Moving from North Attleboro to Franklin, Ma (Boston, Springfield: environment, real estate)

[xiaokegan]

I work in Attleboro. My wife works in Marlboro. We are renting in North Attleboro now. Have an 8 year-old boy. Thinking to move to Franklin which is kind of in the middle of our works and has better schools. Is it a good idea?
Any input would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[smarty]

Franklin is definitely an upward mobile town.

As you said, fairly good school. The newer section of town (with newer school but lower MCAS score) are very expensive. There is no right or wrong decision as you have not given the criteria of your choice. If WIFE wants it, she gets it.

btw.. you can consider Mendon Upton also.

One more thing. Her biggest problem is getting pass RT90 exit at the right time. If you get through at the wrong time, you can easily add an extra 15-20 minutes to the commute.

[xiaokegan]

Originally Posted by smarty

Franklin is definitely an upward mobile town.

As you said, fairly good school. The newer section of town (with newer school but lower MCAS score) are very expensive. There is no right or wrong decision as you have not given the criteria of your choice. If WIFE wants it, she gets it.

btw.. you can consider Mendon Upton also.

One more thing. Her biggest problem is getting pass RT90 exit at the right time. If you get through at the wrong time, you can easily add an extra 15-20 minutes to the commute.

Thanks. We are trying to find a 3-bedroom house in a good neighborhood with price range from $450,000 to $550,000. My wife plans to send our kid to Helen Keller Elementary School. Any suggestions? Thanks again.

[smarty]

Originally Posted by xiaokegan

Thanks. We are trying to find a 3-bedroom house in a good neighborhood with price range from $450,000 to $550,000. My wife plans to send our kid to Helen Keller Elementary School. Any suggestions? Thanks again.

Price is definitely fine.

I do not live in town so I'm not sure about Helen Keller. I think Oak or JFK has the better score out of all the elementary schools (7 of them). Then, there are 3 middle schools and 1 high school where they all merge. You can check out MA Department of education website for each of the elementary/middle school scores.

Just a word of caution. Past history is no guarantee of future result (fine print). A good or bad score of a school do not represent what your kid will score.

[GreenLady]

Urge caution on anyone considering a move to Franklin simply for the school system. If you can wait til July of 2007, you'll be able to find out how they're going to balance the budget! We've had great schools for the past 20-25 years - huge growth, lots of families that do support education (that's where the scores come from), and a VERY child-oriented community.... but now it's time to pay the piper. No way to know how the town will solve its problems in the year or two ahead. All of the elementary schools are terrific... many great teachers throughout... great music program. HS very solid, many AP classes have been offered, etc. I know that's not your focus right now, but you have to look at the whole K-12 system. Sorry to have to say this, but the bargain we've enjoyed may be coming to an end. I agree with other writer that Mendon-Upton might be an option but housing costs and # of choices in these towns no better.

[smarty]

Budget shortfall is true in every single town in MA. There is no free lunch. If you want a brand new school, someone has to pay for it. The question is if the people in town willing to Override. There are two main places to get money, property tax and local aid. If you look into further in it, you will find it is a crazy way to fund education. So many towns has cut funding to sports, music and art. One town cut its entire sports program due to budget shortfall. To play sports, I think you have to pay $1200/year.

My friend in Franklin says every year the school wants more money. When the override falls through. Somehow, the school finds money. A million here. A million there. They must have stash it in some back pockets.

Here are some school problems

- The state eliminated tutorial assistance to students who fail its MCAS test -- which is required for graduation -- on their first try.
- Seventeen school districts were denied state money to fix leaky roofs, breaking boilers, and overcrowded classrooms, while hundreds of school nurses around the state were laid off.
- More than 100 districts are charging students a fee for school bus transportation ranging from $25 to $850, and more than 70 are requiring fees ranging from $25 to $850 to participate in a particular sport.
- Boston closed six schools and eliminated 1,000 teaching and other positions. The shortage of teachers there has forced many high schools to bring back study hall periods that were scrapped ten years ago, many of which are unsupervised and offer no specific coursework.
- In East Boston High School, some elective classes have more than 40 students. Even in the most affluent suburbs outside of Boston, class size is edging up to 30 students and now special education services are being cut back.
- In Reading, postponed maintenance led to water pipes bursting in the local high school, flooding the classroom of the state teacher of the year, and schools or kindergarten centers in Framingham, Braintree, and Weymouth have been shut down.
- Springfield laid off 181 teachers and other staff members, leading to larger class sizes, while eliminating its hot breakfast program and closing all school pools.
- In North Andover, class sizes are increasing to 30 or more in social studies and physical education, fine arts instruction is being cut, and science labs and a librarian eliminated.
- In Winthrop, the high school has eliminated its French program and now offers only Spanish.
- The number of school buses in Milton was sliced by two thirds, the average size of kindergarten classes increased from 19 to 25, and only one teacher was left to teach physical education to 1,700 elementary school students.
- Class sizes are also going up in Marborough after the elimination of several educational assistants and teachers.
- Due to bus routes being eliminated, up to 60 children are not attending preschool in Lowell this year because they have no way to get there.
- Northampton, the city hailed as the "Best Small Arts Town in America" in 1998, cut art, music, and physical education from its elementary schools, in addition to middle school physical education teachers.
- A principal at Clyde F. Brown Elementary School in Millis acts as a school nurse in the morning, and the school also raised class sizes from 18 to 23.
- Fortunately for one elementary music teacher in Holliston, parents who collected $28,772 in only 10 days saved his job.
- A $30,000 donation from parents in Merrimac allowed the city's two elementary schools to add an additional kindergarten teacher and rehire a recently-laid off media library aide.
- High school students in Harvard have to buy their own AP textbooks at $85 each and are paying $200 for bus service.
- In Oxford, a group of parents, teachers, and administrators gathered more than $135,000 from raffles, bake sales, and car washes in an effort to prevent their district from abolishing all clubs and sports.
- Arlington parents have to pay $1,500 to send a child to full-day kindergarten this school year—three times more than last year—and some raised $270,000 to bring back much-needed reading specialists to all area elementary schools and are now raising money to rescue a discarded environmental science camp.

[wpotsie]

Originally Posted by xiaokegan

I work in Attleboro. My wife works in Marlboro. We are renting in North Attleboro now. Have an 8 year-old boy. Thinking to move to Franklin which is kind of in the middle of our works and has better schools. Is it a good idea?
Any input would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

You picked a winner. I grew up in the Blackstone Valley area and any of the towns around there would have been great...namely Bellingham, Upton, Mendon, Hopdedale etc. It is a bit pricey but you know that already...totally worth it though!

[randiguy2006]

Originally Posted by smarty

My friend in Franklin says every year the school wants more money. When the override falls through. Somehow, the school finds money. A million here. A million there. They must have stash it in some back pockets.

Be careful with this type of mis-information.

The town received a $6,000,000 lawsuit settlement to cover shorfall one year and subsequently has spent down the "emergency" fund to meet needs. Trust me, there'e no money in anyone back pockets.

Time has come to pay the piper. Franklin spends far LESS that all the surrounding towns "per pupil". And the town can't keep spending their reserves. This effect's the bond rating and you def. dont want that.

Franklin is at a critical point. If they don't pony up they'll begin a long slow slide. Poor schools mean lower real estate prices as well.