Everyone's proud of their kids (I hope) etc and I'm not into unnecessary pumping up people for their esteem, but the McCaskey music concert last night was really great. It was long, but still I enjoyed every single song!

GeoW, I'm guessing you have children in the city schools? If not please disregard this question. But if you do would you please tell me how your experience has been. We are considering moving back into the city but are very concerned about putting our child into a city middle school. We are also afraid that our child will get "lost" in the high schools. I am interested in the experiences other parents have had with the SDoL. Thanks

Hi! I have had 6 children graduate from the SdoL and one who is now a senior.

For my youngest 2 , I am doing a cyber charter school.I also help my grandson, who is in cyber school.
On the plus side, the students in SdoL get to meet children from many different backgrounds and cultures.

On the negative, depending on where you live, many of the classrooms have a large number of students. If you have a child who needs attention or if your child is smart and picks up things quickly and needs an intellectual challenge, I do not recommend SDoL in the elementary and middle schools.

Because of the No Child Left Behind, most of the emphasis is on bringing the students up to grade level. In many classrooms, the students are 2 or more grade levels BEHIND. This means if your child is advanced, he or she will not be a priority. Gifted programming is virtually nonexistent.
Also, I have a child with special needs and I feel I can give him a better education working with him one on one.
Also on the negative, I feel students pick up many of the negative behaviors of their peers such as foul language, fighting, and disrespect to those in authority. While you may not have these negative values in your home, it is very difficult to outweigh peer influence.
My advice would be to find a school environment that has high academics with students striving to excel and where they encourage your child to have positive values. You will be happier if you choose an alternative to the SDoL, at least for elementary and middle school. Trust me! Most of my friends have sent their children to the New School,.Lancaster Country Day, or are doing homeschool/cyberschool if they live in Lancaster City.They are thrilled with the change in their child.
MAMC
P.S. e-mail me privately if you want more information.

Thanks, you have confirmed everything we are concerned about. Our daughter is a full year younger than grade peers and in gifted/advanced classes. She doesn't have to work very much to get all a's. We were very concerned that she would not be challenged enough at SDoL. What a shame. I would love to live in the city again. We had her in The School, loved the program but our child just didn't have enough self-motivation. Country Day is out of our price range. So I guess we stay in the burbs.

We have 2 kids at SDoL (2 or 2). Over the years I've had many frustrations with the district, but I doubt if I've had more or less problems than we would have in any other district. We've encountered great teachers and lousy teachers, great kids and lousy kids, etc. The district has much more to offer than the rural district I grew up in and, although they are a small minority, there is a very dedicated group of parent volunteers at all levels of the district. I often thought of moving before our kids went to school. I've never considered it since they entered middle school. Good luck.

really? one of the reasons we've considered moving (besides that i'm a country girl!) was for when we have kids- i guess they'd go to mccaskey? we live on north market street, where would their elementary be? no rush, we aren't even preggers yet, i am just curious?

We've been in SDOL for 6 years now. Both my girls went to Hand Middle School, and for all the bad rep that school has, I was ok with their education. my younger daughter is gifted, and the gifted teacher at Hand, Ms. Moretz-Germaine, is a godsend. She is the main reason Erin was able to stay focused this past year(8 th grade) The principal at Hand, Mr. Mays, is making a lot of good moves in the right direction. I've noticed a remarkable difference in the school the past 2 years. The music education program is also getting better. At this past Christmas concert, the string orchestra portion was very impressive.
As far as McCaskey goes, my oldest in in the IB SLC, and it is more than preparing her for college. I was discussing her classes with one of my employees, who is a junior at Penn Manor in college prep, and he said Laura is doing much more than he is in his classes. Laura's best friend went to Country Day until grade 9, then McCaskey because of the IB program.
I just found out McCaskey's Vidette won 1st place in the Intell's Lancaster County school newspaper's contest. Laura's editorial on the Math IMP program also won 1st place, so they must be doing something right!

I read Laura's editorial and it was superb! Hats off to your daughter(s)!

Thanks!! We hope it's the beginning of an illustrious career in political journalism!(Helen Thomas is her idol!)