Can you recommend a Boston suburb for us? (cliquey, middle schools)

[Brave Stranger]

new

Originally Posted by Junetracks29

It's very close to Copley.

We are ok with having something on the small side now and upgrading to a bigger rental or buying something later on. Our end goal is not a huge house though, would prefer a nice modern condo with minimal work or a small house. Not sure if this is relevant, but we are on the young side (late 20s) and hope to keep growing in our careers/salaries, so our numbers are based on what we can afford now.

Like everyone else of course we want good schools for our kids, but good commuting options and resources and a nice community are just as important to us.

We really like Arlington, but have talked to a few families using the elementary and middle school there and they were very unhappy, esp the families with middle schoolers. However, we realize this is only the opinion of a few people. Has anyone had a positive experience with the Arlington school system?

Also would Arlington be a good place for my parents (late 50s, retired, budget of $950k)? Is it mostly young families?

The issues involving Arlington schools are by & large not the quality of education, but overcrowding.....which is being addressed with the reopening of a former middle school & new building additions to 2 of the 7 grade schools. Whoever told you the grade schools are troubled is off base. Arlington public schools are very good & rank high on all academic measures.

Your parents would do fine in Arlington. There are 4 or 5 condo buildings right on Mass Ave that all fall below the 500k line. Arlington has a lot of older residents. It's still more townie than not. BTW there are many first floor condos in 2 family homes for sale in town. There are not a lot of ranch homes in Arlington, but they are around & most of them will fall well within your parents' 950K price-point.

[Junetracks29]

Thanks for all of the advice, it's extremely helpful. We definitely did not realize how expensive the Boston area can be.

I think Natick may be a little too far out for us , but we will definitely check it out.

Arlington is a great fit for us, other than the lack of enthusiasm about the schools. We are familiar with the size of 2-3 bedroom condos in Arlington and that would work great for our family.

A 2 family house with my parents is definitely something for us all to consider, it would give us all a much higher budget and could be useful. How much would a 2 family house (with each unit being 2-3 bedrooms) cost in these areas? My parents budget is way more flexible than ours and I think they would be interested in the potential income from being landlords.

[timberline742]

I've never met anyone over the last decade that hard issues with the Arlington school quality. It's progressed so far from the 80s. Yeah, some crowding issues, but as someone else said, its being addressed.

[robr2]

Originally Posted by Junetracks29

We really like Arlington, but have talked to a few families using the elementary and middle school there and they were very unhappy, esp the families with middle schoolers. However, we realize this is only the opinion of a few people. Has anyone had a positive experience with the Arlington school system?

To be perfectly honest, I've never spoken with anyone - no matter the city or town - that is happy with their middle school. It's the nature of the beast as it is one of the most difficult periods in the lives of the kids. In 3 short years they go from children to young adults and the expectations of the parents and the school are often quite divergent. All the kids are at their most awkward and middle schoolers are cruel. Teachers have to deal with these changes while getting them ready for the rigors of high school and parents are often unprepared for those years.

[chicagoliz]

Originally Posted by robr2

To be perfectly honest, I've never spoken with anyone - no matter the city or town - that is happy with their middle school. It's the nature of the beast as it is one of the most difficult periods in the lives of the kids. In 3 short years they go from children to young adults and the expectations of the parents and the school are often quite divergent. All the kids are at their most awkward and middle schoolers are cruel. Teachers have to deal with these changes while getting them ready for the rigors of high school and parents are often unprepared for those years.

I've made this comment before, but I'll make it again: I've heard the same complaint about Arlington middle schools and the same justification for the dissatisfaction. But I did not hear the same about the middle schools in other towns. In fact, in Needham and Newton, the people I talked to were quite happy with their middle schools. So I do think there is something else going on in Arlington with respect to the middle schools. Maybe it is the overcrowding issue, which is being addressed, and if you have young kids, maybe you can be confident it will be addressed before the kids reach middle school. (We were moving with a 6th grader, so we would have had a middle schooler right away, and it was an issue that did give us some concern. Although we still would have bought in Arlington. Our bigger issue with the house we almost bought in Arlington was that it wasn't walkable to anything.)

