i'm moving to Iowa! (Des Moines, West Des Moines: house, school districts, suburban)

[historybuffpj]

I am from the Boston Metropolitan Area but I got a job working in the Des Moines area. We are looking for a house in West Des Moines. I found out that West Des Moines has two school districts: West Des Moines and Waukee. Can you guys tell me about each and your opinions as to which one would be better for my daughters?

[pepe1]

Both are excellent school districts. West Des Moines is more established and consequently has very slow growth. Their athletic programs dominate the state and academically it is a top notch district. Their kids do have the stereotype around the state as the "rich kids".

Waukee is on the fringes of suburban development, thusly their school district has amazing growth. They are building at least one new building every year to keep up with the growth. The district has an excellent reputation academically, even with this growth.

If your daugheters are older, jr high or high school age, I would reccomend Waukee only because they won't be the only "new" kids in school and it would probably be easier to make friends. Elementary age, you can't go wrong with either- there both good school districts.

[El Rhino]

Both school districts are top-notch by any standards, but I would think that WDM schools would offer more opprotunities than the Waukee district, which is smaller. I'm sure WDM can offer programs that Waukee doesn't due to size constraints.