[smydovro]

Does anyone have insight into these school districts, the differences between these places, quality of life etc. I have gotten some good advice on this website and I am looking forward to the answers.

Background on us. I am a stay at home mom - we have a traditional family. I have 3 sons, my 2 older ones are not into sports but my little one loves sports. My oldest son is in the gifted program where I live and am interested in getting him into the same out there. I like living in the 'burbs and plan to be active in the PTO and stuff. I would like a welcoming area that is open to newcomers.

[ehenningsen]

here are some advantages of each:

Papillion and Lavista: Great school system, great jobs, great shopping, clean cities its no wonder why they are noted as one of the best communities in the entire USA.

Elkhorn - good school system, class B so it is a bit smaller however still a great school system, decent shopping..

Gretna - If you want to live on the outskirts, Gretna is about 5 miles west of Lavista-papillion, and it is a great little town (exploading with growth)

Millard- Part of West Omaha, and is a very nice district with very good schools..

All of these areas have very low crime and easy access to Omaha and the interstate system, they all have superior schools and are a part of the metro learning community that allows each district to take advantage of the skills of kids who are considered intelligent or in need.

[Dave1215]

Agree with previous post.

fyi...Papillion and LaVista are seperate towns, but share the school district.

I live in Papillion - love it... my kids went thru the Papillion/LaVista school district from K-12 and it was good...

From a tax perspective Papillion has the lowest property tax levy in the metro area (make sure the house is in the corporate limits of Papillion and not an adjacent SID for that to be true --- in the SID's within the metro it really varies)...

[Go Ne]

And Millard North Middle school has an IB program, which is world class

[star_gazer]

Of course Millard North High School has an IB program as well. I'm not sure I would call them 'world class'... but they are the ONLY IB programs in the state.

[Go Ne]

Originally Posted by star_gazer

Of course Millard North High School has an IB program as well. I'm not sure I would call them 'world class'... but they are the ONLY IB programs in the state.

The program is all over the world so its probably good enough to call world class.

[smydovro]

Excuse my ignorance but what is an IB program?

[Dave1215]

Originally Posted by smydovro

Excuse my ignorance but what is an IB program?

An "International Baccalaureate" Created by a not-for-profit group from Geneva to create an international curriculum.

There is some controversy over IB programs - I think it was a school district around Pennsylvania that just decided to terminate their IB program due to its high total cost to run. Also the IB organization themselves have not done a lot of research to indicate how well universities accept IB.