Newton, NH (Merrimack, Hampton, Exeter: houses, buy, elementary school)

[DMickey28]

What's the deal with Newton NH? Looks like they filter into the Haverhill, Merrimac and Amesbury MA schools?

We are looking at everything right now for a move this summer. We live Amesbury MA and Merrimac. Thought prices looked great in Newton but not if we are going to be feeding into the Haverhill schools. Might as well buy in Haverhill right?

[Yankeehombre]

Newton Memmorial provides elementary school education. Sanborn in Kingston provides the
High School to both Newton + Fremont + Kingston[ brand new! ] They are pretty good schools, far superior to what Haverhill has to offer.

[Valerie C]

DMickey, South Hampton (very close to Newton) sends their HS kids to Amesbury. Haverhill High is for Haverhill only (unless somebody choses to utilize 'school choice'). I remember several years back, Lawrence was sending quite a few students to HHS. Now unfortunately HHS is probably not attracting students from ANY other towns... quite sad, actually.

Whittier Tech (official name is Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School) is located in Haverhill, on the Merrimac border, and is the trade school for several Merrimack Valley Massachusetts (NOT NH, as I incorrectly typed before, sheesh!!!) towns, including Haverhill, Merrimac, Amesbury, Newburyport, Salisbury, Groveland, Georgetown. That is from memory, and I may have missed a few towns. If I think of more, I'll repost or edit this post.....

edit: also include Rowley, Ipswich, Newbury & West Newbury

[dognh]

Not sure what the age of your children, but Newton is very close to a more highly rated school system SAU 16 (Exeter, Stratham, Newfields, East Kingston, Kensington, Brentwood)

East Kingston borders Newton & Brentwood isn't too far either - there seem to be a few deals in each town - and IMHO when the market returns they will have a higher value.

If you are looking for super rural - South Hampton also borders Newton and as stated tuitions its high school to Amesbury.

For commuting - Newton you'd go backroads off 108 to get to 495 - EK & South Hampton have quicker access to 95 and Brentwood also has easy access to 101

[DMickey28]

Valerie - How is Newton as a town in general? The houses seem super reasonable for such a reasonable distance to Woburn. I stubbled apon it while check out Amesbury.

[buck naked]

I'm not a realtor, but I like newton. It's a typical small town. It's made the news a couple of times because of mosquito problems. In the past, vernal pools tested positive for EEE infected insects so Newton is quick to respond with mosquito control programs. Newton is the epicenter for West Nile Virus in NH.


I wouldn't let that effect your choice though, because IMO they don't have any more of a problem than anywhere else, but they got a lot of publicity because a little girl died as the result of a mosquito bite.

[Valerie C]

DMickey, I know quite a few people who live in Newton, and the opinions are varied. However, just about everyone I know who lives there formerly lived in Massachusetts. I joke with them that they forgot to leave their bad habits in the cities that they lived in before... kids always in trouble, drug use, etc. (A common complaint is that there's nothing for the kids to do except get in trouble) Taxes seem high for what you get... last town meeting/budget vote, residents voted down just about ALL new spending... Since you have kids, you may want to consider one of the Exeter SAU 16 towns as DogNH suggests... some of them border Newton...

Here is a map that you might find helpful: