2161 Branchwood Ct
Gambrills, MD 21054

South River is an excellent school regardless of whether your children are in STEM or not. The STEM program admission (and all other magnet program admissions in AACPS) are purely lottery based. No school in AACPS is pulling high achieving students from other clusters to boost their test scores. It’s not like how magnet program admissions work in Montgomery County. It’s true that STEM students are required to take two AP classes in their curriculum to graduate and that that could be influencing the high AP participation rate at SRHS, but all students at the school have access to AP courses, not just STEM students. This school has very dedicated teachers and very welcoming community. I agree that SRHS not being racially or socio-economically diverse is a huge con, and that sometimes the product of that is a school where some instances of racism are more likely to go unchecked, but most of the students are friendly and not racist at all. There were some incidents at the school two decades ago that gave the school a reputation for being “racist,” but SRHS has come a long way since then.

This is our 4th year at Crofton Woods and my daughter is in 3rd grade now. We have had some amazing teachers here. The teachers are really kind and help kids with their learning. The staff is really nice and helpful. The principal is wonderful. We get weekly emails from the principal about the school updates and all the happenings. I have never heard of any bullying or any rude behavior by kids. School PTA is amazing. They conduct so many activities year-round at school. Outside of school, they have so many activities - Garden club, Drama club, etc which kids really enjoy participating in. Great and educational field trips twice a year. My daughter loves this school and the teachers and staff here. She has made some amazing friends here and she loves going to school.

This school has done so much damage to my mental health it's not funny anymore. The teachers, who don't care about their jobs or their kids, grade very late, causing anxiety. I have lost all motivation to do my work because it will either get graded late, because "I have so many other papers to grade I can't do it all at once," or because one of the teachers lost it. I used to be a straight-A student in 6th and early 7th grade, as I tried to look past this and do my best, but why should I try if my teachers won't? On another note, after notifying the school counselor of the fact my private information had been divulged by another student and I wanted that to stop, said counselor blamed it on me because "I should have been more careful," and this student will only get a slap on the wrist. There are many fights, but I don't really have any need to complain about the majority of kids. However, teachers and students consistently overstep boundaries, either physically or mentally by asking inappropriate questions about my home life.