Cambridge/Boston Public Schools (Brockton, Lynn: house, rent, income)

[ice_cream_eyes]

Hi!

I am trying to relocate within the Boston area, and torn about where to go.

I am a young single mom of two school age kids. I am very liberal, down to earth, and feel most at home in an urban setting. So I think I would fit in well in a community like Cambridge or JP. However, I have concerns about the public schools in these districts. Does anyone have any experience to share? I have heard there are "lotteries," etc. to get into the better schools, and I don't know how much time or energy I have to get into all of that.

Another place I am considering is Arlington because it is very close to Cambridge, but seems to have better schools.

I value diversity though, and Arlington seems a bit lacking in that department.

Thoughts???

[findingmesomeday]

Diversity is not something you're going to find in a lot of Boston suburbs. However, Arlington is probably way more diverse than so many others. I don't think the schools are rated that highly but they are a large sight better than Boston or Cambridge public schools. I don't know anything about magnet or charter schools though.

[septimus]

Cambridge schools are a lot better than they are given credit for on this board.

Cambridge has a fairly complicated system where you pick your top 3 choices of elementary schools and then are assigned based on a lottery and SES. We were assigned to one of the "bad" schools as a mandatory assignment in kindergarten and it was actually pretty good (except that there were 2 girls in the class and rest boys). We moved to our local neighborhood school for first grade and were very happy. Good quality instruction, lots of diversity (economic and social) and dedicated teachers and parents.

You can send your kids to school in Newton, Weston, etc. but study after study shows what really matters is how involved you are as a parent.

[goyguy]

A lot of the "diversity" in the suburban communities is supplied by the children of Asian/Asian-American professionals. Even the Jewish population of Greater Boston is concentrated in no more than about 15 towns (in any significant numbers.) I grew up in one of America's more segregated areas, Greater Cincinnati, and being raised there was like being part of a Rainbow Tribe compared to how so much of the Boston region is.

For some forty years, there has been in existence an organization known best by its abbreviated name of Metco. Its purpose is to "integrate" schools outside the city with AA and some Hispanic children by way of voluntary busing. The kids endure daily commutes of sometimes over two hours, and are placed with partner families in the host towns for when staying overnight would be in order. Has it succeeded? There've undoubtedly been countless success stories, but sadly I have to say no. As is true with many aspects of life, connections count. Since the program is based on race and not income, a good many of the participants are from middle- and upper-middle-class families who've chosen to reside in "minority" city neighborhoods. (When a family I'm friends with lived in Mattapan, the walls of a railroad underpass near their house bore more graffiti "repping" Lexington than any other place! And it wasn't their kids' fault, because they were attending the Lincoln-Sudbury schools.) Walk into any Metco middle or high school lunchroom and you'll spot the "Black table" right away. The point of associating with one's own for understanding and solidarity is well taken. But how much does Metco benefit all concerned if all it does primarily on the social front is to broker introductions of Hispanic and Black youths to a different group of themselves than they'd have met had they gone to school closer to home? If the we-shall-overcome vision of its founders in the '60s was to assimilate "Negroes" into the larger society and the larger society into theirs, I have to give it a "sympathy C" grade.

Back from my tangent (LOL), point being that students in many non-urban places 'round these parts do encounter "diversity" during their school days: the daughters and sons of middle-class or well-to-do Near and Far Eastern parents, and the Metco kids if the school takes part. Were I to be bringing up a child today, I'd want him or her educated in the Cambridge, Lynn, Milton, Waltham, Randolph, or Malden districts. Those areas are anomalies in that there's a rich variety in their demographics with no part played by social engineers. Newton, Sharon, or Brookline would be solid choices as well, particularly because of their excellent schools, but those towns' class structures are heavily skewed towards affluence. Framingham and Brockton have a multicultural citizenry, but also serious crime problems in some sections although others are quite nice. (There are those who'd also place Lynn in that category.)

Arlington has come a long way over the past decade or so. It was a "sundown town" for a long time and maintains that reputation among many. (One friend who's AA out-and-out refuses to even drive through there unless accompanied by someone White, after having been pulled over and questioned multiple times for DWB.) But today you can see a "mixed" group of kids among those hanging out in the town center. It's long been in Metco, but now it appears that there may be an in-residence Black population making up a percentage into the single digits. There's no synagogue there to my knowledge, but Arlington's Jewish community has also grown. "Ethnic" restaurants and grocery stores abound. Much of this can be attributed to the "pricing out" of many progressive-minded folks from Cambridge, which adjoins it. Also, the legions who bailed out of Cambridge for unprogressive reasons are either dying off or tempering their attitudes. So I wouldn't rule it out entirely.

[ice_cream_eyes]

Thanks for the responses - I really appreciate it. I defintiely think I would fit in better in Cambridge than Arlington. (And I did research the diversity and all of that - Arlington Public Schools is over 90% white - not really what I would like for my kids.)

I just don't like that whole lottery thing with the Cambridge Schools- it seems so difficult. I don't really want them to have to go to a new school next year, and then switch AGAIN the year after! I kind of just want to move somewhere where they can go to a neighborhood school, make friends etc., and stay in that same system.

[septimus]

ice cream-
how old are your kids? it is usually easier to get into the "desirable" elementary schools in Cambridge after kindergarten and a school is what you as a parent make of it. If you are active in your child's education they will flourish anywhere whether it is the "worst" school in Cambridge or the best school in Newton.

Also you may find that one kid does well in one school and another kid in a different learning environment which is one of the great thing about all the different options in Cambridge. I know families that have their kids all in different schools because one did best with core learning at Morse, the other did well with mixed ages at Graham and Parks and the other was at the advanced program for middle schoolers at Longfellow.

And they will make friends don't worry. On our street in Cambridge all the kids went different public schools and they all played together after school.

[ice_cream_eyes]

Thanks for all of the helpful info. My kids are 9 and 7- they will be in 4th and 2nd grade next year. Do you have children in the Cambridge Schools?

[septimus]

ice cream-
we were at the Morse and happy, before we relocated. I miss living in Cambridge.