Red Clay school district (Newark, Pike Creek: apartments, rentals, townhomes)

[tanikamommy]

Hi,
We are moving to Delaware from New Jersey in the summer and want our daughter to go to the Red clay school district. I am looking for townhomes or apartments to rent,preferably townhome in this area. We had a look at Walden in Pike Creek and Abor Pointe. Is Walden a good place to live? How is Pike Creek? Safe neighborhood? Are there any other good apartment/townhome rentals in this area or the area that comes under ?this school district?
Are there any activities like swimming,karate,Gymboree etc for kids nearby?

Thanks :-)

[dch123]

Yes, Pike Creek is a good area. Is your daughter in elementary or middle school? Within Red Clay, there are some schools that I would recommend and others I wouldn't. Then might help narrow your search to particular neighborhoods that feed into the better schools. The Hockessin Athletic Club has swimming/karate but it's expensive (about $200 month for a family). There are other pools you can join. U of D has one in Newark, the North Star pool in the Pike Creek area, Oaklands pool in Newark, to name a few. There are a few different karate studios. There is a Little Gym in Pike Creek Shopping Center (at least I assume they're still there). You can PM if you want more info about schools.

[tanikamommy]

Thank you for the information. We are actually going by the good schools (the ones with 4 and 5 stars). That is why are considering Pike Creek, but we don't have too many options, as there aren't too many apartment/townhomes for rent in that area.
Seems like there are plenty of things to do with the kids here.

[ltdontcare]

I went through Dickinson to meet up with a teacher friend and noticed in every class that there were kids sleeping in the back of the room. Brought this up to the friend and she said that was standard practice. If they are sleeping, they are not disturbing the class.

I didn't like that. When we were in Dickinson, we had to worry about the paddle and detention. It bothered a lot of parents but it worked quite well.

[doctorjef]

Don't you suppose there's a via media between paddling on the one hand and letting kids sleep in class on the other? OTOH, any teacher that routinely lets pupils do that ought to be sacked.