Relo to LA area (Vista: neighborhood, private schools, vouchers)

[greggd]

Originally Posted by majoun

I don't know how old you are. I sense I'm a bit older. When I went to Uni there were some kids from Brentwood (and a lot from Westwood). Those were the days before Palisades was a charter, though, and back when middle schools were "junior high schools". In any case, I grew up much closer to the Uni/Venice boundary than the Uni/Pali boundary. I did have quite a few friends at SMC who'd gone to Pali - one of whom did live in Brentwood, although on the extreme western end of Brentwood near Santa Monica and the Palisades.

Yes, I think the dividing line was/is San Vicente. Brentwood dips south of San Vicente to Wilshire Blvd. Santa Monica extends N of San Vicente as well after 26th street. Westwood is too far east. This is going back 15-20 years ago. So you would have had alot of classmates from Westwood and some from Brentwood/south end.

I went to palisades before it was a charter as well. Not to discredit uni at all, but I dont think it is possible to persuade a family living in No. brentwood or Palisades to have their kid go to uni. There is no reason. I also think the school has changed since I was in hi-school.

[Vicman]

Well, now that new high schools are opening in South Los Angeles and Koreatown, a lot of the forced transfers to Uni will disappear.

This will give area parents a chance to "take back" the high school.

Perhaps establishing Uni as a charter AND promoting Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate programs will help Uni rise to the ranks of Palisades. See, in Houston, HISD knows that many parents located in the River Oaks/West U/Bellaire areas are highly educated and are choosy about schools, so HISD deliberately located most of its best programs to the schools servicing those neighborhoods.

Originally Posted by greggd

Yes, I think the dividing line was/is San Vicente. Brentwood dips south of San Vicente to Wilshire Blvd. Santa Monica extends N of San Vicente as well after 26th street. Westwood is too far east. This is going back 15-20 years ago. So you would have had alot of classmates from Westwood and some from Brentwood/south end.

I went to palisades before it was a charter as well. Not to discredit uni at all, but I dont think it is possible to persuade a family living in No. brentwood or Palisades to have their kid go to uni. There is no reason. I also think the school has changed since I was in hi-school.

[ghuan02]

Originally Posted by Vicman

Students are still assigned to Palisades, so I see it as a comprehensive charter - Plug in some addresses into LAUSD's school zone search tool. Type 800 Via de la Paz - Palisades ES' address into: http://search.lausd.k12.ca.us/cgi-bi...xec=schfinder0

Parts of Brentwood, Topanga, and Pacific Palisades are zoned to Palisades HS.

Several Palisades feeder schools, which take students from assigned zoning boundaries, are also charters.

Perhaps University HS may be improved by becoming a charter?

And Westwood has its own elementary school - Westwood Elementary School.

The L.A. Times states that Warner is Bel-Air's assigned elementary school. See http://www.latimes.com/classified/re...=true&ctrack=1

Don't mean to hijack the thread. I happen to be relocating to LA in two months.

My new job is close to Century City. And my daughter just turned four last week.

I want a safe place, close to work (hate traffic), and good public school. Here is what I got after searhing online:

Area(Zipcode)----------Best School---------Crime (Personal/Property National Average 3/3)

West LA (90025) Westwood Charter 7/4
Westwood(90024) Fairburn Ave or Warner Ave 7/6
Brentwood(90049) unknown 8/7
Santa Monica(90403) Franklin Elementary 7/6

Most of the people say west side of I-405 is safer than east side, and north side of Santa Monica Blvd is safer than South side. To my surprise Brentwood has the highest crime rate, while West LA has the lowest.

I don't have money to buy a single family house in these areas. So I would probably rent an apartment for a few months then buy a townhouse near the school.

Is there anything I'm missing? Which area is better? What do you all think?

[Vicman]

I'm not sure which area would be the "best" - since I do not live in Socal...

You could visit each of the individual areas shown here to get the feelings associated with the neighborhoods.

[greggd]

Westwood(90024) Fairburn Ave or Warner Ave 7/6
Brentwood(90049) unknown 8/7

Brentwood is a very nice school and in a great area. They recently rennovated the playground and covered the fencing with flowering ivy.

Westwood school is in a good area as well.

