opinion on South Hadley schools (Springfield, Holyoke: middle-class, real estate, low crime)

[DakotaJo]

My husband and I are looking at real estate in W. Mass - I know most of South Hadley is somewhat urban, bordering on Holyoke which is not a great area - any opinion on the schools in South Hadley? We have been sticking to properties near the college/village area...any thoughts/knowledge would be helpful. Thanks!

[dscans]

I went to South Hadley schools, thought they were fine. There was a bit of a drug problem shortly after I graduated but it seems to have cleaned up. I have a sister in high school now and she seems to enjoy it as much as a teenager can.
Not sure what part of South Hadley you think is urban. Holyoke is a city with its problems, but there is a half-mile wide buffer zone called the Connecticut River between Holyoke and South Hadley. South Hadley is a small town with low congestion and low crime, unless you're looking for some more action in your life, I think you will be happy.
BTW, Mount Holyoke College is beautiful, my mother works there. I grew up thinking that that was what all college campuses were supposed to look like, not knowing that it places in the top 20 most beautiful campuses every year.

[missionhill]

School proponents have a hard time getting Prop 2-1/2 overrides approved, probably no different than most towns. Not sure whether tax limit overrides are always necessary, but they serve as an indicator for the caliber of the school system. South Hadley is split between the Center and the Falls, the latter historically being a factory area where expectations of education were not so high. If SH were center only, it would probably have a more high-octane public education system but with a big working class/lower middle-class population in the town, not much support for extra expenditures. That coupled with two-three decades of hard times, declining job opportunities, and economic pain for people without college educations in the Springfield-Holyoke area--people don't have the money to tax themselves any more. I remember some higher-octane type giving up, after serving on the school committee, and moving his family to Amherst. Towns more uniformly professional class will have better schools. In the area, Longmeadow and Amherst have always been best. During the whole postwar era, up to about 1982, the school committees in Mass would just present their budgets to the selectmen and that was it. Boy, has that ever changed! I don't know how good the SH schools are now; I just know the historical pattern. But one built-in advantage for daughters is enhanced access to Mt Holyoke College. Used to be full scholarships for qualifying women from SH. No more, I think, but still some advantage.