Chelmsford? (Lowell, Cambridge, Lawrence: public schools, subdivisions, live)

[Morgan119]

Does anybody know how the schools are in Chelmsford? Any feedback on how the town is?

[goyguy]

There was a thread on this not too long ago. I remember adding one of my rambles to it. But, no matter; Chelmsford is mostly a patchwork of self-contained two-to-sixty-year-old subdivisions clustered along the main roads through town. The population is overwhelmingly White (French Canadian, Italian, and Irish ancestry) and Christian. But four of the people I know who live there and don't fit the norm (one couple that is Jewish, the other interracial - Black/White) are fully and genuinely accepted there. Much if not most of the community's growth was fueled by "refugees" from Cambridge and Lawrence and next-door Lowell, many of them fleeing the L-named cities' influx of Asians and Hispanics. But, at least based on my "research sample" of two households dwelling in separate sections of town, it seems that folks are willing to welcome people as they are. It's the American mantra of "I don't care what they look like, what their religion is, and so on, as long as they're good people" proven true. Chelmsford is where you'll find the US suburban lifestyle of the 1950's and '60s still in favor: neighbors know and look out for each other, kids play together on quiet and safe streets without setting up "dates" ahead of time, block parties go on all the time in favorable weather, all that good stuff.

The public schools in Chelmsford are so-so in academic quality and are in the shadow of the well-regarded (and more wealthy) Acton-Boxborough district to the south and the Bedford and Lexington systems to the east. It's a "get out what you put in" academic scenario. The athletics department turns out strong teams with healthy community support, and kids' sports programs are generously supported and subscribed.

So if you don't want to raise a "city kid," and don't assume that the kid's being groomed for the Ivy League at school, you could do a lot worse than settling in "Chimmsfud."