Which of the higher rated school districts has the least amount of "rich kid syndrome"? (Minneapolis: home, to buy)

[nicagrace]

Hello everyone! Currently living in California, but have some family and friends in Minneapolis, so my family and I are looking at making the move out to MN. We have two toddlers and one of our priorities is good schools. My husband works from home and I'm a SAHM/will be working from home, so location doesn't matter too much, except we would like to be within an hour of MSP for visits.

Wayzata and Minnetonka school are definitely appealing, but the more I read up on them, the more worried I get about "rich kid syndrome" and my boys not fitting in because they don't have the latest, fancy material possessions. Does anyone have positive experiences with these school districts as a more middle-upper middle class family? How about the vibe in Eden Prairie, Chanhassen, St Michael, Lakeview, Mounds View, Hopkins, Northfield, Rosemount, Waconia, Stillwater?

We are drawn more to the smaller suburbs, so I was looking at parts of Minnetonka, Hopkins, Chanhassen, Rosemount, Stillwater, Northfield, Shoreview, etc. I heard that St Michael schools had some issues of bullying, which is also less appealing.

If anybody has insight into any of these school districts, would love to hear more!

[wamer27]

Shoreview and North Oaks are in the Mounds View school district. North Oaks is a private wooded city with decent sized lots, but you might fall in the same kids need newest things. My lawn service takes care of three properties within it and none of the elderly clients of mine fall under that. Actually the eastern part of North Oaks is White Bear for sports and probably schooling, I see a friend from high school lives there and her kids play in white bear sports.

[Lodestar]

Just a suggestion. Why not use your skills and your time to teach your children how you cope with what you call "rich (people) syndrome"?

This is something that has always existed as long as there have been humans and trying to avoid it isn't the best way to prepare your children for a life in the working world where they will have to learn how to deal with it.

It can seem worse among teenagers who naturally find cliques. I get it and my own kids struggled with this when they were growing up. We tried to establish good values and also add those couple of "necessary" items that helped boost their "status." Find a balance that we could afford.

After a couple of years in high school they realized it wasn't about the expense of the items. It was a persistent and endless class war that they probably would never win and wasn't even worth their energy.

As adults they've found solutions for that urge to buy things to try to improve their status with unimpressible people. But I think they had to go through it to learn the lesson. They called on other skills to bring usefulness and status to themselves in society which is ultimately the solution.

Who's better able to arm them for the unpleasant parts of the world than a mother who has time for them?

[Camden Northsider]

Originally Posted by Lodestar

Just a suggestion. Why not use your skills and your time to teach your children how you cope with what you call "rich (people) syndrome"?

This is something that has always existed as long as there have been humans and trying to avoid it isn't the best way to prepare your children for a life in the working world where they will have to learn how to deal with it.

It can seem worse among teenagers who naturally find cliques. I get it and my own kids struggled with this when they were growing up. We tried to establish good values and also add those couple of "necessary" items that helped boost their "status." Find a balance that we could afford.

After a couple of years in high school they realized it wasn't about the expense of the items. It was a persistent and endless class war that they probably would never win and wasn't even worth their energy.

As adults they've found solutions for that urge to buy things to try to improve their status with unimpressible people. But I think they had to go through it to learn the lesson. They called on other skills to bring usefulness and status to themselves in society which is ultimately the solution.

Who's better able to arm them for the unpleasant parts of the world than a mother who has time for them?

I genuinely appreciate your commentary here, but as a counterpoint - the OP is considering districts that include areas considered to be among the most wealthy in the nation. I think a small clique of rich kids in an otherwise well-rounded (socioeconomically speaking) area is a very different proposition than a district where the majority of kids are coming from wealthy families.

And, FWIW, in my home state my parents were teachers that had the foresight to pull us out of schools with upwardly-mobile middle/upper middle class students (that were all super clique-y/ brand-obsessed) and have us attend schools where they taught in the poorer areas of town. We were infinitely more happy in the poorer schools, despite the mild embarassment of all the kids knowing our parents.

Because of the above, and my partner's growing up in rural schools - for our kids personally, we made the choice that they would either attend urban core schools (which they do) or, in the event we ever moved outside of the city, it would be to a more rural area/ school district. We find kids in each of these settings to just be more well-rounded with better perspectives on life during those critical adolescent years. Yes we wanted to avoid the clique-ishness of affluent suburban school districts, but we also feel that the lack of diversity (whether socioeconomic or racial) fails to prepare kids for the realities of the real world. Even in the wealthier schools in Minneapolis (i.e. Southwest), when I see pictures of friends' kids who attend those schools, I see kids with eating disorders striking poses like they're models and it's heart-breaking.

Didn't mean to go so off-tangent to the OPs original post, other than to say I think their concerns are VERY valid and hopefully they will get some more feedback from folks with experience in these school districts. If I were going solely based off of generalizations, I would say to target districts that are more independent/ rural like Northfield or Stillwater, or are more diverse, like Hopkins-- and steer clear of places like Wayzata, Eden Prairie, Minnetonka etc. But having no real experience with the more affluent areas, that might not be fair to them either.

[Lodestar]

I understand what you are saying, Camden Northsider.

[Teak]

I have nieces who went through the Mounds View school system, and now have grand daughters doing the same. Neither family would be described as rich. Mounds View has two high schools (Mounds View and Irondale) and each is known for excellence in certain activities. For example, Irondale has an excellent band program which has won numerous awards.

The northern tier of suburbs has a good mix of housing; not everyone lives in a mansion. Fridley, Spring Lake Park, New Brighton, Lino Lakes, Shoreview, Vadnais Heights, and Hugo are all worth looking at. Even the southern end of Blaine is close by, and boy is Blaine growing. There is a highway (125th Ave NE) that cuts across the northern edge, from Anoka and Coon Rapids on the west end, to Lino Lakes on the east side, and there is new housing going up everywhere. I would think that all of those cities (Anoka, Coon Rapids, Blaine) would also have good school systems.

From any part of the cities that I have mentioned, you are within 30 to 40 minutes of the rotting urban core if that is what you want to see occasionally.

[paiste13]

Last week you wanted to move to a small town and now you've listed some of the biggest school districts in the state. What are you aiming for here, exactly.

[TimtheGuy]

Rosemount, MN

[wamer27]

Originally Posted by TimtheGuy

Rosemount, MN

Haven’t heard that school district in a few years

[Citykid3785]

Originally Posted by wamer27

Haven’t heard that school district in a few years

lolz! Where the beer flows like wine.......