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Hi, we are a family with young children looking to move from Park Slope to East Brunswick and had a few questions...
1 - What is the best elementary school in EB and is there any way to find out what school you are zoned for by entering your address into a database?
2 - Are there a lot of young families in EB?
3 - What is the demographic make-up of the town? Cannot find out much online about this but I'm hearing it's very Jewish and Asian, is this correct?
4 - I see that there are lots of townhouse communities but many are for 55+ plus. Are there any that allow families that you would recommend? Pref. with a pool.
5- People tell me that this town does not have a town center, so do people hang out near Rutgers? Does that area have some sort of center like you find in college towns?
Hi, we are a family with young children looking to move from Park Slope to East Brunswick and had a few questions...
1 - What is the best elementary school in EB and is there any way to find out what school you are zoned for by entering your address into a database?
2 - Are there a lot of young families in EB?
3 - What is the demographic make-up of the town? Cannot find out much online about this but I'm hearing it's very Jewish and Asian, is this correct?
4 - I see that there are lots of townhouse communities but many are for 55+ plus. Are there any that allow families that you would recommend? Pref. with a pool.
5- People tell me that this town does not have a town center, so do people hang out near Rutgers? Does that area have some sort of center like you find in college towns?
Thanks very much.
-Ellie
1. all schools are good there. The one north of rt 18 is considered a bit less desirable, but I don't know why. Probably because houses there are older and cheaper. you can call the school district to confirm a specific address
2. yes
3. wikipedia and city-data have recent census numbers, just google
4. don't know, sorry
5. if you need to see people walking on the streets, yes, New Brunswick will satisfy this need.
If you are speaking of Lawrence Brook Elementary, that school has almost 20% free or reduced lunch so that would explain why its less desirable. Not exactly sure why the high number of kids getting free or reduced lunch but that is a fact.
Hi, we are a family with young children looking to move from Park Slope to East Brunswick and had a few questions...
1 - What is the best elementary school in EB and is there any way to find out what school you are zoned for by entering your address into a database?
2 - Are there a lot of young families in EB?
3 - What is the demographic make-up of the town? Cannot find out much online about this but I'm hearing it's very Jewish and Asian, is this correct?
4 - I see that there are lots of townhouse communities but many are for 55+ plus. Are there any that allow families that you would recommend? Pref. with a pool.
5- People tell me that this town does not have a town center, so do people hang out near Rutgers? Does that area have some sort of center like you find in college towns?
Thanks very much.
-Ellie
EB is a pretty busy & packed town. People move in, move out, new developments are constantly going up on postage stamp sized lots. Townhouses? I'm in EB all the time (my kids "besties" live in EB, and are Jewish), I don't see many newer townhouse developments that aren't either age restricted or income restricted.
In my opinion, the EB school system has been overrated for a long time. EB doesn't ever seem to have that "issue" that the surrounding townships do, so they get away with it. How EB gets away with it? I don't know for sure, but from what I have "learned" is that EB wants to keep the "crap" out, so the majority of the required low income housing that "has to be" ends up age restricted: no kids attending the schools.
Basically, the EB school system is no better or worse than any other. It just doesn't have the same amount of low income/subsidized housing that other towns do and the innate problems it brings TO the schools. And the problems it brings to standardized test scores, that bring forth the ratings. EB keeps as much of the "riff raff" out as it can, while surrounding towns have to deal with it so they end up with a very different set of test scores. Doesn't mean kids in EB are getting a better education than kids who come from good families in those other towns. EB just likes to pretend it does.
East Brunswick is what it is. Thoe who can afford to, they send their kids to private school.
There is no walkable down town (unless you like the EB mall), there is no town center.
Do EB'ers hang out in New Brunswick? No. No one hangs out in NB around RU unless it's Rutgers Day or you're a perpetual student who happens to have kids and live in NB. It's not a family friendly place. I say this as the wife/daughter/daughter-in-law/sister-in-law/niece/10x over friend of RU grads AND a LL to RU students. It just isn't. You can go see a show at the State Theater, or get a hot & wet Jimmy's gyro at the grease trucks, or walk around the campus during the day, but you don't hang out. There's nothing to hang out for.
The City of New Brunswick and it's ilk has crept in way too close to the RU campus over the last decade or so. You can't catch an RU bus without a bunch of preggo mami's lugging a stroller and 3 kids under 5 years old behind them...on your way to class. Gov't paid for school, gov't run bus...the welfare crew/drug addicts/hispanic gang members hop right on and ride right next to you (or your college aged kid who is campus hopping to get to class).
So no, RU is not a hang out center for young families. And especially not for those who have no clue about New Brunswick. You need to know where you are, it is THAT sketchy.
Last edited by Informed Info; 06-23-2013 at 12:42 AM..
EB is a pretty busy & packed town. People move in, move out, new developments are constantly going up on postage stamp sized lots. Townhouses? I'm in EB all the time (my kids "besties" live in EB, and are Jewish), I don't see many newer townhouse developments that aren't either age restricted or income restricted.
