Is Morristown NJ that bad? (Newark, West Orange: renting, homes, top schools)

[frivera28]

I am currently renting a home in Chatham and I am thinking about Morristown. Chatham is a great town with great schools but has no diversity and is expensive. I have read some bad things about certain sections of Morristown and I wanted to know how bad it really was in terms of crime.

The school system in Morristown is actually better than some of my other choices like South Orange, West Orange and Montclair so that seems like it could be a good choice.

A list of the top high schools in New Jersey by rank-www.njmonthly.com

Any thoughts?

[njkate]

Morristown is fine. It has a bad area, so just avoid it. There is nothing in that area you would want or need

[frivera28]

Where is the bad area?

[VeradoDan]

I'd think twice before pining to live in a town with a more "diverse" school district. Kids can fall into the wrong crowd pretty easily. Why take the chance.

[Obrero]

Originally Posted by frivera28

I am currently renting a home in Chatham and I am thinking about Morristown. Chatham is a great town with great schools but has no diversity and is expensive. I have read some bad things about certain sections of Morristown and I wanted to know how bad it really was in terms of crime.

The school system in Morristown is actually better than some of my other choices like South Orange, West Orange and Montclair so that seems like it could be a good choice.

A list of the top high schools in New Jersey by rank-www.njmonthly.com

Any thoughts?

You are thinking the schools will be OK becuase it's a better school system than some really crappy ones? What type of logic is that?

[clevedark]

I know that South Orange and Montclair are homes to many very well educated families whose kids go thru the public schools and onto fine colleges. I'm not as familiar w. West Orange, so can't speak to that. Yes, lots of people in Morristown send their kids to private school, but it happens to be an incredibly wealthy area with plenty of great private schools. That doesn't mean the public schools stink. Half the people in short hills send their kids to private school, while everyone in the country is dying to move there to send their kids to the no. 1 rated public schools..... It's all relative.

Morristown ain't Newark by a long shot.

[BergenCountyJohnny]

No, it's not that bad at all.

[doc1]

If diversity ranks high on your priorities for your child's education, Morristown trumps Chatham hands down.

[ansky]

Originally Posted by clevedark

I know that South Orange and Montclair are homes to many very well educated families whose kids go thru the public schools and onto fine colleges. I'm not as familiar w. West Orange, so can't speak to that.

We have many neighbors who have sent their kids through the West Orange public schools and they have all said the schools are fine and have had no regrets. Our local West Orange newspaper gave a listing of all the colleges that the graduates were attending this year and it included many fine schools such as Cornell, Stanford, and Penn just to name a few.

[clevedark]

Thank you for the report on West Orange. Some people are ignorant and racist when it comes to test scores and school systems. People refuse to believe that children in large suburban school systems with kids from different races and economic backgrounds can get a good education and go to top schools.

These kinds of school systems are rare and valuable. There are many more cookie-cutter top rich suburban school districts out there churning out one size fits all graduates.