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A new poster comes onto the board and says, "Where would be a good place to live for me and my children."
Quite a few people chime in with the usual suburbs. God forbid you suggest that living in Buffalo might actually be possible because many posters will tell you the schools in Buffalo simply suck.
When asked what the basis of the claim is posters have then pointed to poor graduation rates or similarly constructed indices (such as the PIs in the NYS Report Cards or BizFirst rankings).
When it is pointed out that the picture is evidently more complex than the posters suggest, there is usually silence. Additionally, the claim has been repeatedly made that there is plenty of affordable housing in Williamsville, so clearly this makes this district the number one choice.
At the end, I have decided to succumb to the same nonsense that most posters promulgate on the message board and use the simplistic rankings to value the schools and real-estate.
Go Williamsville! Best schools! Evidently everywhere else sucks.
A new poster comes onto the board and says, "Where would be a good place to live for me and my children."
Quite a few people chime in with the usual suburbs. God forbid you suggest that living in Buffalo might actually be possible because many posters will tell you the schools in Buffalo simply suck.
When asked what the basis of the claim is posters have then pointed to poor graduation rates or similarly constructed indices (such as the PIs in the NYS Report Cards or BizFirst rankings).
When it is pointed out that the picture is evidently more complex than the posters suggest, there is usually silence. Additionally, the claim has been repeatedly made that there is plenty of affordable housing in Williamsville, so clearly this makes this district the number one choice.
At the end, I have decided to succumb to the same nonsense that most posters promulgate on the message board and use the simplistic rankings to value the schools and real-estate.
Go Williamsville! Best schools! Evidently everywhere else sucks.
Buffalo schools suck because they give a relative handful of students, the 400 who attend City Honors (most of whom were selected when in 4th grade) an A+ education and a few more, the 1100 who attend Hutch Tech (who tested in 8th grade), a B+ education. All the other high school students get a C or lower education depending upon the individual school.
A renter coming to Buffalo from out of town would have no idea of where to rent to get his/her children into a decent schools in Buffalo because of the Byzantine attendance "rules" the city has developed over the years. Rent in Allentown and your high schooler gets to go to Grover because you didn't know that he had to take an admissions exam for Hutch Tech as an 8th grader. Rent in Riverside and your 6-year-old gets bused to a school on the East Side -- or maybe not if you squawk loud enough to your councilman. Of course, a newcomer wouldn't know that's how things work in the city.
The suburbs work for renters from out-of-town because suburban attendance districts aren't based on anything but the physical location of the child's address. If you rent in the Amherst school district, then your kid(s) attend Amherst Schools. If you rent in Ken-Ton, your kids go to Ken-Ton schools.
Buffalo schools suck because they give a relative handful of students, the 400 who attend City Honors (most of whom were selected when in 4th grade) an A+ education and a few more, the 1100 who attend Hutch Tech (who tested in 8th grade), a B+ education. All the other high school students get a C or lower education depending upon the individual school.
A renter coming to Buffalo from out of town would have no idea of where to rent to get his/her children into a decent schools in Buffalo because of the Byzantine attendance "rules" the city has developed over the years. Rent in Allentown and your high schooler gets to go to Grover because you didn't know that he had to take an admissions exam for Hutch Tech as an 8th grader. Rent in Riverside and your 6-year-old gets bused to a school on the East Side -- or maybe not if you squawk loud enough to your councilman. Of course, a newcomer wouldn't know that's how things work in the city.
The suburbs work for renters from out-of-town because suburban attendance districts aren't based on anything but the physical location of the child's address. If you rent in the Amherst school district, then your kid(s) attend Amherst Schools. If you rent in Ken-Ton, your kids go to Ken-Ton schools.
But when asked what an "A+ education and a few more, the 1100 who attend Hutch Tech (who tested in 8th grade), a B+ education" is based on, you ultimately arrive at test scores which are based on parental education / income levels. Renters, with means, then can pre-select their student population based on income levels which are largely tied to credentialed education levels.
