Good schools in Chesapeake & Virginia Beach (Norfolk, Hampton: crime rate, lawyers)

[catant]

Hi all,

I would greatly appreciate any feedback on good school districts in both the Chesapeake and Virginia Beach areas. I'll will be moving into the area from NY with my husband. We are trying to limit our house search only to areas with great schools. Also, we don't want to live somewhere with bad traffic or involves tunnels (as that would extend my commute to ODU - that's where I will be working).

In terms of Chesapeake, I was told Great Bridge and Hickory are good. But, what about Grassfield. I know that one is new, but any initial impressions on how good the school is?

In terms of Virginia Beach, I was told Cox is good. Any others?

Any advice or feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks!
Cathy

[chesapeakesim]

In Chesapeake, Great Bridge, Hickory, and Grassfield are really the best. The rest of the high schools are questionable so if schools are your top priority I would focus on just those three. You'll pay a premium on whatever house you buy though, as everyone else wants to be in those school districts as well. When I was looking it seemed comparable houses were $25-30K more expensive then other school districts.

I am not sure about Virginia Beach schools.

I live in Great Bridge so let me know if you have any questions about neighborhoods in that district.

[xGrendelx]

I don't know if it's like this everywhere, but many schools in the Virginia Beach Public School System have a specified "academy" where admitted students will study a more rigorous curriculum that's based on which academy it is. For example, Bayside High School has the Health Science Academy which will help students find jobs in health sciences and getting noticed by medical schools/universities. Landstown High School has the Technology Academy which does the same as Bayside's program but with technology-related fields. First Colonial High has the Legal Studies Academy for all the budding lawyers, and so on. However, not every student at the school is a part of these "academies" since they're all public schools. I believe students have to apply to these academies specifically, and if they can get in it helps with planning their career and academic futures. I had a friend go through the Health Science Academy at Bayside and now she's studying in a health-related field at Longwood University. If you can find out which school has the academy you're looking for, it's not a bad idea to try and get in. Here's a link to a PDF that explains each academy and what school they're a part of:

http://www.vbschools.com/online_pubs...pple_Jan07.pdf

[rtandc]

This question is asked a lot and you will receive a number of different responses listing different schools. The bottom line no matter what school you send your children to it is only as good as you the parent wants to make it. If you as a parent support the school administrators and teachers and are active in your children's school work and after school activities they will receive a great education no matter what school you send them to.

Now that said their are certain schools where the overall parent participation is greater then the other schools in both Va Bch and Chesapeake, these are the schools that seem to rank the highest in overall quality of education and are normally listed the highest in the various school listings when it comes to receiving a good education.

In Va Bch you will find eleven high schools out of those eleven you will normally find that Kellam, Ocean Lakes and Cox in that order are very popular with parents. Five of the eleven high schools are normally found somewhere in the middle and the three schools that normally rate the lowest are Green Run, Bayside and Landstown. Now again you will find people that will dispute this ranking and even I dont believe Cox should rate that high but overall you will find this to be about right.

In Chesapeake you will find seven high schools, out of those seven Hickory, Great bridge and Grassfield are the favorites. I think you will find over the next few years Grassfield will become the overall favorite high school in Chesapeake. Hickory holds that honor right now but Hickory is way over populated with students so either another high school will need to be built or a major change in the attendance zones will be needed. So I tell people looking to move to Chesapeake unless your children are high school age now or just a year or two away dont buy a house in a certain neighborhood thinking your younger children will attend that high school because major changes in the school zones will occur in Chesapeake in the future

[rtandc]

Originally Posted by xGrendelx

I don't know if it's like this everywhere, but many schools in the Virginia Beach Public School System have a specified "academy" where admitted students will study a more rigorous curriculum that's based on which academy it is. For example, Bayside High School has the Health Science Academy which will help students find jobs in health sciences and getting noticed by medical schools/universities. Landstown High School has the Technology Academy which does the same as Bayside's program but with technology-related fields. First Colonial High has the Legal Studies Academy for all the budding lawyers, and so on. However, not every student at the school is a part of these "academies" since they're all public schools. I believe students have to apply to these academies specifically, and if they can get in it helps with planning their career and academic futures. I had a friend go through the Health Science Academy at Bayside and now she's studying in a health-related field at Longwood University. If you can find out which school has the academy you're looking for, it's not a bad idea to try and get in. Here's a link to a PDF that explains each academy and what school they're a part of:

