Would you send your kids to Resnick/King/Litchfield/Firestone? (Akron: houses, neighborhoods)

[steve.zissou]

I recently took a job at Goodyear and I'm trying to figure out where to live.
My wife and I prefer living in a city neighborhood rather than the suburbs, and I'd like to keep my commute short and be able to ride my bike in good weather. I've looked north of Market around Merriman/N Portage Path, Castle/Kenilworth, between Sand Run and Hawkins, and Fairlawn Heights. Any thoughts on these neighborhoods?

Anyway, they seem pretty good to me, but we have a young daughter and I'm not sure about the schools. I've seen the scores online, but I'm looking for some real world opinions as well. King/Resnick and Firestone seem competitive, but Litchfield Middle School doesn't look too good. We haven't really looked in to private schools, so for now I'd like to figure out if Resnick/Litchfield/Firestone is a good idea or not.

If Akron CSD doesn't work out, we would probably look at Stow or Hudson rather than Copley, Green, etc.

[steve.zissou]

I'll just bump this once to see if anyone has any thoughts on the Akron CSD. Do your kids go there? Do your neighbors' kids go there? The Akron school report cards don't look that great when compared to Hudson, but I'm not sure that I want my kids to have such a lily white educational experience.

[gentlearts]

I did not have kids in this school system, but I have encountered them as a docent at the Art Museum. I found the kids from the schools mentioned to be very bright and well behaved kids. Those schools have a reputation for excellence.
You are correct that Stow or Hudson, also very good, would not be as ethnically diverse.

[steve.zissou]

Thank you very much for the reply. That's encouraging.

[yagisenin]

No kids in Akron schools, though I am a product of them. Growing up, we always considered the Firestone cluster schools -- Firestone High School and its "feeder schools" -- "cake eaters". It seemed like they got the best of everything when compared to the other Akron high school clusters, and I don't think that has changed. (Of course, it probably helped that at any given time, half the members of the Board of Education lived in the NW Akron area served by the Firestone schools.) Note that many of the Akron city leaders, businessmen and the "professional class" who live within the city limits call this part of Akron home. All of the neighborhoods/communities you mentioned are generally very good places to live.

Firestone High School has the challenging International Baccalaureate academic program as well as an excellent Performing Arts program in place. At one point, I believe they even held a national ranking with one of the weekly news magazines (Newsweek, U.S. News, etc). They are certainly competitive and easily hold their own vs. the suburban schools you mentioned, such as Hudson and Copley, with none of the same wanting for diversity. Firestone has a mixed enrollment of white, black, some asian, and small portions of indian and other ethnicities.

As for the Firestone Elementary schools, they are among the best in the city, if not the area. Resnick, which you mentioned, is an entirely new building that just replaced the former Fairlawn Elementary.

I honestly can't tell you what to do about Middle School, though. Middle school seems to be a problem everywhere, even in many suburban districts like Stow, or so I have heard through friends with kids or connections there. I think it might have more to do with puberty and raging hormones at that age than anything else. That can be a challenge for even the best teachers in the best schools.

So, would I recommend Firestone schools? Yes.

[JamesAbilene]

As I stated on another forum, the Firestone cluster was excellent when I lived in Akron, and we lived in NW Akron near the Fairlawn city limits. Great schools. Great neighborhood. No complaints.

[steve.zissou]

Sounds good. We will be looking at houses in West Akron next week.

[Sam_in_ND]

I would look at Resnick CLC, my oldest kid attended this school when it was Fairlawn and it was a great school. That area has some great housing, and you will get much more bang for your buck than in the suburbs. King is also an excellent school, I think it is the highest rated in Akron. Essex and Case are good as well, but you will be better off with Resnick or King.

Lichfield is not bad, but as a previous poster stated Middle/Junior high schools in general don't perform as well in any district. Firestone is I think the only large big city district high school in Ohio that is rated excellent by the state, but don't quote me on this

There is also a new library/city recreation center that offers great art, dance, and craft classes along with sports programs. They even have a tiny tots preschool there that is excellent. If you have younger kids the sand run metro park has a sledding hill at the end of N. Hawkins that will provide endless hours of free entertainment in the winter, and you can take some nice hikes in the summer. We lived right on Wiltshire and used to have deer run down the street on a regular basis. The Wallhaven/Fairlawn Heights areas are also convenient to shopping in Montrose as well as downtown. It is also just a short commute to Goodyear.

One of the biggest mistakes I made was leaving Akron for Canton, then Noth Dakota. I have nothing but good things to say about our experience living in this part of Akron. Let us know if you find something.

[steve.zissou]

Thanks for the input - We will be in Fairlawn Heights and the Merriman Valley this afternoon. I think our search is nearing its end so hopefully I will have some good news to share soon!