So this year im gonna be at a sophomore at Sunnyside High School, you may have read about it on Urban Dictionary, its a big school that only graduates about 360 people a year and a baaad dropout rate.
I love drumming and drumline and hope to get out of pit and march this year. I am also deeply considering switching schools for my junior year, because i would obviously rather graduate from a better school.
Now heres the big question: Could a school and drumline switch cause me to lose the playing ability i have developed with my schools cadences and drummers or will it transfer with me in a way? Honestly i think i will march this year because ive spent my whole freshman year becoming great at playing with whats almost guaranteed to be this years base line, and have learned all the schools cadences on almost every instrument, but could being on a new line that has a new level of skill and cadences that i have never played before cause me to end up with the "experience of a freshman" as a junior at a new school?

Your playing ability is what it is, no matter where you march or what you play. People change drum corps all the time. As long as your practice hard at whatever cadences/techniques your new school demands of you, you'll only get better at drumming.

Good luck!

If you really have skills, which piece you play is next to pointless. Plus, in the case of our school, we tend to change out cadences, and tweak them, from year to year. And let's not forget, your field show will be different every year. So all in all you'll have nothing to fear as far as a disadvantage from switching schools. There might be a slight learning curve in playing with new people and music, but it's negligible.

I switched school's this year, going to a school that has one of the best bands in the state. It took a lot of work, but I made the tenor line. If you work hard enough, and work on your reading ability, it won't matter that the cadences are different.

How will that affect you academically?
I had a friend who moved about an hour away and he went from top 10 out of 150 in class rank to 120s out of 500. Still performed the same academically, just lost lots of rank.

depending on how your schedule works (block, period, or whatever else) you could be either way ahead or far behind, depending on the schedule switching.

Ex.- I went from my old school to my new one in 7th grade, just after Christmas. My old school was on period schedule, but the new was block. I had done everything that I had to do in 2nd semester in first semester, because of the block schedule, so it was the exact same work. I suck at math, but I was teching my math class a lot. That same year, I had a lot of real bad teachers. Bad first impression of a new school... oops I got off topic...

If there is one thing i learned from drum corps, its
that everyone comes from a different drumming
background, therefore varying in the technique to
approaching a drum.

If you aren't able to adapt to the style of that new
school, then yes, you may be considered a
"freshman level"

If you switch schools, stay open minded and follow their
direction, even though it may contradict the style of your
old school. When it comes to drumming, theres a bagillion
styles to it. Follow there style and you'll be fine.

thanks for the advice