Cleveland HS or Volcano Vista HS?? (Albuquerque, Rio Rancho: new home, transferring to, neighborhoods)

[jarycon]

Transferring to Kirtland AFB in July....desperately trying to decide on Rio Rancho (found house in Cleveland HS area) or West Albuquerque (house in Volcano Vista HS area). Greatschools has no info on VVHS as it is so new. Get a better vibe from CHS, but the commute would be awful to KAFB....any reviews on these 2 high schools? Safety, quality of education, are biggest concerns. Thanks....

[Zoidberg]

I gather you've picked those neighborhoods because you wanted new construction at a low price (or perhaps a new high school).

I'd expect comparable performance, and not top-of-the-heap but above-average school quality. And a lot of commuting time.

If you want new construction at a low price, it can be had within 5 minutes northeast of KAFB. But perhaps that's only appropriate for people who want to work in downtown Rio Rancho.

I never will understand why people gravitate toward throwing an hour of their day away, every day, sitting in traffic. Why is it so unthinkable to not live on the opposite end of a metro area from where you work?

[olaverty]

And I will never understand why people get so bent up about where others choose to live. I've lived in Rio Rancho for 2 years now commuting to KAFB, I don't "sit" in traffic unless there is an accident, and rather enjoy the time (about 40 min each way) as my personal time to relax and listen to music, as both work and home with kids can be hectic. I think you'd be fine with either school, my oldest goes to Rio Rancho High but has friends at both Cleveland and VV, and I've heard good things about both.

[jarycon]

Schools are the primary/most important reason we would choose to live so far from the base....nothing to do with new construction, etc. If we could find/afford a nice sized house in the La Cueva/Eldorado HS areas, we would gladly live there (as long as it didn't have swamp coolers). Trust me, we are not choosing this commute on purpose! We'd live on base, actually, if the schools were half way decent!

[Zoidberg]

Originally Posted by olaverty

And I will never understand why people get so bent up about where others choose to live.

Not bent up so much as bewildered, but you made a well-argued case here. Still, jamming out on a bicycle for an hour suits many people just as well.

Originally Posted by jarycon

Schools are the primary/most important reason we would choose to live so far from the base....nothing to do with new construction, etc. If we could find/afford a nice sized house

Not sure what your definition of nice sized is, but if you're talking north of 2000 sqft, it kinda does have a lot to do with new, since the average new home size has ballooned significantly in the past 20 years and most of E Albuquerque was built out prior.

(as long as it didn't have swamp coolers).

Again, pretty much a new construction thing, though putting refrigerated air in a house with swamp is very possible and inexpensive compared to the house's price. Could require it as a closing term.

Trust me, we are not choosing this commute on purpose! We'd live on base, actually, if the schools were half way decent!

If you use Cibola & RRHS as proxies for the two schools you mentioned (not perfect but certainly better than other nearby schools such as WMHS or Bernalillo), their scores on greatschools.org come up as comparable to Manzano HS, which is the cluster appropriate to SE Albuquerque (and communities in the canyon).

The 10's on their list (incl. RRPS) are La Cueva, Eldorado, and Sandia.
9's are RRHS, Cibola, and Manzano.

If you're stuck at less than $150k for 2000+sf 4/2+ houses, you're probably going to have very few choices east of I-25; that I'll admit. North of $150k you owe it to yourself to take a look.