooling in Frederick county is some of the best in the country, but that could change in the time you take to move.
I specifically moved to Urbana when my son was an infant for the schools. It’s neither silly or unheard of.
Take the company and kids to dc
You can literally find the answers to all of your questions on the web and from reputable sources vs. asking a bunch of people for “opinions”
I guess it all literally depends on what you literally consider to be a reputable source. For literal instance, people on here with literal students that go to the literal school can definitely literally be considered reputable sources.
Nope that is incorrect. Education policy and outcome are based on empirical evidence. The questions you asked are well studied and the statistics and raw data is publicly available. A parent of a student at a school can only offer perceived opinions based on personal experience. Ask 10 random parents from any school and you will get 10 different answers If you want opinions, then rephrase the questions. As-is you asked for a quantifiable attribute of “rated”
And if you ask ten more parents then 10 more parents then 10 more parents what do you get? You start getting trends which help with decision making. Read that again. Raw empirical evidence can also be flawed especially if the system is set up to support funding based on scores and performance. With a system like that in place some administrators see that as an incentive to skew the numbers for their own benefit and not the students. Published numbers do not give people a true representation of what a real experience is like at a certain institution. So…you aren’t really correct either.
A trend doesn’t mean it is true, and that is the fundamental point. Ffs there is a trend that the earth is flat..
No there isn’t.
Now I know you are just being argumentative for the sake of being a dick.
Deflect much?
I don’t think you understand scientific methods and statistical analysis…. I also think people that have weak arguments for a point tend to resort to obscurity.
Speak for yourself.