Longmeadow vs. Wilbraham (Springfield: houses, neighborhood, best schools)

[mbtrom]

Does anyone who lives in the area have an opinion on the best place to raise children? Are the school districts comparable or is one that much better then the other? Thanks for any help.

[cartgy]

Longmeadow schools are considered the best in the area by most people, but its also very expensive and not all the people are friendly. Wilbraham shares a high scool with hampden, I don't know about the lower grades though.

Raising children is probably the same in both towns.

[hokegoalie]

I agree with everything that has been posted. My family is from Wilbraham originally(I went to Cathedral...) but Longmeadow in my opinion is better than Minnechaug. Minnechaug isn't a bad school by most standards but Longmeadow just takes the cake. Longmeadow elementaries are better as well.

[mbtrom]

Is Longmeadow predominantly Jewish? Would we feel out-of-place if we weren't?

[cartgy]

Yes there are alot of jewish families there. The schools get jewish holidays off. But I don't think that it's the majority and you would not feel out of place.

[KH02]

I would choose Longmeadow, hands down.
Though it is ALOT of jewish families their are some other religous families their as well.

[mbtrom]

Why would it be "hands down"? I have talked to guidance counselors at Minnechaug High School (Wilbraham) and they raved about their school and talked about students who have gone on to Ivies. Any more specific information would be greatly appreciated.

[KH02]

I grew up on the border of East Long meadow and Longmeadow and much prefer Longmeadow to Wilbraham, the town has such a nice community feel and all the houses are upkept well etc.

Of course the Guidance counselor at THAT school will rave. I would ask around to more parents, then i would faculty at the school.

[south-bound]

Both Wilbraham and Longmeadow have excellent schools. However, Longmeadow is a more expensive town to live in than Wilbraham, and is more exclusive. Given that most of Longmeadow is higher income than Wilbraham, you will probably get better schools in Longmeadow. It's like this: Longmeadow is a wealthy suburban town, Wilbraham is a wealthy country town.

[mommytotwo]

I looked at Wilbraham before moving back to WMa, though I did not look at Longmeadow, because it was a little farther commute for DH who was still commuting (and probably would have been much more expensive anyway).

Wilbraham appeared to have excellent schools (though Longmeadow schools are better)

I would expect Longmeadow to have the best schools, though, considering it is the town with the highest income average in the area, I am guessing a more educated population, and so more successful children really would be expected. I don't know if the fact that the children are more successful is because of the schools/teachers or more involved/expenctant parents.

I think children would do just as well in either school district as long as their parents were involved in their education.

I like the wealthy suburban/wealthy country town comment^. Right on.

What shocked me recently about Longmeadow is that I can get from an absolutely horrendous neighborhood in Springfield where one of my aunt lives to my accountant in Longmeadow in about 9 minutes flat, and 4 of those minutes I am still in Springfield! I was like, holy smokes a thief can actually just ride his bike over here..... My DS did like our accountants house and his neighborhood is nice, but I just have to say that to pay that much for a home with that kind of proximity to a terrible neighborhood, I don't know, just makes me think of the "location, location, location" concept.

Of course the other end of Longmeadow would be farther away I suppose.

I don't live in Wilbraham either (had no other relatives there), I ended up moving farther out to a smaller town and got a little more land for my money in a town where I already had some family, but my DD does go to pre-k in Wilbraham.