According to posters on this message board, there are VERY affordable areas in Williamsville, thus by default, Williamsville would be the top choice (as long as it ends up being East high school, versus the less successful South.)
There are families with income < $30k living in Section 8 housing in Amherst. My brother lives next door to an entire complex filled with low income renters.
Well, the claim actually was Williamsville, but no matter. Amherst schools have seen their ratings decline (BizFirst) so I would not recommend living there. Williamsville is really the only choice given that it has top ranking. We might even go so far as to say, Williamsville, Clarence, EA, OP, Iroquois. But anything out of the top five is really not worth considering especially given the availability of affordable property in those areas. Why would you risk getting a poorer education in anything less than the top five?
Unless someone is relocating and can continue their section 8 allowance (the waiting list is usually 3 to 6 years), they would not be eligible for this type of accommodation. Additionally, there must be plenty of affordable housing outside of that area, so I would imagine minimum wage earners ought to have no problem finding a place to live in the top five school districts.
Go Wville! BEST for almost 10 years now. Why live anywhere else?
The suburbs work for renters from out-of-town because suburban attendance districts aren't based on anything but the physical location of the child's address. If you rent in the Amherst school district, then your kid(s) attend Amherst Schools. If you rent in Ken-Ton, your kids go to Ken-Ton schools.
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Not entirely true, Linda_d. People moving here REALLY need a school district map. My sister lives in Depew (town of Cheektowaga) and is in Lancaster schools & my daughter is also in Depew (town of Lancaster) in Depew schools. We live in Lancaster and on our road, kids can go to Lancaster, Alden, Clarence or Iroquois, depending on location. Another family member lives in Tonawanda and is not Ken-Ton, but Sweethome schools.
The lines are NOT drawn on town lines. They are arbitrary,either from the time of district founding or because one district was low and another high in enrollment back in the baby boom. Anyone coming here to rent or buy with kids? Get a school district map before you go out hunting!
There are families with income < $30k living in Section 8 housing in Amherst. My brother lives next door to an entire complex filled with low income renters.
Amherst (and the Williamsville school district) has some section 8 housing near UB North campus. Very nice and the wait wasn't very long. I think my friend waited 6 months to get in and gets to go to Williamsville North too!
Quote:
Originally Posted by genoobie
Well, the claim actually was Williamsville, but no matter. Amherst schools have seen their ratings decline (BizFirst) so I would not recommend living there. Williamsville is really the only choice given that it has top ranking. We might even go so far as to say, Williamsville, Clarence, EA, OP, Iroquois. But anything out of the top five is really not worth considering especially given the availability of affordable property in those areas. Why would you risk getting a poorer education in anything less than the top five?
Unless someone is relocating and can continue their section 8 allowance (the waiting list is usually 3 to 6 years), they would not be eligible for this type of accommodation. Additionally, there must be plenty of affordable housing outside of that area, so I would imagine minimum wage earners ought to have no problem finding a place to live in the top five school districts.
Go Wville! BEST for almost 10 years now. Why live anywhere else?
genoobie, I've disagreed with you more than I have agreed with you but wow... It's getting harder to have a conversation with you genoobie. It's like dealing with a kid that stamps his/her feet when they don't get their way. Or else you're just wising up...
Quote:
Originally Posted by BuffaloTransplant
Not entirely true, Linda_d. People moving here REALLY need a school district map. My sister lives in Depew (town of Cheektowaga) and is in Lancaster schools & my daughter is also in Depew (town of Lancaster) in Depew schools. We live in Lancaster and on our road, kids can go to Lancaster, Alden, Clarence or Iroquois, depending on location. Another family member lives in Tonawanda and is not Ken-Ton, but Sweethome schools.
The lines are NOT drawn on town lines. They are arbitrary,either from the time of district founding or because one district was low and another high in enrollment back in the baby boom. Anyone coming here to rent or buy with kids? Get a school district map before you go out hunting!
