Hellobee Boards Topic: Are the public schools good in your neighborhood?

Hellobee Boards Topic: Are the public schools good in your neighborhood? https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Wed, 22 Apr 2026 03:08:38 +0000 shellio on "Are the public schools good in your neighborhood?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-the-public-schools-good-in-your-neighborhood#post-89335 Thu, 08 Mar 2012 15:18:17 +0000 shellio 89335@https://boards.hellobee.com/ The schools in the area we are hoping to move to in the next few months (and live there forever!) are not very good. There are a few great elementary schools, but like @mrs. tictactoe, the middle and high schools are mediocre at best. We were initially looking further in the burbs ebcuase of this, but we've decided to prioritize good elementary schools and cross the middle/high school bridge when we come to it. (We only have one LO right now, 12 weeks old.) If we feel like it is the best option, we'll be able to afford private school, especially since property taxes in the area are super low. Mrs. Bee on "Are the public schools good in your neighborhood?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-the-public-schools-good-in-your-neighborhood#post-89265 Thu, 08 Mar 2012 13:53:33 +0000 Mrs. Bee 89265@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @mrs. tictactoe: that's exactly what's happening at our zoned elementary school. the majority of the kids are not only out of zone, they're out of district. there is a small coalition of local parents trying to change that, but everyone is scared to be the guinea pigs. the school obviously has a lot of problems like high teacher turnover, low pta fundraising (neighboring school raises record breaking millions), majority bussed in, etc. we don't know what we're going to do yet. their g&t program is supposed to be good up to the first grade, but then everyone pulls their kids out to go to another school or private school. BSB on "Are the public schools good in your neighborhood?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-the-public-schools-good-in-your-neighborhood#post-89257 Thu, 08 Mar 2012 13:44:29 +0000 BSB 89257@https://boards.hellobee.com/ No, not really, but we plan on moving before our future kids get of age to go to school. mrs. tictactoe on "Are the public schools good in your neighborhood?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-the-public-schools-good-in-your-neighborhood#post-89256 Thu, 08 Mar 2012 13:42:54 +0000 mrs. tictactoe 89256@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @Mrs. Bee: Oh, that's a bummer. I think it's similar with elementary schools in our area, but not middle and high. It's kind of sad because the "good" kids are being pulled out of our middle and high schools to go to private or neighboring districts and other kids are being bussed in due to open enrollment, so the schools have a bad reputation. Mrs. Bee on "Are the public schools good in your neighborhood?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-the-public-schools-good-in-your-neighborhood#post-89243 Thu, 08 Mar 2012 13:32:53 +0000 Mrs. Bee 89243@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @mrs. tictactoe: the schools here are overcrowded because everyone moves here instead of sending their kids to private school, since the elementary schools are so good. they don't have open enrollment as they're already at or beyond capacity. mrs. tictactoe on "Are the public schools good in your neighborhood?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-the-public-schools-good-in-your-neighborhood#post-89239 Thu, 08 Mar 2012 13:28:33 +0000 mrs. tictactoe 89239@https://boards.hellobee.com/ The elementary school in our neighborhood is great, but the middle and high schools are not as fantastic. Most parents in our neighborhood send their children to the local school for elementary, then either private or a school in a neighboring district for middle and high school, if they can get it. @Mrs. Bee: Do the better schools nearby have open enrollment where you can apply to go there even if you don't live in the right zone? That's how it is where we live. BoogieBea on "Are the public schools good in your neighborhood?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-the-public-schools-good-in-your-neighborhood#post-89237 Thu, 08 Mar 2012 13:27:31 +0000 BoogieBea 89237@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We were zoned for a great elementary school but because of overcrowding, they just rezoned the boundaries and we're no longer zoned there. Our zoned school is now not as good. But we were planning on sending them to the international school for their language immersion program anyway. regberadaisy on "Are the public schools good in your neighborhood?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-the-public-schools-good-in-your-neighborhood#post-89234 Thu, 08 Mar 2012 13:24:40 +0000 regberadaisy 89234@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Really good. The school district is actually consistently one of the best in the nation and state. Hence why we purchased the new home there. School district was one of top 3 criteria. P.S. For the G&T schools in our city even if you are zoned for the school you have to test to get into the program. And as long as you're in the district you can test into that school for the G&T program. A lot of the parents at my work start testing their kids at 3 $ 4 years. It's the easiest to get in at kindergarten (more spots) but it's still open for first graders, second graders, etc etc. Lozza on "Are the public schools good in your neighborhood?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-the-public-schools-good-in-your-neighborhood#post-89230 Thu, 08 Mar 2012 13:19:11 +0000 Lozza 89230@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Nope, we're planning to move before we need a public school. Out to the 'burbs we go... banana on "Are the public schools good in your neighborhood?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-the-public-schools-good-in-your-neighborhood#post-89223 Thu, 08 Mar 2012 13:08:04 +0000 banana 89223@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Yes, all of the elementary schools in our area are "blue ribbon" schools. That's the #1 reason we moved here 2 years ago. All of the houses here are small, old and ridiculously expensive but people basically live here for the schools. It's a very suburby neighborhood, with lots of parks and family events. So it's nice in that sense. But man...when we looked at houses in other cities in our price range, they were so much newer and bigger and nicer! Sigh. That's the sacrifice for moving to an area with good schools I guess. joyjoy on "Are the public schools good in your neighborhood?