Looking for good school districts

[frankibonz]

Madison has a great school district

[kellyp]

higland park new jersey!!! walk to train staiton in new brunswick, less then an hour to manhatten, 30 minutes to air port, good schools, great older homes, old time down town shopping. very diverse people solid middle class.

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by kellyp

higland park new jersey!!! walk to train staiton in new brunswick, less then an hour to manhatten, 30 minutes to air port, good schools, great older homes, old time down town shopping. very diverse people solid middle class.

Walk to the train station in New Brunswick???? Depending on where in HP you are, that's likely around a 2-mile walk........lol.

[Roger Davis]

Bridgewater Twp. has very high rated schools. Houses go from 300k up to 2m. 40 min. to Newark airport. 1 hr to NYC. Commuter rail 10 min drive as well as commuter busses. Plenty of shopping(Bridgewater Commons) but yet still the suburbs. The number one rated mountain bike trails in the state.No shore trafffic to deal with. One of the most centrally located communities in the state.

[hobem]

Don't limit yourself just to Union & Bergen...Essex Co has some great towns & schools too...Montclair for instance, which is VERY close to NYC. Morris Co. too, although a bit farther, but many towns on the Midtown Direct line. It takes me a half hour to drive from Hoboken to Morristown, 20 mins or so to Short Hills. Granted that's without a lot of traffic, but an hour max is my experience and I used to live in Morristown a few years ago. Did the commute Hob-M'Town a few times after staying with friends here, an hour was the most it ever took me...always looked about the same in the other direction. I hear Summit is another good one but they have 3 different school districts - from what I've heard - and they're not all top schools. Only what I've heard though.

Good luck!

[MElizH]

I believe the Maplewood/South Orange school district also has a good reputation (Columbia High School, etc.).

I grew up in Long Valley/Chester and can't say enough about the wonderful education I received from the public school system there (Washington Township School District from K-8; West Morris Regional for 9-12). I would move back in a heartbeat when I have children of my own.

[berryjuice4life]

Originally Posted by mom4

Marlboro is 45min. from the city and 35 to Newark airport depending on traffic. A lot of people live in Marlboro and work in NY. Home average is about 500,000. Good school district. My brother-in-law sometimes takes the bus in to the city.

Just watch for marlboro, people are very stuck up there is alot of money there I have alot of friends who hate living there and the schools well i also know a few really good teachers who say the schools are OK...Manalapan has an even better school system however commuting to the city your better in Old Brige or somewhere closer because on a bad day the commute is not 45 minutes its longer...My hubby commuted from Manalapan/Marlboro border to downtown NYC and the commute wasnt that great..people do it but it can be a bare.....Marlboro has changed alot of the past 2 or 3 yrs and I will leave it at that...However you will get more for your money in Marlboro than u will in Manalapan...marlboro 500k will buy you a 35 yr old house bi-level or small colonial.....manalapan about the same....a decent house in marlboro is about 550k and it depends on what someone finds decent..everyones standards and wants and needs are different....

[njestates]

Originally Posted by Cat05

I currently live in Hoboken, which I love but which has poorly performing public schools. We are looking into moving withing NJ to a district where the public schools are good. There are some restrictions on our move-- we have to be within 30 minutes from an airport, and we have to be within an hour of NYC--preferably less. But for right now, I am focussing on finding areas with good public schools. So, if you love the schools in your area, say so!

Thanks!

Try along Route 78 West of Newark Airport, from Short Hills(Expensive) to Bridgewater West, Berkeley Heights is real good.Moderator cut: ad

[rzilbert]

Hi,

Did you buy a house? I am looking to move...I don't know where in Bergen county I can move and what I can afford.

I am thinking of Oradell or Fairlawn and not sure again. Schools and commute to NYC is very important to me as well.

Any information you can provide would be helpful.

Rita

Originally Posted by Cat05

I've been neglecting this discussion, so now that my 3 year old is happily watching Elmo I will try to catch up.

Yes, visiting the areas before deciding where to move is a great idea. Thanks.

I actually was already using the great schools site, along with the schools report cards on the board of ed site. I like the great schools site a lot, though sometimes their ratings leave me a little confused. I wish they said how they arrived at them. But overall they present a more thorough picture than the report cards do.

I'll take a look at Palisades Park, Carlstadt, and Hackensack.

People seem to have vastly different takes on Ridgefield. Weird.

Tenafly, Creskill and Demarest all look great, especially Tenafly. If I drove I might move to the area, but I don't. An hour to get to the mid/west side of Manhattan doesn't work for us. I wish they had trains!! I see from their website, though, that there is a bus to the ferry. I'll have to try to estimate how long that would take.

Rainbowwaves--I hope you didn't take my comment to be in any way negative about your child. You hit a bit of a nerve since I also started reading young, in kindergarten. However my elementary school was a pretty poor one overall, in spite of a few highlights, so my first 6 years of school were below par, and pretty unpleasant.

[Cat05]

Originally Posted by rzilbert

Hi,

Did you buy a house? I am looking to move...I don't know where in Bergen county I can move and what I can afford.

I am thinking of Oradell or Fairlawn and not sure again. Schools and commute to NYC is very important to me as well.

Any information you can provide would be helpful.

Rita

Rita,

No, I didn't.

We decided to stay in Hoboken. I'd been toying with the idea of homeschooling anyway, and I decided to just try it. So far its working really well and we love it. We may still move down the line, but it won't be for a while.

I'm sure that's not much help to you, though, so the best I can suggest is to take a drive and look around the places you are considering. Oradell and Fair Lawn both looked good to me, though I ruled out Oradell because of commute issues (I don't drive). Glen Rock is great but very pricey. Take a look at Newsweek's list of top schools, the NJ school report cards, and Great Schools dot net (I forget the urls, but google them).

I also received many very helpful replies on this thread. Some members communicated with me privately as well, and I deeply appreciated the time and effort they spent to help me.

Bear in mind as you read, however, that IMO the numbers tell the true tale. Many people seemed to think that their town's schools were the best even though their numbers were crappy. I'm very much against teaching the test, but if you are going to do it, then your kids had darn well better score well on the test, don't you think?

Anyway, that's just my two cents' worth.

Hope that helped,
Cat