[elinyc]

Originally Posted by dec38

Stamford is full of young families, and is a great place for families. Head to the Nature Center or any of the parks or playgrounds, to Chelsea Piers, to Cove Island park, etc.

What do all these families do in terms of schooling? The public schools seem very undesirable. That's the big thing that's pushing me more towards Fairfield - better schools. Otherwise, I'd be very happy with Stamford.

[Wilton2ParkAve]

Originally Posted by elinyc

What do all these families do in terms of schooling? The public schools seem very undesirable. That's the big thing that's pushing me more towards Fairfield - better schools. Otherwise, I'd be very happy with Stamford.

I think the odds of schools improving are fairly remote, particularly with the surge in elementary school enrollment. It's hard to step up when the basic resources in terms of head count and student ratios are out of sync. Also many of these new students do not hail from English speaking households, so a considerable portion of any new resources are going to be allocated to ESL and similar programs.

Here is a good article from January that discussed this topic in better detail.

Stamford's school squeeze - StamfordAdvocate

[dec38]

I just pulled Connecticut Mastery test data for 5th Grade 2012. Here are the results for students meeting "Goal" in 5th Grade Math, filtered for those students paying full price for lunch:

State: 84.1%
Stamford: 86%
(Westover school -- one of the magnet schools in Stamford: 94.6%)
Fairfield: 89.4%
Greenwich: 87.6%
Milford: 80.1%
Waterbury: 68.9% (offering contrast of city school that really is not measuring up, as measured in apples to apples comparison)

I would not consider Stamford a failing school district. My oldest starts kindergarden in the fall of 2014, so I am going to ramp up my inquiry into Stamford schools this year. I'll post back when I learn more.

[elinyc]

Originally Posted by dec38

I would not consider Stamford a failing school district. My oldest starts kindergarden in the fall of 2014, so I am going to ramp up my inquiry into Stamford schools this year. I'll post back when I learn more.

Thank you! So all the talk of Stamford schools being bad is empty talk?

[Wilton2ParkAve]

Originally Posted by dec38

I just pulled Connecticut Mastery test data for 5th Grade 2012. Here are the results for students meeting "Goal" in 5th Grade Math, filtered for those students paying full price for lunch:

State: 84.1%
Stamford: 86%
(Westover school -- one of the magnet schools in Stamford: 94.6%)
Fairfield: 89.4%
Greenwich: 87.6%
Milford: 80.1%
Waterbury: 68.9% (offering contrast of city school that really is not measuring up, as measured in apples to apples comparison)

I would not consider Stamford a failing school district. My oldest starts kindergarden in the fall of 2014, so I am going to ramp up my inquiry into Stamford schools this year. I'll post back when I learn more.

I've seen that metric before Dec38 and while it is interesting, how will you ensure that all social interaction and classroom enrollment is limited to full price lunch students?

[AntonioR]

Originally Posted by elinyc

Thank you! So all the talk of Stamford schools being bad is empty talk?

Some of us have been hinting towards this, but apparently our comments fall on deaf ears (or blind eyes is more accurate.)

[sickofnewyorkcity]

Will downtown Stamford develop properly now that UBS has moved most of their employees into NYC? I consulted there and many of the people already lived in NYC so they are not going to Stamford anymore and not spending money there. Have the businesses suffered?

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by sickofnewyorkcity

Will downtown Stamford develop properly now that UBS has moved most of their employees into NYC? I consulted there and many of the people already lived in NYC so they are not going to Stamford anymore and not spending money there. Have the businesses suffered?

Sorry but UBS still has a lot of employees in their Stamford building. What makes you say that most were moved to NY. Jay

[AntonioR]

If most UBS employees have been moved to NYC and most live there anyway, I don't see how such a change would impact businesses in Stamford. Much of the spending from the employees would had been in nearby restaurants around the lunch hour. Other than that, can't imagine such a change having a direct drastic impact on local businesses.

It might have an impact in city finances and possibly state finances, through the loss of tax revenue at various levels.

But I haven't heard anything about this move, other than what was published in the local paper a few months ago. Back then it was all in the plans and the government was trying to reach a deal with UBS in order to keep those positions, but don't know much beyond that.

[JayCT]

Originally it was reported that UBS was moving 3,000 people out of Stamford but then, almost immediately it was corrected that it was from several offices. Not much later they announced they were keeping a large number of employees in Stamford. I think it was like 2,500. Still a sizable amount. I believe they are living up to that agreement. Jay