[Brave Stranger]

Originally Posted by chicagoliz

I've made this comment before, but I'll make it again: I've heard the same complaint about Arlington middle schools and the same justification for the dissatisfaction. But I did not hear the same about the middle schools in other towns. In fact, in Needham and Newton, the people I talked to were quite happy with their middle schools. So I do think there is something else going on in Arlington with respect to the middle schools. Maybe it is the overcrowding issue, which is being addressed, and if you have young kids, maybe you can be confident it will be addressed before the kids reach middle school. (We were moving with a 6th grader, so we would have had a middle schooler right away, and it was an issue that did give us some concern. Although we still would have bought in Arlington. Our bigger issue with the house we almost bought in Arlington was that it wasn't walkable to anything.)

Ottoson Middle School in Arlington ranks 9 out of 10 on "Great schools". There are no academic issues at the middle school. This issue, as has been highlighted here several times, is one of overcrowding. That is being addressed by the reopening of a shuttered middle school in the eastern part of the town.

Ottoson was/is one of the most overcrowded middle schools in the state. Simple as that...there are no hidden problems that make Ottoson somehow unique & troublesome. I'm not saying that overcrowding is not an important issue, it is. In any case I would recommend people do research on the schools you are going to send your children to & not just hang your hat on anything you read on the internet...including all of us out here though we all mean well

Without getting too far into the weeds here....the demography team that Arlington hired to chart student populations was wrong on the numbers & Arlington is & has been filling up with families with children at a lot faster rate than they budgeted for. That's the sign of a thriving town BTW. The town should be commended for not only reopening a new middle school, but building two new school additions on their grade schools that are not even ten years old instead of throwing up some modular units in the playgrounds that many towns often do to save money.

[mwt137]

Originally Posted by Junetracks29

Another question, other than craigslist (for rentals), trulia and Zillow, is there another Boston-area specific housing/realty website?

I've found redfin.com to be extremely helpful- I would check that website out. And given your budget, you can't go wrong with any of the towns you listed- Brookline and Newton would probably be the best for your commute, but there are also nearby towns like Wellesley and Needham that should fit your criteria as well.

[chicagoliz]

Originally Posted by Brave Stranger

Ottoson Middle School in Arlington ranks 9 out of 10 on "Great schools". There are no academic issues at the middle school. This issue, as has been highlighted here several times, is one of overcrowding. That is being addressed by the reopening of a shuttered middle school in the eastern part of the town.

Ottoson was/is one of the most overcrowded middle schools in the state. Simple as that...there are no hidden problems that make Ottoson somehow unique & troublesome. I'm not saying that overcrowding is not an important issue, it is. In any case I would recommend people do research on the schools you are going to send your children to & not just hang your hat on anything you read on the internet...including all of us out here though we all mean well

Without getting too far into the weeds here....the demography team that Arlington hired to chart student populations was wrong on the numbers & Arlington is & has been filling up with families with children at a lot faster rate than they budgeted for. That's the sign of a thriving town BTW. The town should be commended for not only reopening a new middle school, but building two new school additions on their grade schools that are not even ten years old instead of throwing up some modular units in the playgrounds that many towns often do to save money.

I'm totally willing to accept that the issue with the middle schools is overcrowding. I was still willing to buy in Arlington. OP's children are many years away from middle school age, so I'd say the overcrowding issue in the middle school is likely to be resolved by the time they need it. For me, though, I had/have a middle schooler, so the problem was more acute. That is, regardless of the cause, there is still currently some discontent with the middle school. And because my child is currently in middle school, it would not be resolved before it directly affected us. If we had only had my first grader, I wouldn't have been as worried.

Mostly I wanted to address the point that the middle school issue could be due to inherent characteristics of middle school students. If the problems were due to the fact that middle schoolers are full of angst and overall pains in the ass, there would be virtually universal criticism of middle schools everywhere. But since we did not encounter that in our town search, and in fact found many people who were happy with their middle school, I don't accept that that is the explanation.

[semiurbanite]

Originally Posted by robr2

To be perfectly honest, I've never spoken with anyone - no matter the city or town - that is happy with their middle school. It's the nature of the beast as it is one of the most difficult periods in the lives of the kids. In 3 short years they go from children to young adults and the expectations of the parents and the school are often quite divergent. All the kids are at their most awkward and middle schoolers are cruel. Teachers have to deal with these changes while getting them ready for the rigors of high school and parents are often unprepared for those years.

This is why K-8 schools are really nice.

[porterhouse]

Originally Posted by timberline742

I've never met anyone over the last decade that hard issues with the Arlington school quality. It's progressed so far from the 80s. Yeah, some crowding issues, but as someone else said, its being addressed.

I have friends who work in education that left Arlington due to concern over the schools. They are otherwise reasonable people. I also know people who are very happy there. It's tough to tell without living there firsthand.