Moving to Prundale area (San Jose, Salinas: low income, crime, homes)

[Turtle1029]

Hi. I'm moving to the Prunedale area from Chicago. Although I have visited this area many tiimes, I'm still nervous about moving. My plan is to get a special education teaching position. My questions are...1. What can I expect living there 2. Where is the best place to live (cost, crime, schools, etc) 3. With the economy will I be able to find a job 4. Is it possible to make friends there or is it too small of a place 5. any information you can offer about the place I would love to hear it. Thanks.

[Snort]

Are you moving without a job in place? I can tell you that there aren't too many financially healthy districts in the area. Why Prunedale?

[Turtle1029]

My husband's family is from the area and we would be moving to be closer to them.

[Snort]

The only 'town' I know is the strip mall where there's a Starbucks. If you've been there, you know yhe place. Close proximity to Monterey. I think that's a great feature. I don't know of even one financially sound school district in the area though. I think it's a fairly safe area, and I've only heard mention of the occasional meth lab, which I probably read about on this forum.

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by Turtle1029

Hi. I'm moving to the Prunedale area from Chicago. Although I have visited this area many tiimes, I'm still nervous about moving. My plan is to get a special education teaching position. My questions are...1. What can I expect living there 2. Where is the best place to live (cost, crime, schools, etc) 3. With the economy will I be able to find a job 4. Is it possible to make friends there or is it too small of a place 5. any information you can offer about the place I would love to hear it. Thanks.

Well, I know folks who live in Prunedale, affectionately known as Prunetucky because it is in the hills.

The best place to live near Prunedale really depends on your family. It is a very subjective thing really. I mean some love Prunedale while others prefer to live closer to a town and civilization (shopping, schools, public services, etc...). we live in Monterey for example as my wife likes to live closer to other things. Plus our kids enjoy being close to the beach, museums, the gym, classes, etc...

If you are a teacher and possibly have children then school disctricts are very important. The closest best school disctricts are located near Monterey specifically Monterey, Pacific Grove and Carmel. Check out: California School Performance Maps and zoom into the areas in question.

Generally speaking the closest schools to Prunedale are not very good if you look into it. Salinas is an area which is infamous for gang shootings and the like. So sending your kids there or teaching there would be something you need to carefully consider first. Although I also have friends who live there. it is really a personal choice. Likewise Castroville and Watsonville have higher crime issues and schools with lower test scores.

A nice place to live close to Prunedale is Oak Hills which is right next to Castroville. But the school district isn't so good. A lot will depend on your budget for housing as well. If you teach for example but do not have children then Oak Hills is a nice option IMO.

We homeschool so the public schools aren't as important to us. But for your family this may be a real issue.

I think you will have to research each area individually to determine job prospects and consider private schools as well. There are some very affluent private schools in the area such as Stevenson School in Pebble Beach.

Derek

[carpentershomeschool]

You could also check out the charter schools in the area. I have worked as an Ed. Specialist for charter schools for the last 9 years and have loved the flexibility. It has allowed me to homeschool my children. Currently I work for Ocean Grove Charter sponsored by San Lorenzo Valley district. We live in Santa Cruz. There is Pacific Coast charter in Watsonville which is about 15 minutes from Prunedale and many others. Our school has a Spec. Ed. dept., but with a credential you could also work as a teacher for homeschoolers. We have a few districts which are good in Aptos/Soquel area and Scotts Valley, but because we homeschool I don't know much about them.
Good luck!

[sms1967]

Forget Aptos... Santa Cruz... Scotts Valley. If you can afford those places, you can afford Monterey. Watsonville, Salinas and Hollister, etc are all low income, minority areas with garbage schools. There's always a diamond in the rough but you'll struggle finding it there.

[FresnoFacts]

Within many of the districts it is hard to generalize. Areas you would expect to be mainly good or mainly bad can surprise you.

You have to look at individual schools in much of the coastal area. Some districts struggle because they include a wider range of economic groups than people realize.

For example, Hollister Elementary School District actually scores better as a whole than the Monterey Peninsula district which covers Monterey, Marina, and Seaside. Hollister Elementary has an API score of 777, Monterey Peninsula has a 730.

Even Salinas City Elementary on a district-wide basis (with an API of 733) beats Monterey Peninsula District.

The Monterey Peninsula District has some good schools right in the city of Monterey, but the district has to also provide resources to some very poor performing schools.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

I'd choose Aptos, all things considered.

[Ludachris]

My parents and younger brother live there, and to be honest, I don't like it. They moved there after I had moved out. My brother loves it there due to its small town feel. But in my opinion, the same things he loves about it has also hurt him. There is no future for him there, yet he stays. He finished up school (but didn't graduate) with a bunch of druggie/gangster friends and has had a tough time getting started in life. Granted, you can't blame it all on the area, but the schools aren't good and there isn't much to do there for teens, which tends to result in trouble. Keep in mind many of the parents in the area commute to San Jose and other places, leaving the kids to find their own source of fun - which happened with my brother, unfortunately.

If you have kids, I'd consider other areas first. Hell, I don't care for Gilroy much, but I'd prefer it over Prunedale/Castroville. Monterey would probably be my first choice in the region.