Need some honest opinions for good schools and neighborhoods for the following cities... (Los Angeles: school district, to live in)

[NaplesRes]

Originally Posted by lauragizzi

YOU LISTED LONG BEACH:

i have lived in the long beach/lakewood area all my 43 years. lakewood used to be part of long beach, but annexed itself in the 40s. it is a wonderful city. nice, clean, low crime, nice folks, lots of parks, good schools.

long beach, except the part that is north/east (adjacent to lakewood)is an armpit. some will argue, but its true.

lot of work in long beach, so your close to that. your close to orange county, so you can work in lots of areas. jobs no probs!

i am moving soon, out of california, but as far as all the cities listed, ill put in my two cents for lakewood,

some will say the beach areas, but too much traffic and parking issues and not worth it.

LAKEWOOD CA !

That's an interesting viewpoint. Most people I know from Long Beach, particularly people from Belmont Shore, etc look down on Lakewood. Refer to as "inland".

I don't know anything about Lakewood. But I'll defend LB. There are rough parts, mostly in the north, but the rest of it is nice. East LB is very nice.

[lauragizzi]

Originally Posted by NaplesRes

That's an interesting viewpoint. Most people I know from Long Beach, particularly people from Belmont Shore, etc look down on Lakewood. Refer to as "inland".

I don't know anything about Lakewood. But I'll defend LB. There are rough parts, mostly in the north, but the rest of it is nice. East LB is very nice.

WRONG

do you live in long beach? ive lived in this area for 43 years. i know of what i speak. as for belmont shore, CROWDED, OVERPRICED no parking. overpriced and ukky.
of course they are right on the mothers bay and ocean, (polluted and not that nice of an area) so anything north is inland. doesnt make it bad. and those areas are quite questionable.

almost ALL of long beach is iffy at best. downtown long beach, i work there by the shorline village pretty nice right there in that little area, but most of long beach, especially west of here, is AN ARMPIT. sorry. i would not live anywhere west of lakewood blvd...

lakewood is not a beach city so of course its inland. der. but its a wonderful city ... not one day of crime here. you can drive three miles in any direction and be in a less savory neighborhood, but lakewood is its own little area that is really nice and clean and crime free. lived here in this three mile radius all my life for a reason.

i usually say i am from long beach, only because people dont know of lakewood so i say that for reference. but locally, am not happy to say i live in or near long beach as its just become horrid. it USED to be an affluent area, but sorry, not so today. just a bunch of slums for 80% of it. the other 20% is lakewood adjacent.

[NaplesRes]

Originally Posted by lauragizzi

WRONG

do you live in long beach? ive lived in this area for 43 years. i know of what i speak. as for belmont shore, CROWDED, OVERPRICED no parking. overpriced and ukky.
of course they are right on the mothers bay and ocean, (polluted and not that nice of an area) so anything north is inland. doesnt make it bad. and those areas are quite questionable.

almost ALL of long beach is iffy at best. downtown long beach, i work there by the shorline village pretty nice right there in that little area, but most of long beach, especially west of here, is AN ARMPIT. sorry. i would not live anywhere west of lakewood blvd...

lakewood is not a beach city so of course its inland. der. but its a wonderful city ... not one day of crime here. you can drive three miles in any direction and be in a less savory neighborhood, but lakewood is its own little area that is really nice and clean and crime free. lived here in this three mile radius all my life for a reason.

i usually say i am from long beach, only because people dont know of lakewood so i say that for reference. but locally, am not happy to say i live in or near long beach as its just become horrid. it USED to be an affluent area, but sorry, not so today. just a bunch of slums for 80% of it. the other 20% is lakewood adjacent.

Well, I have lived in Naples for about 7 years. I strongly, but respectfully, disagree with everything you have said.

I'm sure there are more but I find all of the following neighborhoods as nice as most in LA / OC and nicer than Lakewood:

Naples
Belmont Shore
Belmont Heights
Belmont Park
Peninsula
Virginia Country Club
Park Estates
Cal Heights
El Dorado Park Estates
El Dorado Park
College Park Estates
Spinnaker Bay
Rec Park

[missionhome]

I would focus on the Thousand Oaks area. It is closer to Lancaster than southern cities and has probably the best schools of the bunch. Long Beach is ok, but at the middle school and high school levels the scores start to fall off. It can be a great area for young people, but probably not the best for a family. Long Beach secondary schools range from a 4-8 out of 10, while Thousand Oaks is almost perfect with 10/10's. Basically Long Beach schools range from horrible to average and Thousand Oaks is literally as good as it gets in this state for schools.

