Leonardtown High School

23995 Point Lookout Road

Leonardtown, MD 20650

School District

St. Mary's County Public Schools
Grade

9-12
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:20
Type

public

School Map for St. Mary's County Public Schools

GreatSchools Rating

The school rating calculation is based on four ratings: the Student Progress Rating or Academic Progress Rating, College Readiness Rating, Equity Rating, and Test Score Rating each designed to show different facets of school success. Learn more about GreatSchools Ratings

Reviews

Submitted by other on November 27, 2024

As a former student at Leonardtown High School, this school should be your last option. They have an emphasis on sports and not merit. Even then, if you are not a overperforming athlete, you are given little attention. Parts of the school are in disrepair but they instead pour their money into sports, ignoring everything else. If you are not in any AP classes you are not encouraged to do better and instead you are pushed through the class and given work like its day care. Students had such underdeveloped critical thinking, writing, or reading skills that the teacher would end up just taking over or giving them the answer. Most of the student body would rather smoke in the bathroom, disrupt class, or not even show up. Those who did show up to class were on their phone the whole time with no consequence. It doesn't help that on average a class size would be well into the thirty's. Students are packed into the school like sardines in a can, walking through the hall was often an awful experience. You would be pushed up against another person barley moving. If you were failing the class, parents would receive an email or would schedule a conference, so parent engagement was not scarce. There was often no discipline at the school at all. If you were caught smoking or being disruptive in anyway you would received two days or more of in school suspension. This would do absolutely nothing as the behavior is not discouraged, it is just as good as "don't do it again". Bomb and school shooting threats which were taken seriously and security would be bolstered. Making friends at the school is not that hard if you find the right group. However there were often "groups of friends" that would be disruptive, rude, indecent, and at times racist. These were often the people that would instigate fights or rev their truck in the school parking lot. If you were lucky enough to get a parking pass, the parking lot was usually full, and people that counterfeited parking passes did not help the parking shortage. The Dr. James A. Forrest Career & Technology Center( The Tech Center) which is on the Leonardtown High School property is excellent and provides indispensable skills. Overall, the education at this school is below average, there is weak enforcement of rules, and the staff is incompetent.
Submitted by parent on October 25, 2022

If you are in the top 5% of your class they actually teach your children and encourage them to come to school, if you are an average student or are not taking a varsity sport to a regional championship you can come, but they really don't want you there. I have my third student at Leonardtown High School and their experience has been very different from my first two students. The first two were average students, with excellent behavior, who were never shown any encouragement or care the entire time they were there. My third student is continuously encouraged to do everything and is fully supported by the school, but this child excels academically and athletically. I knew the disparity existed, but until I was able to fully actualize the difference in treatment I did not realize how much my first two students missed out on and just how marginalized they were. The school is a pressure cooker and the only thing worse than how the students treat one another is how the staff treats the kids who are not out there making the school shine at the state level. The coaches can treat players that are not D1 bound horribly and are 100% backed up by an athletic director that only cares about the facilities and barely interacts with the athletes. The drug culture is in full effect but they pretend it doesn't exist. We just got an email last week alerting us to the fact that there have been way too many fights and acts of violence this year. In addition, the water at the school is currently contaminated with e-coli and no one can wash their hands or drink the water. So how they have a 9/10 rating is beyond me.
Submitted by parent on December 06, 2015

I have a Freshman and Junior at LHS and I have to say we are all disappointed. The students show very little respect for their teachers and the teachers do not follow through on discipline. The only class my 11th grader likes is a social studies class because all of the students in this class want to be there! My 9th grader regularly tells me that most of his class mates are more interested in checking their cell phones and chatting with other students than paying attention to the teachers. If that is how students today are behaving then it is a sad state of affairs. Online public school does not exist in MD or I would have pulled my kids out of LHS already. I heard great things about LHS, but there is no respect from the students and that is really bad.
Submitted by other on January 15, 2014

As a former English instructor at the local community college, I taught many LHS students. Very few were proficient. Most had little knowledge of grammar. Many struggled with writing a basic essay. I believe the school's emphasis on sports over academics; a known, but ignored, drug culture; lack of discipline; and a desire for an impressive graduation rate at the expense of holding students accountable are all factors. My own children graduated from this high school, and although bright, received neither the necessary background in writing nor study skills to easily transition to college.