Good school around Canton/Niles OH (Columbus, Cleveland: cul-de-sac, real estate, credit)

[klonganbach]

My husband has two job opportunities that he will have to choose between next week. One is in Canton and one is in Niles. I've heard much better things about Canton than I have about Niles.

I need to know where the best school districts are near Canton and Niles. I have a Kindergartener, second grader and fifth grader. Where is the best place to look for housing in a great school district? We don't want to put his whole pay check into our house since the kids are involved in some expensive hobbies. We would really like to spend between 225,000 and 275,000. We want at least 2300 sq feet since that is what we have now. We want a nice family environment, parks, a local pool or parks and rec. department and a quiet neighborhood. I would love to live in a cul-de-sac so I can let the kids ride their bikes outside. Most important is a good school.

There seems to be so many small towns around that it is hard to tell where would be a good place to be. I've heard Canton schools aren't good.

Thanks!

[Mike Dunn]

Here is a link for good information on school districts and directing you to individual schools.

GreatSchools.net

Good luck on your move!

[South Range Family]

Sounds like Canfield would fit the bill. Zip is 44406 It's about 10 minutes from Niles, and roughly an hour from Canton.

[South Range Family]

There's a fairly new housing developement off of Palmyra Rd. in Canfield. It's built up against the Meander bike trail. The kids could ride for miles. Tell your real estate agent that it's the one next to the vocational school. Canfield is an upscale town that doesn't tolerate any crime.

[IonRedline08]

I would actually say that, depending on where you live in Canton, the schools are actually pretty good. I graduated from McKinley in 98, and I would say that Canton schools offer opportunities that lots of schools in larger areas cant offer, from sports to the Natatorium to what they are doing with Timken High School right now. How many people do you know that can take a Scuba class for Credit in High school? Canton offers that. Plus, you could buy a house in Canton for about half of what your budget is. For an elementary school, if you looked around the Mason area or Harter, both of those are really good.

[chikaranotori]

i lived in canton all my life before moving to the y-town area recently, and i would say Jackson Local Schools. i went there and the education is excellent, as they are rated some of the best schools in the state.

[bgfalcons86]

North Canton City Schools and Lake Local Schools (Uniontown/Hartville) are very good districts. I prefer North Canton to Jackson Township (which *does* have very good schools), since it has more of a community feel.

[chikaranotori]

bgfalcons, i totally forgot about North Canton! (nothing to do with the rivalry either...lol), but yes, Hoover is equal to Jackson in educational excellence, as they too are very community oriented, imho. the one thing Jackson has going for it is no city taxes, though i think the property taxes are higher than the North Canton area.

[CortlandGirl79]

Good school districts around Niles would be Howland (44484), Lakeview (Cortland & Bazetta 44410), Champion, Liberty, Poland, Canfield. Hubbard and Girard and some others aren't bad either. I know the city of Niles itself has a public pool and Hubbard has a community pool. Hubbard Community Pool - est. 1975
Most communities have more than one park, many have playgrounds, baseball and soccer fields.

Warren has the http://warrenolympicclub.110mb.com/w.../website1.html

and Howland has Avalon Inn - Northeast Ohio Full Service Resort (http://www.avaloninn.com/recreation.htm - broken link)

Plus there are a couple of YMCA's and Boardman has a swimming and tennis club as well.

The Warren/Niles area also has Mosquito Lake State Park

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Pittsburgh District - Mahoning Creek Lake

I don't know a whole lot about Canton, but i've been there serveral times. I think when it comes down to it both areas are very similar. Canton itself it much larger than Niles and about the same size as Youngstown. Both areas are economically depressed because of the downturn in manufacturing. Both towns have ties to President McKinley. McKinley was born in Niles and practiced law in Canton and is buried there.

Both areas have great access to highways, cultural amenities, shopping, and educational institutions. If it came down to location alone it depends on what you are looking for. Canton is probably an hour or so from Cleveland, but close to Akron which is nice, Canton is also much closer to Columbus and Cinci than is Niles. Niles on the other hand is an hour's drive from Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Akron. The Youngstown area is almost exactly halfway between Cleveland and Pittsburgh as well as halfway between Chicago and NYC. We're 3 hours from Columbus, Detroit and Buffalo and an hour and a half to Erie and Canton. One of my best friends lives in Toledo and that's about a 2.5 hour drive.

When it comes to going to see a concert or show it's nice to have both Cleveland and Pittsburgh as an option. It also helps to be an hour from two major airports as well as the Canton/Akron and Youngstown/Warren airports.

I would suggest you check out both areas and see what best suits you, good luck on your search.

[silver42]

Around Canton, the Jackson schools, North Canton, and Perry (in Massillon) Schools are regarded as pretty good. I lived in Jackson Township last year and am a fan of that community in general.