[marelind]

I've lived most of my life in Arcadia. We raised our son here, and sent him to the Arcadia schools. Arcadia is a wonderful city with great schools. The high school is very large, but if you can find a niche (band, sports, video production, etc.) you can develop a group to identify with. The PTA is very active and a great way to meet other moms. You need to be prepared for the large Asian population here - about 50% in the city and about 65-75% in the schools. Some of the Caucasian kids feel a little lost unless they are prepared to make friends with the Asian kids.

Also, the cost of homes is very high! There are pockets in the city where the range is a little lower, you just have to look for them.

[NaplesRes]

Originally Posted by missionhome

I would focus on the Thousand Oaks area. It is closer to Lancaster than southern cities and has probably the best schools of the bunch. Long Beach is ok, but at the middle school and high school levels the scores start to fall off. It can be a great area for young people, but probably not the best for a family. Long Beach secondary schools range from a 4-8 out of 10, while Thousand Oaks is almost perfect with 10/10's. Basically Long Beach schools range from horrible to average and Thousand Oaks is literally as good as it gets in this state for schools.

This is just not true. Long Beach is a great place for families and there are plenty of good schools. You can actually have a nice, safe neighborhood without the blandness of OC. East Long Beach schools at the elementary and middle school level are as good as any. Rogers and Stanford are the middle schools and are 9 of 10. Naples, Kettering, Lowell, and Fremont are the elementary schools and are all 9 or 10's. High schools at least in terms of scores are an issue in some parts of LB. But Wilson is a 7 and Poly is an 8. They both have great honor programs so there are options.

People who dont know LB forget it is a huge city of 500k people over about 30 miles. You have to look at the neighborhood as LB has a lot of diversity from ghettos to very wealthy neighborhoods and younger single areas to suburban family and everything in between.

[missionhome]

The family asked for two things: Good schools and safety. At the high school level, Long Beach just falls to slightly above average, which in my opinion is not good. And safety, Long Beach Poly has had five murders this year within a mile of the school, more than all the murders Thousand Oaks gets in an entire year. You mention programs: Sounds to me like a way to contain a group of kids and focus all the energy on them and forget about the "regular kids." What happens to the regular kids and what if the OP's has a regular kid who isn't going to be in a program. The reality is these regular kids are the majority of the school and the ones that aren't learning and reflect in the test scores. In Thousand Oaks, a much larger percentage of students are brought up to the proficient level and no one is excluded to fall behind because they aren't in a "program."

[bhcompy]

long beach poly is also a closed campus and is actively patrolled. wilson is also a nice school.

as far as programs, programs help stop the promotion of mediocrity. there are kids who are smart enough and do the work to deserve that higher education and college prep. as far as "regular" eduction, parenting and motivation make a huge difference. its not the teachers job to babysit, and if the parents dont parent(which seems to happen more often in areas with less income per capita like LB vs TO) the kid wont be motivated or properly prepared to use school to their benefit like the kids that are putting in the work to succeed in whatever classes they are in.

Long Beach has good schools and safe areas to raise a family. It is a diverse metropolitan city, like Los Angeles, and will have it's share of problems. They take what they get and do what they can with it. It would not be a "wrong" decision to send your kid to a school like Poly because there are good teachers, good sports, good extracurriculars, and good programs to help your child succeed in life, but if you don't take an active role the kid will be much more likely to be a bum, and thats not a fault of the school system.

[NaplesRes]

Originally Posted by missionhome

The family asked for two things: Good schools and safety. At the high school level, Long Beach just falls to slightly above average, which in my opinion is not good. And safety, Long Beach Poly has had five murders this year within a mile of the school, more than all the murders Thousand Oaks gets in an entire year. You mention programs: Sounds to me like a way to contain a group of kids and focus all the energy on them and forget about the "regular kids." What happens to the regular kids and what if the OP's has a regular kid who isn't going to be in a program. The reality is these regular kids are the majority of the school and the ones that aren't learning and reflect in the test scores. In Thousand Oaks, a much larger percentage of students are brought up to the proficient level and no one is excluded to fall behind because they aren't in a "program."

Great. There are many areas in LB that have good schools and safety. To say otherwise is to not know what you're talking about.

[missionhome]

In the end this is all for the OP. I'm sure the OP will make the right decision for his/her family in the end whether it be Long Beach, Thousand Oaks, Pasadena, Westlake, Los Alamitos, etc... Different families fit in better in different areas. The internet can't substitute for visiting a place so that is what I highly encourage the OP to do. Visit the schools your children would be attending at all age levels and bring the kids to see what they think.