http://www.vbschools.com/online_pubs...pple_Jan07.pdf

Yes xGrendelx is correct that Va Bch does offer academy classes to the top students in Va Bch, this is something that Chesapeake does not offer.
I live in the Kellam district in Va Bch, heck I graduated from Kellam many many years ago myself but my youngest daughter did attend the math and science academy at Ocean Lakes. I was very impressed with the overall education she obtained while at Ocean Lakes and without a doubt it placed her well ahead of the majority of students during her college years...........Its not something any student can get into in fact each academy only excepts about 300-350 students (if its even that many)......it does not matter what school district in Va Bch you live in, if your child applies and is accepted to a certain academy the host school will provide transportation...Just something else to think about when you are deciding which city to live it.........

[catant]

Thank you for the information. This is very helpful. I do have a follow-up question regarding pre-school, elementary, and middle schools in Chesapeake. Does anyone have thoughts on which of the high school districts are best? In other words, if Great Bridge, Hickory and Grassfield are good schools, does that suggest that the elementary and middle schools are good as well?

Thanks for your help.

Cathy

[Ginzu]

Cathy,
I have kids in Grassfields HS and Elementary and Hugo Owens middle and am very happy with each. If you lean in their direction you cannot go wrong. They are not over crowded an trailers are not an issue. I got orders and moved last summer and the kids opted to stay another year due to the schools if that tells you anything and now that year is coming to an end, they are not looking forward to the move this summer.

Ginzu

[relocating_usa]

what about good elementary schools in Chesapeake?

[Stuck in the city]

The best schools in Chesapeake are Hickory, Great Bridge & Grassfield. Much better class of kids (by a long shot). Deep Creek isn't bad, but the others are better. Stay away from Indian River whatever you do. Oscar Smith is so-so. Some good, some not so good. But if you have the choice, there are lots better quality schools! Hickory & Grassfield are newer schools than Great Bridge. Grassfield is BRAND new, like just opened a year or 2 ago. They may not be in trailers...yet, but they are at capacity. They built Grassfield to help relieve Hickory, Great Bridge & parts of Deep Creek, problem was, was that it too OPENED at capacity! If you are working at ODU, problem i#1 is Hampton Blvd (the street ODU is on) is ALWAYS at a stand still during rush hour. So you have to get out of downtown Norfolk first. Problem #2 - then you have to fight the traffic once you actually manage to get on the interstates. Going towards Chesapeake will be much better than VA Beach once your on the interstate. Either way, you're still looking at about 20 +minutes just to get out of Norfolk (on a good day) and then depending on traffic another 15-20 minutes to get to Chesapeake taking the interstates/ Chesapeake expressway all the way down. If you go towards VA Beach once you get on the interstate (again depending on traffic) you're looking at another 20-25 minutes to get home. Unfortunatley Norfolk is probably the biggest place for employment in this area between all the businesses at hospitals ecspecially, but noone wants to LIVE in Norfolk because the schools are some of the worst, its trashy & the crime rate is through the roof. So everyone commutes & you have 2 different tunnels leading out of downtown Norfolk & thats where everything gets held up. Once you get through/ passed the tunnels it's USUALLY smooth sailing. Hope that helps on your decision & gives you an idea of what you need to think about. You really need to take the drive (during rush hour to & from potential houses is possible before you decide, so you know what your getting into.

[CowlyHole]

Well, it's been like a month..but I figured I'd throw some tidbits in.
I do hear that Grassfield Elementary and Hugo are good..I myself went to Cedar Road Elementary and Great Bridge Middle..both are good. As far as elementary schools go, I think that the whole "parent involvement makes it better" thing really applies. And I know for a fact parents volunteer all the time at Cedar Road.
I also went to Grassfield and it was amazing. It wasn't at capacity for the first two years, but it will be this year. The only types of academy things that Chesapeake has are the IB program at Oscar Smith..which in my opinion is the only reason you'd want to go there...and even then..And the Technology Academy which is at Grassfield. So just throwing that out there.
I don't know how long the commute to Norfolk takes, but my mom does commute there everyday.