I cant comment on the other two because I am not sure if it dips down into the poor areas to the south.

You will need to check for yourself when you arrive.

good idea to rent first.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by greggd

Yes, I think the dividing line was/is San Vicente. Brentwood dips south of San Vicente to Wilshire Blvd. Santa Monica extends N of San Vicente as well after 26th street. Westwood is too far east. This is going back 15-20 years ago. So you would have had alot of classmates from Westwood and some from Brentwood/south end.

I went to palisades before it was a charter as well. Not to discredit uni at all, but I dont think it is possible to persuade a family living in No. brentwood or Palisades to have their kid go to uni. There is no reason. I also think the school has changed since I was in hi-school.

I'm guessing I'm about 6 years older than you are. And I am aware that Uni did fall prey to the same problems that messed up every other school in LAUSD (aside from some of the magnets and charters) during the 90s.

As I mentioned before, where I lived when I was in high school was closer to the boundary with Venice High than the boundary with Pali.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by greggd

Westwood(90024) Fairburn Ave or Warner Ave 7/6
Brentwood(90049) unknown 8/7

Brentwood is a very nice school and in a great area. They recently rennovated the playground and covered the fencing with flowering ivy.

Westwood school is in a good area as well.

I cant comment on the other two because I am not sure if it dips down into the poor areas to the south.

You will need to check for yourself when you arrive.

good idea to rent first.

WHAT poor areas south of Westwood? I wouldn't consider Rancho Park or Cheviot Hills to be poor areas.

Palms, which is south of both of those areas, is another story. Kids from Palms wouldn't be zoned to the schools mentioned above ; they'd be zoned to Charnock Road, Palms, or Castle Heights elementary schools depending upon what part of Palms one's talking about.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by ghuan02

.

Most of the people say west side of I-405 is safer than east side, and north side of Santa Monica Blvd is safer than South side. To my surprise Brentwood has the highest crime rate, while West LA has the lowest.

The south side of SM Blvd. isn't bad by any means, but the north side is a little better. The only part of that area I don't feel safe in walking around at night is the industrial area between Olympic and Pico, mainly because industrial areas at night are usually not the safest places, and there are plenty of homeless lurking about (although the latter is true in most of LA, when you encounter them in dark deserted industrial areas there tends to be more of a risk). Speaking of which, I'm surprised there isn't that much said on this board about LA's homeless problem - a problem associated with the city as much as the gang problem.

[greggd]

Manjoun,

Im thinking of areas in so. 90025 and touching palms, not rancho or cheviot hills. nice homes there.

my concern with public schools in west los angeles is, you have basically a nice area but you get these pockets of apartment bldgs that have low income and rent control. They are totally out of place for the value of the land and desirable aspects of the neighborhood. Mix that with bldg owner who doesnt do anything to the place and doesnt monitor occupancy per unit. Now you have a way overpopulated low income presence in an area that otherwise wouldnt have that exposure.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by greggd

Manjoun,

Im thinking of areas in so. 90025 and touching palms, not rancho or cheviot hills. nice homes there.

my concern with public schools in west los angeles is, you have basically a nice area but you get these pockets of apartment bldgs that have low income and rent control. They are totally out of place for the value of the land and desirable aspects of the neighborhood. Mix that with bldg owner who doesnt do anything to the place and doesnt monitor occupancy per unit. Now you have a way overpopulated low income presence in an area that otherwise wouldnt have that exposure.

Actually, the problems with public schools in West LA have to do with the basic problems of the LAUSD in EVERY other nice part of LA. Schools are so overcrowded in certain other areas, so the kids from those areas go to school in West LA. If public schools in West LA were filled with kids from West LA rather than from elsewhere, including from said buildings, there wouldn't be ANY problems. The problem is an LAUSD problem, and that's why if I had kids I wouldn't want to live in an LAUSD area.

BTW, 90025 does not border Palms (90034) It doesn't go south of Olympic Blvd.
After that you're in 90064 until you get to National, when you pass into 90066 (Mar Vista).

Cheviot Hills, OTOH, IS right next to Palms - in fact it's right next to Palms and shares the same schools with Palms. Rancho Park, OTOH, is next to Palms but to a nicer part of Palms.