St. Anthony Park- good schools and neighborhood? (Minneapolis, St. Paul: apartments, neighborhoods)

[peter02]

We are moving to Minnesota for jobs at the U of M. We have 2 small children. We will be working on the St. Paul Campus and are intrigued by the St. Anthony Park neighborhood. From what I can find online St. Anthony Park Elementary seems like a good school but the middle school (Murray) and High School (Como) seem a bit iffy. Anyone have an opinion on this neighborhood and schools? Is it a good place to raise a family? Or would living in Roseville be better?

[golfgal]

I think you will find that in the St. Paul and Minneapolis school districts that you can find a lot of pretty good elementary schools but after that people tend to either move out to the better suburban school or send their kids to private schools. Como is not a good school. The St. Anthony area is a quaint area but if you are concerned about schools, there are better options. If you want to be in that general area, Mahtomedi or the Mounds View area would be the place to look. Roseville is ok but going downhill fast. Mahtomedi and Mounds View schools are far better then St. Anthony and Roseville.

[peter02]

Thanks for the information. I actually lived in Roseville as a child, but haven't been back in 20+ years. I'm curious, you said Roseville is going down hill fast- why?

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by peter02

Thanks for the information. I actually lived in Roseville as a child, but haven't been back in 20+ years. I'm curious, you said Roseville is going down hill fast- why?

Lack of support from the community for the schools and other improvement projects around town, turnover in housing stock that isn't for the better and various other reasons. I was talking to a former gov't official from Roseville who said that if things don't change there fast the town has about 5 years left with their good image.

[Minnehahapolitan]

Don't overlook Saint Anthony Village (Suburban NE Mpls, not Saint Paul). I know people who have been very satisfied with the schools there and it is a convenient area geographically.

[peter02]

Thanks for the information so far. I will definately look into those areas. If anyone else has opinions about citys/neighborhoods with a quick commute to the St. Paul Campus- I'd love to hear from you.

[Globe199]

Originally Posted by golfgal

Lack of support from the community for the schools and other improvement projects around town, turnover in housing stock that isn't for the better and various other reasons. I was talking to a former gov't official from Roseville who said that if things don't change there fast the town has about 5 years left with their good image.

I'm calling BS on this. Please name the government official and what office s/he held. Please demonstrate the "lack of support" for schools.

[peter02]

I spoke to an aunt who lives in Roseville (kids grown). She said that the community has passed every referendum to support the schools; however there is an increase of lower income families moving into apartments etc. and the district is beginning to struggle to meet this population’s needs (percentage of subsidized lunches is up in schools, etc.). In the big picture of schools/ commute I'm not sure how this would really affect our decision. I looked at the school test scores and Roseville does really well.

[3three3]

St. Anthony Park (not to be confused with St. Anthony Village) is a nice, quiet little neighborhood. But, it certainly lacks in good schools. There are, however, very good private schools nearby. And, you could always look into sending your kids to nearby area schools (Southeast Minneapolis, etc).

I would NOT suggest you consider far out suburbs for easy access to the St. Paul campus. Roseville would be the closest possibility (or Falcon Heights...which is pretty much the same as Roseville).

Take a look at the Prospect Park neighborhood of Southeast Minneapolis. It is a fantastic hidden gem of a neighborhood and your kids will have access to multiple good schools at all levels. The drive to St. Paul Campus from Prospect Park would be around 10-15 minutes, perhaps even speedier in good weather. A little bit farther from that would be the Seward area of Minneapolis...though, you would want to stay in the areas closer to the river/campus. I'm not sure what your price range is, but if it is at all substantial, there are plenty of areas on the St. Paul side of the river..heading towards Highland, that would have very easy access to the U's St. Paul campus (via river road and then heading into the Como area, cutting through St. Anthony Park and then to campus...all residential roads, no freeway).

If you are open to public transportation, you can feel free to open your potential areas much wider within Minneapolis. There is an excellent system of UofMN express buses throughout pockets of Minneapolis and would take you straight to St. Paul campus (saving you any trouble with parking, etc). There are non-campus buses that also go to the St. Paul campus, or buses that take you to the east bank campus which then allows you to hop on a campus connector to St. Paul.

[Sarah Maske]

Nonsense. People don't pay top dollar to live in a high demand area where there are crumby schools. SAP, depending on where you are in the neighborhood, caters to Roseville and Saint Paul schools.