Schools/neighborhoods in Cleveland (Columbus, Lakewood: homes, school districts, to live in)

[zhenni]

We might need to move from Columbus to the Cleveland area to be closer to my job (not in Cleveland, but in Northeast Ohio), and are looking for a nice neighborhood with good schools, as we have a son in kindergarten. Since we are city people, we would prefer to live in the city if possible, but as we are totally unfamiliar with Cleveland, we have no idea what the various neighborhoods and local schools are like. Here is what we are looking for:

- a walkable urban neighborhood, preferably not on the far east side (where I work is southwest of Cleveland).
- a neighborhood with public schools which have good ratings from the elementary through the high school levels
- bonus: a neighborhood that has a farmer's market, is walking/biking/public transit distance from an indoor market, or is served by (a) CSA farm(s)

Basically what we are looking for is a neighborhood similar to Clintonville, the neighborhood in which we currently live in Columbus.

Any suggestions?

[JR_C]

You'll probably get a much better answer on the Urban Ohio board: Travel & Relocation Assistance

[zhenni]

JR_C: Thanks, will do!

[lbsunsets1]

The Westpark area of Cleveland is nice as far as homes go, but everyone I know there sends their kids to private (mostly catholic schools, even if they are not catholic). If you choose to send your child to the Cleveland public schools, you should look into the busing. It is my understanding that your child can be bused to any school in the entire district - not just the local schools...

If you want a better school district, we have plenty of suburbs that have excellent school districts. I live on the west side, so I am most familiar with these. North Olmsted and Westake are stellar districts. Rocky River and Lakewood have more walkable areas, but I do not know the exact state of their school districts...

[tribecavsbrowns]

Lakewood is the correct answer to your inquiry. If you need me to elaborate, I can.

Maybe Rocky River, but it's not as urban as Lakewood. I would check out both places.

[Peregrine]

Originally Posted by lbsunsets1

The Westpark area of Cleveland is nice as far as homes go, but everyone I know there sends their kids to private (mostly catholic schools, even if they are not catholic). If you choose to send your child to the Cleveland public schools, you should look into the busing.

Actually until High School there are 2 excellent public schools here in Westpark.
The one for younger kids (k-3 I think) is an all boys school. That is one of the best in the city. After that Riverside is also an excellent school to 6th or 7th grade. The high school in this area gets bad marks, though, and that's when people here start sending to private schools.

Westpark is really a very familty friendly area.

Westpark is mostly in the 44111 zip code.