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-the-public-schools-good-in-your-neighborhood#post-89220 Thu, 08 Mar 2012 13:06:10 +0000 joyjoy 89220@https://boards.hellobee.com/ The elementary schools zoned for where we're moving to are good compared to others in our area. We plan to move again before our kids get to middle school because those ones aren't so great. mediagirl on "Are the public schools good in your neighborhood?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-the-public-schools-good-in-your-neighborhood#post-89218 Thu, 08 Mar 2012 13:01:37 +0000 mediagirl 89218@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Actually, no. Our schools are the worst in our county and our county has some excellent schools. I'm hoping we can get her into a G&T or magnet school for middle, if not elementary. By the time she is going to high school, we are going to move into a new school district. There is NO WAY I am letting our daughter go to the HS's around us. We'll have our house paid off by then, so we'll be able to take the money from selling it and buy a house with cash. Hopefully that will be a home we can live in for another 10 years. BabyBoecksMom on "Are the public schools good in your neighborhood?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-the-public-schools-good-in-your-neighborhood#post-89216 Thu, 08 Mar 2012 12:58:39 +0000 BabyBoecksMom 89216@https://boards.hellobee.com/ No, there's one right outside the entrance to my neighborhood, which is really convenient, but it's not a good school at all. We'll be moving before LO goes to Kindergarten so that we can put her in a better school. calsmom on "Are the public schools good in your neighborhood?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-the-public-schools-good-in-your-neighborhood#post-89173 Thu, 08 Mar 2012 12:20:11 +0000 calsmom 89173@https://boards.hellobee.com/ That really sucks about the zoning situation! Our schools around us are excellent. It's the location we live in that I have an issue with lol. I only pray that we will be living elsewhere with good schools when that time comes. Fingers crossed! lilteacherbee on "Are the public schools good in your neighborhood?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-the-public-schools-good-in-your-neighborhood#post-89164 Thu, 08 Mar 2012 12:12:31 +0000 lilteacherbee 89164@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Where we live right now? Heck no. Most kids go to the charter school because the traditional public schools are awful. Where I work, they're pretty good. We're hoping to move back to the "city" (small city, but much larger than where we're at...we live on a farm now) and there are better choices for schools. Boogs on "Are the public schools good in your neighborhood?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-the-public-schools-good-in-your-neighborhood#post-89163 Thu, 08 Mar 2012 12:12:08 +0000 Boogs 89163@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Compared to other schools in the area, they are overall pretty good. That's one of the big reasons we bought where we did. heffalump on "Are the public schools good in your neighborhood?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-the-public-schools-good-in-your-neighborhood#post-89152 Thu, 08 Mar 2012 12:01:29 +0000 heffalump 89152@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @Mrs. Bee: I don't know how you guys do it in the city with kids- but at least you always get your exercise because everything is walking and climbing stairs. Either way I picture my sister moving away too when she decides to have kids. Hopefully back home so I can see my nieces/nephews more often :) Mrs. Bee on "Are the public schools good in your neighborhood?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-the-public-schools-good-in-your-neighborhood#post-89149 Thu, 08 Mar 2012 11:59:00 +0000 Mrs. Bee 89149@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @artbee: i wonder if we'll still be living here then! i dream of moving to the burbs after elementary school, but we'll see. mr. bee loves the city. :) heffalump on "Are the public schools good in your neighborhood?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-the-public-schools-good-in-your-neighborhood#post-89147 Thu, 08 Mar 2012 11:56:35 +0000 heffalump 89147@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We have good public schools. We just moved about 9 months ago when I was pregnant with LO, so that was very important in making our decision on location. Hopefully they'll still be good when LO goes to school! @Mrs. Bee: My sister teaches in a middle school in Park Slope. It's a gifted school so it's supposed to be very good. Maybe she'll have Charlie and Olive as students one day! Andrea on "Are the public schools good in your neighborhood?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-the-public-schools-good-in-your-neighborhood#post-89143 Thu, 08 Mar 2012 11:55:03 +0000 Andrea 89143@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Supposed to be really good which is why our property taxes are sky high but I have not taken any tours and seen for myself yet. googly-eyes on "Are the public schools good in your neighborhood?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-the-public-schools-good-in-your-neighborhood#post-89142 Thu, 08 Mar 2012 11:54:50 +0000 googly-eyes 89142@https://boards.hellobee.com/ From what I know they're better than the neighboring school district but I dislike our neighborhood and we'll be moving anyway. Mrs. Bee on "Are the public schools good in your neighborhood?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/are-the-public-schools-good-in-your-neighborhood#post-89141 Thu, 08 Mar 2012 11:53:23 +0000 Mrs. Bee 89141@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I just got back from a tour of the elementary school we're zoned for. They have 4 public pre-k classes and we'd pretty much be guaranteed a slot. They also have a gifted and talented program. The only problem is... the school is not that great (which is why it's easy for us to get a coveted pre-k slot). We're in a great neighborhood and the other schools in the adjacent district (a couple blocks away) are awesome, but for some reason this one school is lackluster. We have to decide whether we should move a couple blocks down to be in a better zoned school or another district within the next 2 years. How are the public schools in your neck of the woods?