School Districts

Re: School Districts

• srs5624 member

  January 2011

  I'm partial to West Shore SD... that's where I currently live (and intend to stay).

  I'm a little leary of Mechanicsburg after hearing a co-worker's story. This happened just during this school year. Her daughter failed freshman English. The guidance counselor allowed her to move on to sophomore and junior English classes without making up the failed class. It wasn't until she tried to move on to her senior year of English that it became a problem and they decided she would have to make up the failed class. So, she should have had to do summer school between her junior and senior year to test out of the failed class, but they let her use her participation in the school play to make up for the class. The girl will be graduating this June. IMO, school play =/= English I.

  Cumberland Valley is a spendy school district (housing within the district is high dollar and the school taxes are high) and it's enormous. I can't say that I've heard of the district having a reputation to match the cost. The kids that go there seem to have a pretty snotty attitude if you run into them in public.

  Camp Hill is a very good district. It's another expensive area, but they have the student reputation to back the cost. I used to live in Camp Hill. We were renting and looking to buy when the tax increases shoved us out of the area. Roughly 4-5 years ago the property taxes in the borough increased by 70%, so you might want to check on that. The amount of properties for sale was insane... "For Sale" signs everywhere for about a year solid. One thing to keep in mind - Camp Hill SD does not run school busses. The students have to walk, drive or be dropped off. The streets are friendly for the walking though... lots of crossing guards and the streets are set up for walking.

  I don't really know anything about East Pennsboro School District. Sorry!

  
  http://pandce.****/index.cgi#general

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• Jerseygirl16

  January 2011

  Do you mean Conestoga Valley when you say CV?  If so that is the district I currently rent in and where my oldest will start Kindergarten in the Fall.  I've done a lot of research on area districts and CV although not the bottom of the heap is not one we want to stay in.  We are planning to buy a house in about 2 years and when we do we will be looking to move into Lampeter Strasburg district.  It's ranked something like 25 in the entire state and is defintely a system we'd like to get the kids in as soon as possible. 

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• ericanandy

  February 2011

  Jerseygirl16:

  Do you mean Conestoga Valley when you say CV?  If so that is the district I currently rent in and where my oldest will start Kindergarten in the Fall.  I've done a lot of research on area districts and CV although not the bottom of the heap is not one we want to stay in.  We are planning to buy a house in about 2 years and when we do we will be looking to move into Lampeter Strasburg district.  It's ranked something like 25 in the entire state and is defintely a system we'd like to get the kids in as soon as possible. 

  CV in this case means Cumberland Valley

  I student taught at LS and I LOVED it there! It's an awesome district, so small, but such hardworking wonderful teachers! 

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• Kondasa member

  February 2011

  I moved to the area recently and did all the cost/benefit analysis of each school district. I think most are really good in the area, but they all have their strengths and weaknesses. We only looked at west shore because my job is in Carlisle.

   CV is a great school district with the best test scores and athletics etc., but it is huge and my husband and I didn't want that for our child. West Shore is similar in that vein, but has a little more economic diversity than CV. 

  Mechanicsburg seemed more middle of the road to us. It seemed like it was a mid-size school that wasn't known for anything, which means it isn't known for being spectacular at academics/sports, but also not known for drugs and gangs. This was actually our second choice district after the one we went with.

  We nixed camp hill because we wanted a newer home and camp hill doesn't really have those. It would have been our pick for school districts because of the small size and stellar academics.

  East Pennsboro was alright, but didn't have the emphasis on academics that we wanted based on their test score passing rates.

  We actually ended up in South Middleton Schools. It is more of an up and coming area and DH has to commute 20 minutes from Boiling Springs to Harrisburg but it was the smallest school with the best academics with newer developments going up. The athletics aren't as strong as the other school districts and because of the rising incomes and more rural feel in the area there is a problem with become economically and racially homogenous. 

  This is just my opinion after researching test scores, athletics, and getting to know friends who live in each district. 

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  

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• Mommysaurus123 member

  February 2011

  I did my student teaching at Cumberland Valley and LOVED it. But I'd make sure that your kid would go to Good Hope instead of the other middle school... The staff at GH was AWESOME and apparently the school is in better shape than the other one.

  

   

  

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