Elementary Schools in Newton and Brookline, MA (Boston, Arlington: houses, neighborhood)

[jms0479]

We are exploring a move back to MA and have been focusing our recent search on Newton and Brookline. We have a 4 1/2 yr old who will be starting kinder in 2017 and then a 1 year old so elementary schools are important. Would love to know if there are certain schools in these towns that we should focus on. Looking for a school that has a somewhat progressive approach (if that's possible in public) with quality arts and music programs a focus on social skills as well as scholastic. Thanks so much!

[Dm84]

They're both great (and expensive).

[chicagoliz]

I think all of the schools in both towns are good.

As far as Newton, they're renovating the elementary schools, and if you go onto the school district website, there is a list of when the various elementary schools are being renovated. Angier was just completely rebuilt and re-opened in January. Zervas is currently being rebuilt and I think is expected to be done next year. So if you look in Newton, if you go to one of those two schools, they will have already been renovated, so you won't have to worry about having to deal with them shutting down and the kids going to another school. (This isn't as bad as it sounds -- there is a spare school, called Carr, where they bus all the kids, so the entire school, including all the administrators, teachers, etc., just moves to this other school for the year and a half or so while the other school is rebuilt. So it's not like the kids would need to make new friends, etc. It's just that the kids are all bussed and it's not as easy if you live in walking distance of your assigned school.)

So, if you end up seeing two houses, and one is in the Angier or Zervas districts, and the other is in a school that is yet-to-be renovated, you might give some weight to being in the district where the school is finished. But as far as quality, they are all good.

[MikePRU]

You really can't go wrong in either place. All well regarded schools in both places. I do find Brookline can be far more walkable though than Newton. In some ways though, Brookline can be more expensive than Newton too though.

[tysmith95]

Brookline feels like a wealthy neighborhood of Boston. Newton feels like a wealthy suburb. Both are great places but people who prefer a more urban environment will like Brookline while people who want a yard and a white picket fence will be more attracted to Newton. Brookline does have houses with yards however most of those are prohibitively expensive for all but the very wealthy. Newton is also very expensive but less so for the same size house.

[jms0479]

Thanks. This is great feedback.

Is it worth looking at Arlington or even Melrose? These are two towns I don't know much about but have been mentioned by a few friends in the area.

Thank you!

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by jms0479

Thanks. This is great feedback.

Is it worth looking at Arlington or even Melrose? These are two towns I don't know much about but have been mentioned by a few friends in the area.

Thank you!

Yes.

Also, look into Belmont, Winchester, and Wellesley.

Concord and Lincoln are also good options.

[MikePRU]

Originally Posted by jms0479

Thanks. This is great feedback.

Is it worth looking at Arlington or even Melrose? These are two towns I don't know much about but have been mentioned by a few friends in the area.

Thank you!

Well, generally speaking those towns would be less expensive than Newton/Brookline. Whether they would be worth looking at or not though is kind of a loaded question.

If you can give us some information about your home search, perhaps we can offer some meaningful advice. Like . . .

What kind of house are you looking for?

Do you need to have a big yard?

How do you like to live? (i.e. are you a big outdoors person, do you eat out a lot, do you need to be near shopping, etc., etc., etc.)

Where are you and/or your significant other commuting to and how do you prefer to commute (public transportation or car or walking/biking)?

What is your housing budget?

Who else will be living with you?

I could probably come up with 100 more questions but I'm sure you get the idea.

[chicagoliz]

Originally Posted by jms0479

Thanks. This is great feedback.

Is it worth looking at Arlington or even Melrose? These are two towns I don't know much about but have been mentioned by a few friends in the area.

Thank you!

We moved back to this area earlier this year and we looked at Arlington and Melrose, too. Both seemed great. Melrose was the least expensive town we looked at, but we really liked what we saw. The areas that we looked at were: Newton, Needham, Lexington, Arlington, Belmont, and Melrose.

As Mike said, there is a lot more to know in order to suggest towns you might like.

For us, our top priority was reasonable access to the city and to Lexington (where my husband works). We have two kids - one middle schooler and one first grader. So schools were very important to us, too. Biggest plusses were public transportation and walkability. There were houses that we very nearly bought in both Arlington and Needham, but we ended up in Newton.

[jms0479]

Thanks for the help. We are exploring moving from Los Angeles. I grew up in Sherborn and eventhough my husband and I love LA, we are interested in being closer to family, sending our kids to public schools etc. The LA housing market is crazy and you have to go to private school.

Our budget is ideally between $1 -$1.5 MM though we'd love to spend less. We want at least 3 bedrooms and would love a small yard/outdoor area. Biggest priorities are access to Boston, good public schools, public transportation and a good town center, restaurants etc.

I would also appreciate some ethnic and economic diversity.

Hope this helps and thank you!