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Checking them all. I did find a site called reportcards.nysed.gov that I've been using to research some schools. Only thing is I think it's only up until 2010. Right now I've expanded our search into Lancaster, Grand Island, and the areas around West Seneca. I am going to look into Hamburg as well. My husband and will be going back to the area soon to start looking at houses, I'd like to include some of these areas.
I just hope the real state agent doesn't mind all the driving.
Checking them all. I did find a site called reportcards.nysed.gov that I've been using to research some schools. Only thing is I think it's only up until 2010. Right now I've expanded our search into Lancaster, Grand Island, and the areas around West Seneca. I am going to look into Hamburg as well. My husband and will be going back to the area soon to start looking at houses, I'd like to include some of these areas.
I just hope the real state agent doesn't mind all the driving.
2010-2011 is the most recent year for the NYSED Report Card website.
If you have any questions about Hamburg just let me know. Its a decent size town with all the amenities you need. Far enough away from buffalo that most of it has more of a small town feel than an urban inner suburb but its an easy drive into Buffalo (can be downtown within 15 minutes), also easy access to the ski resorts. lakes & wilderness areas south of the metro area. 2 school districts in town (Hamburg & Frontier) & both are very good. Its basically a middle class suburb with very affordable housing & friendly people. We absolutely love it here.
If your husband's placement is three years I definitely wouldn't buy. You'll lose on commission alone. If you plan to stay a while then the long term tax savings of living in Buffalo and mortgage interest add up to quite a bit of money over the long haul. However, that is only a long term outlook. Your children would not be eligible for tuition reimbursement. You can look at inner-ring suburbs, but home values are beginning to ebb in many places as people move further out for more land. Plus, I would never use school report cards or Business First to judge a school. Here's what I would look at. Class sizes and and advanced coursework. Some schools may have the best passing rates, but everyone could be taking idiot coursework. Look at how many kids are taking the advanced coursework and look at those class sizes. What "good" schools do is usually exclude kids they think are potential failure risks from taking higher level classes. Really good schools will offer kids choices and challenge them to work regardless of the risk of failure. Really good schools will also offer a variety of programs. If you're looking for rural, the fastest way to rural is the southtowns. Points east and north are more representative of urban and suburban sprawl. I'd have to agree with jblake on this one. Grand Island is flat and in my opinion a bit boring. The southtowns give you access to urban and rural. But if you are going to buy, do it carefully.
Thanks genoobie for the good school advice. It's difficult trying to select a school from a different area. Which is one of the reason we centered on Clarence. We liked what we heard and saw with the high school there. Being that my son does very well with music, that is of course something we are looking for, he also does well in math and has his sights set on a career that will need a strong math background. So we are trying to match the neighborhood we would like, with a "good" school.
I really like the sound of Hamburg and will definitely look into that area. We are getting our house here on the market in the next few days, and will be pretty busy the next few weeks. We're looking to get out to the area in the next couple of weeks.
I'll say it again, these boards have provided a wealth of information to us. It's really helped out and I appreciate the time everyone has taken to reply. I'm going to take the next couple of days to start sorting through some houses online in the new areas that have interested us, talk to the real estate agent, and check out all the links provided. Thanks again all, goodnight.
If your husband's placement is three years I definitely wouldn't buy. You'll lose on commission alone. If you plan to stay a while then the long term tax savings of living in Buffalo and mortgage interest add up to quite a bit of money over the long haul. However, that is only a long term outlook. Your children would not be eligible for tuition reimbursement. You can look at inner-ring suburbs, but home values are beginning to ebb in many places as people move further out for more land. Plus, I would never use school report cards or Business First to judge a school. Here's what I would look at. Class sizes and and advanced coursework. Some schools may have the best passing rates, but everyone could be taking idiot coursework. Look at how many kids are taking the advanced coursework and look at those class sizes. What "good" schools do is usually exclude kids they think are potential failure risks from taking higher level classes. Really good schools will offer kids choices and challenge them to work regardless of the risk of failure. Really good schools will also offer a variety of programs. If you're looking for rural, the fastest way to rural is the southtowns. Points east and north are more representative of urban and suburban sprawl. I'd have to agree with jblake on this one. Grand Island is flat and in my opinion a bit boring. The southtowns give you access to urban and rural. But if you are going to buy, do it carefully.
Good points about schools. I was wondering if Buffalo was an option, if Buffalo Arts would have been a good choice, along with City Honors?
Definitely City Honors and Hutch Tech's jazz band wins all kinds of awards and the school is particularly strong in math and science (a bit better than Honors actually). There's a lot of good kids at Arts, I can't say much about their math and science.
If ya'll want a little tour around Grand Island when you visit shoot us a pm. We just moved here 2 years ago and are more than happy to show new people around.
Last edited by TooSaucedToPork; 04-01-2012 at 12:05 PM..
Reason: hit wrong key
Genoobie, I've been taking a closer look into the schools because of your posts. Hutch Tech did seem to score very high receiving a bronze star rating. The articles I've read have now prompted me to look into college readiness scores. I'm realizing though , that there are a lot of good schools in the area, and we are trying to make a good choice without going overboard into research. I'm certainly now a little more all over the board in looking at schools and areas to look for a house. This is prompting us to take another trip very soon so we can really assess some of these areas we haven't looked at before.
We are looking at renting as an option, but haven't had too much luck with that. I'm confident though, that we will find a decent home in a good neighborhood.
TooSauced, thank you for the generous offer, I will definitely let you know if we decide to look out that way.
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