CNN/Money names OP #9 on best small city to live in U.S. (Kansas City: sale, how much)

[aragx6]

Originally Posted by Mathguy

Many of the schools on the "top schools" list are magnate schools that skim the cream from the surrounding area leaving behind sub-par schools. Chicago is a poster-child for this.

With that said, it's refreshing that pretty much all of the public schools in JOCO are solid or better...and they aren't doing so by consolidating the above and below average students into their own little silos.

Well, no. Of course they are. By being socioeconomically well above average as a whole, and being expensive enough communities to stay that way, they're quite successfully consolidating students into their own little silos.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

Overland Park isn't so great if you don't like massive highways with the inherent road noise/bad drivers that accompanies them. Ask anyone who lives who lives within 10 blocks of 435 about the noise. It sure was awesome OP planning that did not account for a buffer zone between the highway and residential development like most large metropolitan counties have. My parents used to have a house fairly close to 435 and I make a point of never moving to an area that is close to an interstate highway. The eastern side of JOCO is more desirable and is closer to the city amenities while having a far greater tree cover. Compare Lee Blvd tree cover to Pflumm Rd and you'll understand what I'm referring to.

I like the north end of OP. There are some nice neighborhoods with a variety of housing tucked in up around Johnson drive that would be 30minutes from anything in the metro with decent public school options, big old trees etc.

The southern end of OP I'm less a fan of but it has a few pockets that are really nice like down around deanne rose farm.

You are correct about living too close to the interstate = noise. However, I live maybe 8 blocks from I35 and can rarely hear it but I have hills\trees etc. that knock the noise way down....but that sort of topography is much less common along 435 in OP.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by aragx6

Well, no. Of course they are. By being socioeconomically well above average as a whole, and being expensive enough communities to stay that way, they're quite successfully consolidating students into their own little silos.

You are forgetting that the quality of the school system tends to attract a lot of lower-income renters that come and live in some of the areas so they can help their kids get ahead.

One of the Lenexa gradeschools actually qualifies for title 1 federal assistance due to having 45%+ of the kids on some sort of free or subsidized lunch plan.

JOCO is not just one house after another with 2.5 cars and 80k+ household incomes. There are a lot of working poor there trying to get ahead.

[aragx6]

^Can I ask which one? Greatschools.org shows only one elementary school in Lenexa and 2% of its children are eligible for free or reduced lunches.

http://www.greatschools.org/cgi-bin/ks/other/1800#toc

[aragx6]

Maybe you meant Olathe?

I did find a school with 81% of the children eligible for free or reduced lunches (Ridgeview), but their test scores are pretty obviously reflective of that -- mediocre at best; honestly quite sub par. Also given the large number of Hispanic students it's also quite likely that English is their second language. Student Teacher Ratio Ridgeview Elementary School - Olathe, Kansas - KS

Fairview is in a similar situaton: Student Teacher Ratio Fairview Elementary School - Olathe, Kansas - KS

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by aragx6

^Can I ask which one? Greatschools.org shows only one elementary school in Lenexa and 2% of its children are eligible for free or reduced lunches.

Student Teacher Ratio Manchester Park Elementary School - Lenexa, Kansas - KS

Rising Star. If you go to their website you will see their title 1 plan.

Pull up google earth and scroll down 87th street between quivera and pflumm and up around 75th and quivera and you will see A LOT of apartment complexes.

The greatschools data must be utterly ancient as there are a lot more gradeschools in Lenexa than that.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by aragx6

Maybe you meant Olathe?

I did find a school with 81% of the children eligible for free or reduced lunches (Ridgeview), but their test scores are pretty obviously reflective of that -- mediocre at best; honestly quite sub par. Also given the large number of Hispanic students it's also quite likely that English is their second language. Student Teacher Ratio Ridgeview Elementary School - Olathe, Kansas - KS

Fairview is in a similar situaton: Student Teacher Ratio Fairview Elementary School - Olathe, Kansas - KS

There is a large number of ESL at risingstar. You will notice that their test scores climb each year....which is a tribute to effort and teaching.

The bottom line is that any implication that all the JOCO schools are full of lilly white rich kids is basically bunk.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by Mathguy

I like the north end of OP. There are some nice neighborhoods with a variety of housing tucked in up around Johnson drive that would be 30minutes from anything in the metro with decent public school options, big old trees etc.

The southern end of OP I'm less a fan of but it has a few pockets that are really nice like down around deanne rose farm.

You are correct about living too close to the interstate = noise. However, I live maybe 8 blocks from I35 and can rarely hear it but I have hills\trees etc. that knock the noise way down....but that sort of topography is much less common along 435 in OP.

435 in JOCO is many magnitudes worse than 35 so that isn't a good comparison at all. The sound wall barriers make very little difference when you have an eight lane interstate. They lived north of 435 between the stretch from Quivira to Metcalf and you could almost always hear interstate noise, UNLESS the wind was blowing in from a northerly direction. Overland Park should never allowed subdivisions to be built that close to 435 but the planning 30-40 years ago did a very very poor job at calculating future population growth out over time of course.

[northbound74]

I don't doubt that JoCo schools fair better than inner-city schools. As to JoCo being better than other suburban schools, no.
Yes, they are run better than poor inner-city schools, but the demographic has a significant impact as well. There are pockets of lower income households in JoCo, mostly apartment complexes of course. But face it, if lower income neighborhoods started to grow and become large in some places, you'd definitely see school quality go downward throughout many of the districts there just like they would anywhere else.
Lower income people have different issues in their lives that can be emotionally draining (anyone from a place like Arkansas knows that), which for whatever reason causes quality education harder to come by. May not be the school's fault or the teacher's fault, sometimes kids see the world around them and shrug, wondering what's the point.
There are some lower income folks who are willing stuff their families in a little apartment to be in JoCo, but for the most part that county largely has the ability to price most of them out leaving behind upper-crust kids who will forever do well in school.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by northbound74

I don't doubt that JoCo schools fair better than inner-city schools. As to JoCo being better than other suburban schools, no.
Yes, they are run better than poor inner-city schools, but the demographic has a significant impact as well. There are pockets of lower income households in JoCo, mostly apartment complexes of course. But face it, if lower income neighborhoods started to grow and become large in some places, you'd definitely see school quality go downward throughout many of the districts there just like they would anywhere else.
Lower income people have different issues in their lives that can be emotionally draining (anyone from a place like Arkansas knows that), which for whatever reason causes quality education harder to come by. May not be the school's fault or the teacher's fault, sometimes kids see the world around them and shrug, wondering what's the point.
There are some lower income folks who are willing stuff their families in a little apartment to be in JoCo, but for the most part that county largely has the ability to price most of them out leaving behind upper-crust kids who will forever do well in school.

You can find houses for sale in JOCO for not a lot of money as well as the apartment option.

I don't know your experience with the area but JOCO is not neccessarily southern OP through and through.

If you don't believe me then go to realtor.com and run some searches.