In my opinion, the EB school system has been overrated for a long time. EB doesn't ever seem to have that "issue" that the surrounding townships do, so they get away with it. How EB gets away with it? I don't know for sure, but from what I have "learned" is that EB wants to keep the "crap" out, so the majority of the required low income housing that "has to be" ends up age restricted: no kids attending the schools.
Basically, the EB school system is no better or worse than any other. It just doesn't have the same amount of low income/subsidized housing that other towns do and the innate problems it brings TO the schools. And the problems it brings to standardized test scores, that bring forth the ratings. EB keeps as much of the "riff raff" out as it can, while surrounding towns have to deal with it so they end up with a very different set of test scores. Doesn't mean kids in EB are getting a better education than kids who come from good families in those other towns. EB just likes to pretend it does.
East Brunswick is what it is. Thoe who can afford to, they send their kids to private school.
There is no walkable down town (unless you like the EB mall), there is no town center.
Do EB'ers hang out in New Brunswick? No. No one hangs out in NB around RU unless it's Rutgers Day or you're a perpetual student who happens to have kids and live in NB. It's not a family friendly place. I say this as the wife/daughter/daughter-in-law/sister-in-law/niece/10x over friend of RU grads AND a LL to RU students. It just isn't. You can go see a show at the State Theater, or get a hot & wet Jimmy's gyro at the grease trucks, or walk around the campus during the day, but you don't hang out. There's nothing to hang out for.
The City of New Brunswick and it's ilk has crept in way too close to the RU campus over the last decade or so. You can't catch an RU bus without a bunch of preggo mami's lugging a stroller and 3 kids under 5 years old behind them...on your way to class. Gov't paid for school, gov't run bus...the welfare crew/drug addicts/hispanic gang members hop right on and ride right next to you (or your college aged kid who is campus hopping to get to class).
So no, RU is not a hang out center for young families. And especially not for those who have no clue about New Brunswick. You need to know where you are, it is THAT sketchy.
Hmmm...where to start? So much misinformation in so few paragraphs.
First of all, how does a large township of 50,000 "conspire" to keep the riff-raff out as you say? I've lived in different parts of north & central NJ and it has to be one of the most diverse towns I've seen. Asians, Indians, Hispanics, blacks, whites and just about everything in between.
Yes, the school district IS better than New/North/South Brunswick, definitely Old Bridge & Sayreville and most of the towns around it. The test scores and % of students in AP classes bears that out. Is it Millburn or Ridgewood? Nope. Not many are. But it's a solid, top 100 school district.
Most people in EB don't send their kids to private school. They have great faith in the schools and teachers and frankly would not do better in most private schools save the very exclusive ones. That includes Catholic schools as well.
The only truthful statement in your post is that there is no downtown in EB.
Thanks so much. So what are common things to do with young kids in the town?
They have Crystal Springs aquatic center which has slides, pools and activities for toddlers to teenagers. You can google it.
The library is one of the best in NJ and has constant activities going on for kids and teens.
Lots of sports programs for all ages of kids. They're particularly strong in soccer. The town has produced a number of world cup/olympic female soccer players. Heather O'Reilly is one I can think of.
As I said, the town is quite diverse. At a recent birthday party I took my child to there were white, black, Indian & Asian children. Nobody even thinks twice about it.
Hi there, We just moved to EB to raise our family and love it. I did a lot of research and know a lot of people in the area so here are some answers:
1. Best elementary schools - Warnsdorfer, Memorial, Frost, Central - I think Irwin, Bowne, and Lawrence brook are good too but I personally thought the first ones I mentioned are better
2. Yes to lots of young families and there lots of Jews and Asians in town - We are a Jewish family so that was important to us. There are 3 synagogues in town - you will see lots of Jewish families walking on Dunham's Corner road to temple on Saturdays. The 2010 census date reads: roughly 70% white, 23% Asian, 3-4% African American, 5% Hispanic. Town ranges from extremely wealthy (there are million dollar homes) to lower middle class on the north site of rt. 18. Town is HUGE - very rare you can get such a mass population in a suburban town
3. Kingswood Station is a great Townhouse community! check it out - has a pool for sure. There are a few other ones as well, but this one is newer. I liked it a lot
4. There is no downtown area. However, You are literally close to everything. You can drive 35 minutes and be at Pier VIllage in Long Branch and drive 40 minutes north and by in NYC. New Brunswick which is like 10 minutes away offers a GREAT downtown with some of the best restaurants in NJ - Stage Left, Frog and Peach, Clydz, just to name a few. My husband and I go downtown a lot actually.
5. Check out houses zoned to the schools i mentioned above and you cannot go wrong. America's Best High Schools - Newsweek and The Daily Beast
EB just got ranked one of the top high schools in the US and i think top 40 in NJ
GOOD LUCK
Oh please. The NB locals rarely take the RU bus. Where are they going to go? The only non-RU neighborhood it passes is filled with yuppies and 2k+/mo apartments.
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