Boise vs Meridian School Districts (Nampa, Hope: houses, where to live, tuition)

[micrguy]

Any thoughts on school districts. I was up in Boise last weekend and have a couple of houses in mind. One is in the west Bench area and is in the Boise school district and the other is out by HP in the Meridian school district.

[izzy]

Hi Micrguy,

Can't remember the name of the post. But there was a discussion on school districts and the pro's and con's between the two you mentioned. One of the post was by a person related to teachers in the district and their feelings on one vs the other. Maybe you could do a search.

Izzy

[izzy]

Okay I found it for you. It is in the post "Where to live in Bosie?" Actually I forgot I started the thread asking about schools The post I'm thinking you will want to read is on page two of that thread. I think you could search by user...put in izzy and you will find it. Hope it helps. Just reread it and sounds like Boise Bench has good schools...

Izzy

[micrguy]

I was hoping for anyone with close experience with the schools. I know that districts can puff up any school on the various websites that are out there. One of my kids needs speech therapy, so does one district do a better job of offering special services within the individual schools?

[pinkpalace]

Hey micrguy, my sister-in-law teaches special ed at an elementary school in the Boise school district. Her husband teaches special ed at a high school in the Meridian school district.

That said -- my son also gets speech therapy.

From my experience, the quality of services depends heavily on the individual teacher. My son has gotten services at Vallivue (in Nampa), Maine, and now here in Georgia.

For what it's worth, he went through three different teachers during his two years in Maine schools. Each and every time we've had to switch schools (or the school has switched teachers) our experience has changed. Sometimes better, sometimes worse.

In general (ignoring the special ed factor), the Boise school district will be better than Meridian. Meridian has newer schools, but they also have more growth so you have a better chance of sending your kid to an overcrowded (but new!) school. Meridian also makes bad decisions, like cutting art and music programs right before they build a new football field -- stuff like that.

However, as far as special services go, it's a crap shoot. You can get a good or bad teacher anywhere.

If you know what schools you're looking at, I can try to get some feedback about what kind of teacher you'll get.

[micrguy]

Pinkpalace - thanks for the heads up, right now the schools are Mt. View in the Boise district and Frontier in the Meridian District. My son is in regular classes and is very smart but just needs some attention for his speech.

[idahomama]

I have heard good things about the Meridian school district, but have only had children in the Boise school district. Like another poster said, I might be concerned about the tremendous growth in the western area and the negative impacts it can have in the classrooms as far as overcrowding. On the flip side, since there is actually a shrinking number of students in Boise school system (based on a report that was printed the Idaho Statesman last year) there can be a negative affect as well in terms of decreased funding and actually larger class size if/when some classes are eliminated. We found there to be great parent involvement in several of the Boise elementary schools which makes a huge difference. We ended up switching to a private school in East Boise because our oldest son had some areas of extreme giftedness and some areas where he was really lacking and his needs were just never able to be addressed. The middle of the road students seem to fair the best in many of the classrooms. Our children now attend a school with an International Baccalaureate program, extrodinary teachers, and a wonderful parent community. Tuition is less than half of what it would be in a larger metro area and 25% of the students do receive some type of aid. If I were looking at a particular school I would contact the school and see if they have a contact within the PTA that might be willing to speak with you about the school and address some specific questions.

[pinkpalace]

Originally Posted by micrguy

Pinkpalace - thanks for the heads up, right now the schools are Mt. View in the Boise district and Frontier in the Meridian District. My son is in regular classes and is very smart but just needs some attention for his speech.

just sent you a private message...