Centennial High School

Posted: August 26, 2026

My daughter attended Centennial High School from August 2024 until August 20, 2026, when she was removed for moving out of the county. Since then, I have received repeated emails and phone calls pressuring me to sign withdrawal paperwork. However, I did not withdraw my daughter from the school; the school removed her. Five days after her removal, the registrar contacted me to discuss possible options.
Unfortunately, her experience at Centennial High School was no different from attending an inner-city school. She was bullied from her first day until her last. The situation became so severe that I had to sit in the school parking lot during the day because the administration could not assure me of her safety. The students who bullied her would wait outside her classrooms.
During the previous school year, a brawl occurred in the principal's office after students were brought together for a meeting. When the fight broke out, the principal did not intervene. A staff member was injured during the altercation. There is also graffiti in the bathroom stalls.
Additionally, a teacher was reportedly suspended for inappropriately touching students but has since been permitted to return to the classroom. This is a serious allegation that warrants transparency and appropriate action from the school administration.
Centennial High School is supposed to be located in one of Maryland's better school districts, yet it experiences many of the same problems associated with under-resourced city schools. Given these circumstances, the annual tuition fee of $14,520 is unreasonable. No family should have to pay such a substantial amount while dealing with bullying, safety concerns, misconduct allegations, and inadequate administrative responses.

Posted: August 26, 2026

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Posted: September 6, 2024

it is a great school, and I highly recommend it."

Posted: September 6, 2024

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Posted: November 9, 2023

We are so blessed our children attend this school. The staff is wonderful and the students are academic and friendly!

Posted: November 9, 2023

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Posted: April 18, 2023

Great school my boy love his school

Posted: April 18, 2023

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Posted: September 27, 2022

Best school ever for kids and adults

Posted: September 27, 2022

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Posted: December 23, 2021

This school has incredible and caring staff who really support the students.

Posted: December 23, 2021

Posted: June 11, 2021

Absolutely horrible, I can't wait to graduate. Very few teachers teach well, and I've had several experiences with an inconsiderate staff member. The school itself is a very toxic environment, and many students suffer from lack of sleep, stress, and depression. The only thing holding up this school's rating are the students and the few teachers that actually put in the effort to teach their students instead of expecting them to learn everything on their own. School spirit and fun are zero, so don't have high expectations. Student government is convoluted.

Posted: June 11, 2021

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Posted: April 26, 2021

I am very happy with this school. Teachers are very helpful and considerate. No doubt academic pressure is there but it’s good for the students. Those who don’t want to study please don’t join this school and keep complaining about academic pressure. As a parent I would recommend this school.

Posted: April 26, 2021

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Posted: January 22, 2021

Very professional staff. I would recommend this school without hesitation.

Posted: January 22, 2021

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Posted: January 16, 2021

Too stressful and totally overcrowded. Frequent redistricting.

Posted: January 16, 2021

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Posted: June 7, 2020

There is quite a lot of homework, but it is definitely doable. The homework is usually well designed and helpful, although some of the worse teachers just give out busy work.

Posted: June 7, 2020

By and far most of the teachers are professional and decent, but there are always bad apples. Aforementioned teachers usually teach poorly and give busy work, but overall quite good.

Posted: June 7, 2020

The basis of strength with Centennial is really in the students in their parents. Being in an affluent neighborhood, everyone is pressured hard and generally this results in high achievement. As a result of this, cheating is a rampant issue, cliques and entitlement are terrible, and overall the only strength is a value in academics.

Posted: June 7, 2020

I honestly don't remember the last time the administration did anything.

Posted: June 7, 2020

I'm not too sure here, but the teaching methods are very rigid which works for most people.

Posted: June 7, 2020

The bullying here is terribly managed, and teachers/staff do very little about it. However, it generally isn't too big of an issue because most people aren't particularly violent.

Posted: June 7, 2020

Overall, Centennial is a strongly overrated school. People talk about the magnificent test scores, which are notable (I am amongst the people who strongly value academic success and can be considered a top student here). However, this is entirely due to educated, affluent parents and students. The staff is good, but not particularly amazing while the administration isn't very useful at all. The social experience is terrible, with strongly defined cliques and friend groups.

Posted: March 2, 2020

My experience is really bad, there was lead in the water fountains, and they are very pressuring, and they only care about test scores and academics. I also find it very hard to make friends there.

Posted: March 2, 2020

there is a lot of dumb homework

Posted: March 2, 2020

they are annoying and not very good at teaching, also they dont care about the students

Posted: March 2, 2020

they don't let you talk or make friends, they aren't nice, they don't care about that stuff

Posted: March 2, 2020

Posted: March 2, 2020

I have adhd and they are not supportive of me at all

Posted: March 2, 2020

there is a lot of bullying and stuff like vaping

Posted: March 8, 2019

It’s been a while. It was average.

Posted: March 8, 2019

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Posted: March 8, 2019

It appears that students with disabilities dont fare well at this school, based on the data.

Posted: March 8, 2019

Posted: March 8, 2019

I would say my experience was filled with some good memories, but there some awful ones too.

Posted: June 6, 2016

Centennial High School has excellent teachers, involved parents and academically competitive students with tremendous school pride.

Posted: January 14, 2016

no. just no. lots of kids cheat believe it or not. they try to develop integrity and honesty, but it doesn't work quite as well as the administration thinks.

Posted: January 14, 2016

it's okay. teachers aren't very good. it's mostly friends motivating each other. don't expect to fit in new people!

