Woodbury(Stonemill farms) vs Upscale Plymouth (Minneapolis, Rochester: real estate, houses, transfer to)

[JJTT]

We love Plymouth and the Wayzata school district and the playgrounds, running, biking and nordic ski trails this area has to offer. Same with Eden Praire.

How does Woodbury compare?

It seems the Woodbury area is growing with newer housing etc... Definitely lower real estate cost than Plymouth and Eden Praire. We are an active family with 3 athletic daughters.

Thank you for any thoughts and opinions

[Citykid3785]

I much prefer Woodbury to Plymouth....Plymouth is nice but the northern suburbs just have a slightly more towny feel to them. You will also have to fight with all the Friday/Sunday traffic in the summer from everybody going up north. Once again, a nice place, I just prefer Woodbury.

Woodbury has great retail (2 targets, a new whole foods, trader Joe's, punch pizza, etc.). I would imagine if you are commuting to Minneapolis that it's a pain to go through st Paul first? Also, which high school does stonemill go to? East ridge is much nicer than woodbury, so be sure to check on that. I have a friend in stonemill and it seems like a great area.

Lastly consider the size of wayzata high school (3,000+ students). It can make playing sports for your daughters much more competitive, and I mean that in a negative way.

I don't think there is a wrong answer here, but hopefully I gave you a few things to think about

[JJTT]

Thank you for your kind response. That was helpful. I need to visit Woodbury sometime. My wife and I are medical professionals and can find jobs most places, so we are just looking for a place to land.

[BryaninMSP]

Stonemill Farms is nice, but if you're looking in Woodbury, it's also worth considering the Evergreen community. Houses in general are about a decade older, but the lots are more established and I really like the feel of the development.

Woodbury schools are decent, even if they don't get the love on ranking sites like Wayzata schools. The elementary, middle and high schools serving Stonemill Farms, for example, are all 10/10 or 9/10 on GreatSchools (the downside of Evergreen is the elementary school is not as highly rated).

[WoodburyWoody]

Originally Posted by BryaninMSP

Stonemill Farms is nice, but if you're looking in Woodbury, it's also worth considering the Evergreen community. Houses in general are about a decade older, but the lots are more established and I really like the feel of the development.

Woodbury schools are decent, even if they don't get the love on ranking sites like Wayzata schools. The elementary, middle and high schools serving Stonemill Farms, for example, are all 10/10 or 9/10 on GreatSchools (the downside of Evergreen is the elementary school is not as highly rated).

Stonemill students go to Liberty Ridge Elementary, which was built maybe 12 years ago. It is a big elementary school, just over 1,000 students now in k-5. The kindergarten classes are now across the street from the original school as the school district bought that building within the past five years for this purpose, with its own gym and lunch set up. The kindergartners are literally bused across the street if they are at the school before start of day (in the Kids' Club) and again after (again, if in Kids' Club) and if they are using buses to get to and from the school but not enrolled in Kids' Club.

The classes are set up in "pods" with each class having multiple classrooms and a shared common area, kind of a mini-wing for each grade level. The teachers each grade level work together and divide for certain subjects (math, reading, for example) so that students are grouped by ability within those areas and teachers meet them where they are (as a group) and better focus on their progress and students may move to another group within a year as they progress. Other topics are taught by "their" teacher in their room, so the 1st - 5th students tend to spend about half the day with "their" teacher in their room and might move to another teacher at grade level for math or reading (I know there are others, just can't recall).

A really nice building, well-equipped and very-well maintained. Students seem to do well. I was always amazed at how well things went day-to-day when they were dealing with 1,000 students. It was a marvel, actually. From our experience, the kids get attention and feel like part of the community there.

For the time being, LRE kids feed into Lake Middle and then into East Ridge. Until a few months ago, that was an unanswered question as the district was looking at three plans and one included splitting Stonemill students up for middle school, sending half to Lake and half to Cottage Grove (and likely a different high school after that).

If you move into Woodbury, don't count on school boundaries. SD 833 is expanding, and quite frankly, very political. And very emotional. Many people buy IN Woodbury because of the schools. But Woodbury is part of South Washington SD 833 and that means there are always boundary discussions and proposals. The recent plans to bus students from a part of Stonemill Farms to a middle school in Cottage Grove got heated. So know that within 833, the boundaries are always fluid and I suspect will remain so for another decade at least (for all of 833, not just the southern part of Woodbury/northern part of Cottage Grove where development continues).

[JJTT]

Very informative
Thank you

[Andra1979]

I have lived in Woodbury for almost 10 years with my family. I’m originally from Westport, Connecticut but my husband is a Minnesota boy and wanted to move back and open his law office in Minnesota. I feel so at home here. And I know no matter what school district we are in in Woodbury, I know they’re going to get an amazing education and have many great sports programs. Absolutely love it!

[Minntoaz]

We prefer the NW suburbs as there are more trees and it doesn't seem so disconnected from major highways and things to do.

[Hockeygirl063]

Thank you for the great information. looking towards Rochester but possibly the Twin Cities. We drove around a bit went through Eden Prairie and it was nice.

Seems like most schools rate pretty well in the suburbs. We currently live in a rather huge district and just rebuilt a couple elementary schools plus a brand new high school. What about option or magnet schools? Currently our daughter is in the health and science school. It's grades 6-12. But the total 6th grade is about 100 students. We use a lottery system to determine admittance. She wants to transfer to Arts and Communication so we filled out the application and they draw on Jan 5th. I am hoping maybe it won't matter as we may be able to move.

[WoodburyWoody]

FWIW, in SD 833 (which includes Woodbury), all three of the ballot referendums passed yesterday.

Specifics here:
Unofficial results: District 833 referendum Questions 1, 2 and 3 approved | South Washington County Schools