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Our family may be relocating to Ann Arbor. We have a 7 year old child and I wanted to know more about the elementary schools in the area. I do not know anything about the area at all. We live in Scotland and have never been to Michigan. Our daughter has been in private school all her life, so we would like to continue along that route, but if there is a great public school-we would be happy too. We are looking for a strong academic and social environment with an array of extracurricular activities available. Any information about schools and neighborhoods would be greatly appreciated. Both my husband and I are academics, so we would be based at UM.
There's conventional thought and then there's reality. They may or may not be the same. I can give you conventional thought about the Ann Arbor Public Schools: The west side schools are considered stronger than the east side schools. The strongest elementary schools include Burns Park, Angell, Eberwhite, Wines and Lawton. Dicken, King and Logan are also up there. You can find school-by-school MEAP (test) scores on the Web. It pretty much breaks down by socio-economics. Many academics live in the Burns Park neighborhood. It's one of the more expensive areas, but has nice mostly older homes. A little less expensive but still very nice is the Eberwhite neighborhood, again with nice older homes. They both have the added bonus of being within walking distance of downtown. There's also an open magnet school, but it's important to buy into the open philosophy. There are a number of private elementaries, including a Rudolph Steiner School and Emerson. They are both well-regarded (again, you would have to buy into the Emerson philosophy), but expensive. Some consider them a bit snooty. Attending a private school, however, often pulls your children out of being integrated in the neighborhood. Many private schools, however, offer smaller class sizes, if that is important.
Also almost every other school district in western Washtenaw county is great too, with a very reasonable commute: Chelsea, Dexter, Saline are very good. Manchester is nice, but small and a bit of a commute to UM. Tecumseh (teh-come-sea, if you wanted a realtor to know what you mean) is good but even further (Lenawee county)
Pinckney, Howell, and Brighton are pretty good (I'd pick Pinckney first though), and to the north - about a 30 minute commute.
But I wouldn't look east of Ann Arbor in Washtenaw county.
For such a German-ancestory area, there sure are a lot of British named communities!
Thank you so much for your replies! At least I now feel that I have a starting point. Is there a large walking culture in Ann Arbor. I understand that a car is a necessity, but are there any areas where people walk a lot? [to an from shops/work etc...]
Biblioart- Ann Arbor definitely has a walking culture to it. If you want to be within walking distance of stores, restaurants, cultural events, and sporting events in the city, then check out Burns Park. The home prices are expensive, however, but you are within walking distance to downtown. Kerrytown or the Bach Elementary School neighborhood may also work.
If you're looking for a newer home, you can also be within walking distance of things. However, these amenities would most likely be big box stores. In the neighborhood Bryant-Pattengill West (look on Google Maps) you are near Busch's (a grocery store), Kohl's, and Meijer (a Wal-Mart equivalent). You may have to cross a busy road depending on where you're coming from. Most of this area contains condos, but there are some developments (Briar Ridge, Lake Forest, Kirkland Hills) with single family homes. However, this area is suburban and less walkable than downtown.
You really can't go wrong with Ann Arbor schools. They are very highly rated and have strong academic programs. I wouldn't recommend living in the areas closer to Ypsilanti, though. But the rest of Ann Arbor has strong schools.
EVERY school in the Ann Arbor Public School system is good. There is absolutely NO bad choice as far as quality of education is concerned. Infact, EVERY school in the city of Ann Arbor is good, public or private, and at all levels (primary, seconday, higher education, etc.)
EVERY school in the Ann Arbor Public School system is good. There is absolutely NO bad choice as far as quality of education is concerned. Infact, EVERY school in the city of Ann Arbor is good, public or private, and at all levels (primary, seconday, higher education, etc.)
I disagree. Some elementary schools are definitely better than others. I've worked in most of them at one point in the last 5 years. I would say that Angell is good, though the building is very old and crumbling (leaking roof, crammed classrooms), King is excellent (more modern building, excellent teachers, well-behaved students, modern houses in neighborhood), Burns Park is also excellent (great neighborhood with older homes and excellent teachers, older building). Some elementary schools are not as good, in my opinion: Pittsfield, Mitchell, Carpenter, Northside. A lot has to do with those neighborhoods, the level of discipline school-wide, and the principal (principals change from time to time, but they do shape the building culture).
If the OP is interested in day to day news about school issues in AA, then annarbor dot com is a good website to learn what is going on. Eberwhite, for example, recently had issues with bullying and alleged sexual assault of a student during the school day.
Overall, I would say that AA schools are "good" but there is a lot of variation from school to school. I do think that with only a few exceptions, there is a lack of discipline in all the schools in the AAPS district. Huron High School, for example, is very chaotic and the classrooms are very crowded (core classes have 35+ students in rooms built for 20-25).
Biblioart- Ann Arbor definitely has a walking culture to it. If you want to be within walking distance of stores, restaurants, cultural events, and sporting events in the city, then check out Burns Park. The home prices are expensive, however, but you are within walking distance to downtown. Kerrytown or the Bach Elementary School neighborhood may also work.
If you're looking for a newer home, you can also be within walking distance of things. However, these amenities would most likely be big box stores. In the neighborhood Bryant-Pattengill West (look on Google Maps) you are near Busch's (a grocery store), Kohl's, and Meijer (a Wal-Mart equivalent). You may have to cross a busy road depending on where you're coming from. Most of this area contains condos, but there are some developments (Briar Ridge, Lake Forest, Kirkland Hills) with single family homes. However, this area is suburban and less walkable than downtown.
You really can't go wrong with Ann Arbor schools. They are very highly rated and have strong academic programs. I wouldn't recommend living in the areas closer to Ypsilanti, though. But the rest of Ann Arbor has strong schools.
I have to disagree with the "walkability" of the Bryant-Pattengill West area. The big box stores mentioned above (Busch's, Kohl's, Meijer) are all located on huge 4 lane roads without sidewalks, and intersecting major freeways I-94). While there may be apartment and condo complexes in the area, I've never seen anyone walking along AA-Saline Road carrying bags from a Meijer, Kohl's or Busch's in 30 years. It's very much a car area.
The only potentially walkable area of town is possibly Burns Park, and it would be at least a one mile hike to Main Street. From Burns Park, the only walkable grocery store is a small Kroger's on Industrial and Stadium (major streets) and not very close, depending on where you live. Again, you are carrying bags of groceries over some distance.
AA is simply not like the cities and towns in Europe. It is far more spread out. Living here without a car would be very difficult for a family. Students manage if they live very close to campus/classes and car-pool for groceries, but that's not usually an adequate lifestyle for a family with children.
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We are looking for a strong academic and social environment with an array of extracurricular activities available. Any information about schools and neighborhoods would be greatly appreciated. Both my husband and I are academics, so we would be based at UM. 