Posted: September 15, 2015

Academically, the school is fine -- but because of the students, not the teachers. The neighborhood is affluent and parents are educated and set high expectations for their children. With only a few exceptions, the teachers put in their time and teach to the tests. Overall, the school administration is incompetent. The best administrators in the county go to the more difficult schools and Centennial gets the second and third string. There are actually more cliques among the parents than there are among the kids and there are MANY helicopter parents who are always advocating for their children over others. That leads to a lot of favoritism and bias. For example, this year the JV football coach favors one player whose parent works for Under Armor and provides swag for the coaches and dumps on all of the other players. Consequently, there is no team spirit. Administration knows and does nothing. I wish my kids went to a school with fewer pampered parents and kids and actually learned how to deal with real world problems.

Posted: September 15, 2015

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Posted: September 15, 2015

Students are nice to one another but there is alot of parent driven bias from the teachers.

Posted: August 15, 2015

I graduated from Centennial in 2009 and I would NEVER send my children here. People get so caught up on the good test scores that they ignore all the other horrible things. Teachers are elitist and snobby. Enormous bullying and clique issue. If you're not filthy rich don't expect to be treated well. Parents and teachers put so much pressure on getting perfect scores, getting into the perfect college, getting perfect grades that none of the students were happy, In fact everyone was stressed constantly. 0 school spirit or morale our senior pep rally fell silent multiple times because nobody liked eachother or the school. Our principal continually added new and ridiculous restrictions on the school for no apparent reason. AVOID at all costs. I'd much rather have gone to high school with lower testing scores and grades and a more welcome community.

Posted: August 5, 2015

Centennial is pretty overrated. It isn't the powerhouse school it used to be, and now with some of it's math and physics teachers retiring, this school is going to have a significant drop off. Lastly, the front office administration is pretty horrible. Don't spend all the extra money for real estate in order to go to centennial because right now, it simply is not worth it. A lot of the past reviews say good things about Centennial, and I agree with most of those reviews. However, Centennial has been going on a downward slump for years now, and Riverhill, Marriots Ridge, and Atholton are probably better alternatives right now.

Posted: August 5, 2015

If Siegert and Eisenstein didn't just retire, I would have given higher rating. I don't see how Centennial will be able to replace them.

Posted: August 5, 2015

Good amount of homework to get you prepared for college, assuming you are taking AP/GT courses.

Posted: May 7, 2015

It does not have ad-quite staff diversity and awareness. The lack of training and understanding of cultural differences is not there. The lack of diversity in students and teacher radio is outrageous. For an area that is so close to Columbia and Baltimore. Students are bullied not only by other students also how teachers and staff administration views incidences when they are disciplining students with other cultural backgrounds. The consequences and views are looked upon differently based on race and culture. The teachers should be held accountable for their behavior and what percentage of students are passing their class and how the information is transmitted to students of better understanding. The Administration excepts teachers excuses. Yet, students are stress out because of the school goals.

Posted: June 20, 2014

Very difficulty to relax at my school. The pressure to be perfect, the pressure to have the best clothes, and be involved in sports, academics, AP classes is unbearable. I know theyre trying to prepare us for school, but I hated waking up every day in High School when I went here. The teachers don't hesitate to put you on the spot and make you feel stupid, if you don't know the answer. They hide this when the review people watch them teach. I cant say enough about how horrible my high school was. I don't know if I'll go to college right away. I may travel this summer and get a job and see. I want to get far away from my pushy parents. All I want is to be happy.

Posted: September 17, 2013

This is an amazingly competitive and diverse school. The curricula is rigorous and challenging. Also, the people are very competitive. But what I noticed immediately, is that there is no teasing, no bullying, no hatred, no violence. It was all such a shock to me when I first moved here as an African American from the South. No more racial or homophobic slurs thrown at me everyday. No more teasing because of what I love. The amount of acceptance and caring can bring me to tears any day.

Posted: September 9, 2013

Centennial students are achievement-oriented, and their families place a high value on education. The average student there would be a top student in many other schools. The teachers push the students to be their best, but not in a high-pressure way. I consistently hear from former graduates that college was a breeze because of the preparation they received at Centennial. Both my kids love the school.

Posted: April 12, 2013

I have moved around a lot and all the schools in the other counties in MD are just different compared to Howard County. Centennial is the most diverse high school in Ho. Co., which I'm pretty sure is the most diverse county in MD. Anyways, CHS was the only school where i did NOT experience racism and bullying (I am a minority.) CHS also has the highest AP class enrollment and is very academically competitive. I have friends who are taking seven AP credits per year. I had to actually drop out of AP math because I could not keep up with the curriculum, since I had Cross Country, Track and NAHS. Compared to other schools in Ho Co. and other county schools, there WILL be more school work involved, but from all my college friends I've heard from, they're having a relaxed time because it's so much more "chill" in college than it was at CHS. (The one thing I can't get over is that a 2390 is considered an "average" score.) You can view it as a good or bad thing, but CHS really will prepare you for college and get more out of you than other MD schools, you just have to know your limits. :)

Posted: October 18, 2012

There are a more percentage of white students than asian students attending centennial high school.

Posted: February 23, 2012

Being a student there, I can prove that the elitist attitude is there. That isn't the biggest problem, though; the worst, by far, are the number of people with mental disorders of various kinds that stem from the academic pressure. A lot of the times, the students put much more pressure on themselves than anyone else, and this ranges into a variety of mental disorders. The numbers of children with eating disorders is frightening, and people who self-harm or have attempted even suicide are even more alarming. The teachers, though, are pretty good generally, and present challenging yet balanced coursework. All in all, it's the atmosphere that is causing the most issues.

Posted: September 6, 2011

NOT impressed. As a parent of two Centennial graduates, the school is VERY overrated. The students are snobs with an 'entitlement attitude'. Test scores aren't everything.