People may be confusing the town with the school district. The village of Williamsville is small but the "Williamsville School District" is quite large encompassing all of Williamsville as well as parts of Amherst (town) and Clarence and has almost 11,000 students. It's one of the largest school districts in WNY! You can't exchange the village of Williamsville and the Williamsville School District. Furthermore Williamsville South and East have open enrollment so you can apply to attend regardless of where you live in the district.
It's got to be hard to convince living in the city of Buffalo is an option when famlies like myself and my neighbors all grew up in the city in the 70's and our famlies got out before it was too late. Then you have the whole school issue (no matter how you try to dress it up) and flip on the news and see where 9/10th's of the violent crime in the area is and it becomes an easy choice not WHERE to live but where NOT TO live. You'd want to put your family through that if you had a choice?
The argument that supports living in the city has been made and substantiated. That people choose to ignore the relevant statistics is their business. So I too will bury my head in the sand and tout the virtues of affordable housing and excellent schools in Williamsville.
9.9/10's of the violent crime in Buffalo is gang related. So I see where you are coming from and I'm going to call and cancel my gang member card immediately.
The city that you left 30 to 40 years ago is quite different than today, but like I said, nevermind. People can have their 1st ring suburbs with declining test scores and school systems. I'll just be sure to tout the virtues of living, in really the only feasible choice for the area, Williamsville. (maybe Clarence, OP, EA, and Iroquois).
The argument that supports living in the city has been made and substantiated. That people choose to ignore the relevant statistics is their business. So I too will bury my head in the sand and tout the virtues of affordable housing and excellent schools in Williamsville.
9.9/10's of the violent crime in Buffalo is gang related. So I see where you are coming from and I'm going to call and cancel my gang member card immediately.
The city that you left 30 to 40 years ago is quite different than today, but like I said, nevermind. People can have their 1st ring suburbs with declining test scores and school systems. I'll just be sure to tout the virtues of living, in really the only feasible choice for the area, Williamsville. (maybe Clarence, OP, EA, and Iroquois).
Right-o. Most of it is much worse.
I wouldn't live in the Black Rock neighborhood today that I left in 1987. Drugs, property crimes, and even homicides that never happened 25-30 years ago are regular occurrences. A damn meth lab blew up at the end of my former street a few years ago! There have been a killing on Grote and another on Peter or Germain within the last five years.
The West Hertel neighborhood around the former St Florian parish where a few of my relatives and friends still live used to be a decent lower middle class neighborhood. Some guy was killed on Hertel right in front of the church, and within the last year, the cops busted a meth lab next door to one of my old friends!
Most Buffalonians don't live in North Buffalo or the Delaware District or in the upscale parts of South Buffalo or in pricey waterfront/downtown condos. They live in decaying neighborhoods where absentee landlords with friends in high places can leave junk appliances on the curbside for months despite repeated calls to City Hall. They don't get their streets plowed in the winter because the COB won't revise its alternate parking regulations despite the fact that they have never worked. They get to send their kids to mostly substandard schools unless their kids are extremely bright or extremely lucky.
You can choose to pretend that all of Buffalo except the East Side and the Lower West Side is like North Buffalo but don't expect everybody else to buy that bull manure.
1) Property values have fallen so low that most of Buffalo has become a buyers market. Some of these properties are in relatively poor shape, but at 5-10K for a house, you really couldn't miss. You'd essentially be living for next to nothing.
2) Murders are almost always based on gang activity. Steer clear of buying drugs at 3AM or owing someone lots of money for drugs and you ought to be fine.
3) Yes, there are neighborhoods with quality of life issues, but as I travel around ALL of Buffalo, the incidence of curbed appliances and general nuisance violations are decreasing.
It's not perfect. However, I have three kids, in a nice quiet neighborhood where I don't fear for their safety. They can travel freely and not be bothered. So let's not pretend that Buffalo is an UNLIVABLE option and that people with school aged kids can and DO live in Buffalo.
But I'll be sure to steer everyone to Williamsville, because they win.
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There have been a killing on Grote and another on Peter or Germain within the last five years.
