Change of Scenery in MA, Where to Live?

[proudestmonkey]

Originally Posted by massnative71

Look into Needham. Great schools, great town center, pretty much all you want. The residents are generally more down to earth than Brookline and Newton, and it has several stops on the commuter rail. Right on 128 as well, so trips to the SS will be easy enough.

I would not send my kids to the Cambridge schools. They are decent for an urban school system, but still an urban school system. You would have the same bad influences there as you would in let's say Boston (not that the burbs don't have their sins as well). It's been quite a few years now, but at least when I was growing up Watertown had that "urban element" to their schools as well.

Melrose I almost beat GoyGuy in recommending, but then realized that it really is an adventure from there to the south shore.

I will look a little closer at Needham, I have a friend that works at the high school.

[proudestmonkey]

Originally Posted by missionhill

That's what one needs to find out. One poster on this board with first-hand knowledge of the BPS is Henry Alan. I haven't noticed anyone here with first-hand experience of the Cambridge schools. My impression is they're pretty good but you'd have to look into it. As to neighborhoods, I like the Huron Ave area near Fresh Pond and around Porter Square, also the Magazine St-Brookline St area known as Cambridgeport. They seem more like family neighborhoods. North of Mass Ave there are many beautiful streets west of Central Square, such as Dana, Inman, and Hancock. East of Prospect Street seems rough and semi-industrial but I could be wrong. Cambridge gets very wealthy and impersonal in some sections--especially north and west of Harvard Yard. I'd want to be in a neighborhood where other families send their children to the public schools. That wouldn't be Shady Hill or Avon Hill or Brattle Street.

Yes, I've seen him post about his kids in BPS. I will ask him and do some more research. I followed the series that Boston.com did on the school lottery and it didn't look too appealing. The process seemed disappointing to many of the families and even when the kids did get into the schools that the parents wanted, they schools were VERY low rated schools. I am a teacher and I understand the whole "parents involvement is very important" thing, but I also want to make sure my children's school is sufficient and peers also affect kids a lot.

My husbands family that went to BPS (lived/live in DOT) all went to Boston Latin. Kind of a family tradition, I guess. From his father down to his cousins that are now still in college. I have no idea where they went to school before they got there. I'll have to ask. I think I'm very spoiled having worked in private schools.

[proudestmonkey]

I don't think we'll have to worry about ending in one of the wealthy sections of Cambridge It's true, that is the vibe in some areas. I have a friend that lives off of Rindge, but I've never really spent time in the Fresh Pond area other than driving through the rotary or getting on Rte. 2 when I had to commute through their for a while. Is it still more "urban" in that area? I would want a decent amount of walkability.

[proudestmonkey]

Did some research on BPS and Cambridge. My main concern is that we'd be moving when our kids are already of school age and I wouldn't want to uproot them in the middle of a school year, so how do you possibly move to Boston or Cambridge with school aged kids and hope to get them into the school you want? I know this would deter my husband. It probably deters other people as well from moving to those places, much easier to say, well, let's move to Brookline where we know they're going to be in a good school. I would give BPS or CPS a shot if I knew I'd have first pick at the lottery, but moving so closet to the next school year, I most certainly wouldn't.

[missionhill]

Good points. I guess if you already live there you can strategize but you're at a disadvantage moving while the children are already of school age. Too bad it's so hard because some of those neighborhoods sound like just what you want.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by proudestmonkey

Did some research on BPS and Cambridge. My main concern is that we'd be moving when our kids are already of school age and I wouldn't want to uproot them in the middle of a school year, so how do you possibly move to Boston or Cambridge with school aged kids and hope to get them into the school you want? I know this would deter my husband. It probably deters other people as well from moving to those places, much easier to say, well, let's move to Brookline where we know they're going to be in a good school. I would give BPS or CPS a shot if I knew I'd have first pick at the lottery, but moving so closet to the next school year, I most certainly wouldn't.

Rember they have to change again in middle and high schools. In Boston if they don't get into one of the exam high schools you are pretty much out of luck. Cambridge R&L has its problems as well, so unless you gamble on the charters...

[proudestmonkey]

Yes, I know that would be another hurdle down the road in BPS. We'd have to come up with yet another plan. It's an exam school or poorly rated schools and basically nothing in between. It's too bad.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by proudestmonkey

Yes, I know that would be another hurdle down the road in BPS. We'd have to come up with yet another plan. It's an exam school or poorly rated schools and basically nothing in between. It's too bad.

Yes, it's a sad state of affairs. It makes you wonder if maybe the exam schools are doing more harm than good to the whole system. Remember there is also private and charter schools.

[proudestmonkey]

I know I've said this before here on the forums, but I worked at a school that was on the Boston line so we had kids from Boston go to our school until 6th grade when they would then test into Boston Latin Academy (99.9% of them did) and go public. Seems to be what people do. We could live where we are and send our kids to the private school where my son goes now, but we could not afford to live in the city and send our kids to private school while we pay city real estate prices and school prices...and I'm guessing the charter school process in Boston is then a whole other thing.

I think somebody posted on here that they are now starting to take into consideration whether or not your child is enrolled in BPS or if they'd be entering an exam school from a private school. Is this true? I don't really see how they could do that.