[marco_1805]

My wife and I have 3 small kids, 5yrs, 4yrs, and 15mth. We plan on moving to Holland in the near future and we were wondering what were the preferred schools to send kids to in the area. We have heard good things about West Ottawa but there are multiple middle schools and elementary schools.

Any help or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance,
Mark

[mackinac81]

All of the schools in the area are excellent, as far as I know. Michigan's teacher of the year came from Hudsonville, not far from Holland. I honestly don't know much about Holland itself. I think they're a good district, judging by the town. Can someone else chime in on this?

[Manox]

West Ottawa Public Schools are good. I was a Literacy Intervention Assistant at Great Lakes Ele. Staff and teachers are highly qualified and very caring toward all students. I think you will be happy with any West Ottawa school.

[allbusiness]

They're all different, but good.

West Ottawa is beginning to see many of the same financial and cultural pressures that Holland Public Schools have experienced over the past years. Both are great districts with outstanding staffs and curriculums, and well-integrated with students of all races and faiths. Both have challenges with a few bad apples (gangs, etc.) Both offer outstanding sports programs, although WO's much-better financial status has helped prevent cuts to some programs.

The charters seem fairly well run, too. The parochial schools (Holland Christian and the Catholic schools) also have great reputations.

In the surrounding area, Hamilton and Zeeland also are very good districts. They are much more rural in nature.

My kids graduated from Holland High School within the past few years. One went to a great private college and said her preparation at Holland High School was MUCH better than that of her fellow students who attended parochial schools or were home schooled when it came to knowing how to study, how to write, think and communicate and just being prepared for college. My younger child is in college now and seems very well prepared by Holand Public Schools!

[Mike Dunn]

Here is a website that is useful in checking out schools.

GreatSchools.net

[15 years W. Mich]

The Holland area has great school districts. If you break down the student performance data (standardized tests, AP scores, etc) you will find that students of like backgrounds perform remarkably similar. This holds true whether you compare public or private, traditional or charter. I would suggest you go to the districts and talk to staff and parents. Each district in the area has individual strengths that go beyond the classroom. My kids go to Holland Public Schools and they are getting a great education. We really like the strong AP program that has AP certified instructors and the extended learning opportunities with Hope College. The real world diversity was also a selling point for us.

[marco_1805]

Hey thank you for all the replies, Holland really sounds like a great place from what we are reading and what others have been telling me.

One thing that did concern me is that I have heard many say that Holland is "built out" meaning they don't have much land available to grow. Some people have recommended the Zealand area as an alternative.

Is Zealand also a nice place to live?

Do people have to travel to Holland for their everyday needs if they live in Zealand?

And of course, how are the Zealand schools, private and public???

Thanks again for the great feedback!

Mark

[allbusiness]

Zeeland (note spelling) is a very small town of about 4,000 people. Nice insudtrial base and a quaint downtown. Yes you have to go to Holland or River town crossings mall near GR for big box opportunities, franchise restaurants, but frankly, many people like to frequent the small town hardare store, lumber yard and local restaurants. As for living there, the schools are great with lots of rural area within the district for future growth.

Yes, the Holland public school district is reather built-out, meaning there won't be a large increase in the student population as in the rural districts.

[Randall Bos]

So far no one has mentioned Charter Schools. One of the best in Holland is Black River Public School. It has programs k-12. BR offers many AP courses as well as Montessori program in K-6. Class sizes average 20 or less. MEAP scores good! All grades are on the same site (several buildings).

[The Flyer]

Zeeland Public Schools are great oh and correction to all business Zeeland the town has about5,500 people anyways Zeeland has seem a lot of Growth as a rural district as for West Ottawa well its still the biggest disrict around its seen a student loss of about 500and over half that in the last two years(2010-2012) but it is starting to grow and come back so might gain back those they lost or never had but its a great school district if you'd like something a bit more stable try Zeeland its doing really good and has seen lots of growth and they are both comparable they are both average suburban- like districts the only difference is size oh and be warned if u plan on Zeeland just be aware if u are a visible minority student school of choice or in-district u might get some very interesting looks but other than that you shouldn't have any other problems oh and don't worry you shouldn't get bullied minority or not there isn't too much of it or at least not in the elem and middle schools all the buildings are very nice....