Greenville Area?

[jabernethy]

Mrs. Abernethy thanks you for your kind words!

Originally Posted by underink

I live in Greenville. I probably know this place better than anybody (I've lived in almost every part of it.)

+ If you are looking to buy a house, I know of one that was recently remodeled beautifully that's in close proximity to all of the schools, especially the high school. Other than that, there are plenty of places to rent or buy elsewhere here if you look.

+ The schooling here is pretty good. Greenville has AP programs in the high school for when your children get older such as AP Literature, AP Language, AP Physics, AP Chemistry, AP Biology, et cetera. There is also a GIEP program for gifted students to customize the classes to their special needs, like making them more challenging; it also provides help with scholarships and provides activity (competitions, et cetera). For 'slower' students that need extra help, there is a Special Education program for help with tests, et cetera. Greenville classes tend to range around 20 students per class (20-30 in the high school). I remember going to Hempfield Elementary (Pre-3), and they took extreme care with the children and their learning. The teachers are carefully selected (inadequate teachers are dismissed and replaced; many of the teachers have been there for 10-30 years and many hold masters degrees in their subjects, especially in the high school). The food at the schools is health-inclined. For instance, they use wheat bread instead of white bread, and provide healthy snacks at the snack bar at the high school. They provide vitamin water, also. There are buffet carts full of fruit, but also little snacks like cookies and slushies and hot chocolate and bagels in the high school. The lower schools don't get a buffet, but they do provide alternative dishes for children (such as PB+J, et cetera) and I believe they also revamped the food to healthy stuff down there too. There are programs for disadvantaged families that makes lunches free or reduced price. For normal income families, lunch is only 1.25 a day. You can also buy a ticket (sort of like a bundle deal) for slightly less that covers the whole week. In the middle school (East Elementary on Columbia Avenue) there are very admirable teachers. Mrs. Abernethy is a teacher that takes care of pets in her room. Children learn responsibility by, if they choose, taking an animal home for the weekend in a cage and taking care of it. At the end of the year you get a field trip and sometimes she takes her students to her ranch to spend the day. There is a lot of extra-cirricular activity for your kids. Band, choir, sports, et cetera. Most of the kids who go here like the school. There isn't a problem with bullying at our school. The staff is extremely strict with any sort of slandering or bullying (it isn't a joke at the school; if somebody is caught picking on your child, they'd go so far as to immediately call parents; if it's a continuous problem, those students end up Keystone, the local adolescent center). When I attended the middle school there, we had a Peer Pressure Program, where students were assigned to counsel other students who were having problems. But spending my educational life here, I've always seen bullying dealt with swiftly. The crime rate here is low and kids don't tend to be a bad influence here. We do have a problem with drugs, but many attribute that to parents not paying enough attention to the kids. If you are a good parent, you won't have that problem.

There is a park you can take your kids to, called Riverside. It has sports fields (baseball, football, softball, basketball, et cetera), playgrounds, a pool, a recreational center, and a place to fish. Greenville is flat roaded, but it's surrounded by hills. There is a lot of field land / farmland here, wide open spaces and beautiful countryside the further from downtown you get. Very photogenic. There are a lot of trees and woods here, a good place to hunt and fish. There are creeks, rivers, et cetera. A lot of water around this area (it makes it very humid, but that also means it's very green).

+ There isn't a lot to do teenager wise. We used to have two movie theaters, an iceskating rink, an opera house, and the amphitheater used to be in use, but since the economic collapse there's squat. This is the biggest reason for the use of drugs, but if you keep your kids occupied there isn't a problem. The nearest movie theater is in Hermitage. The drive isn't bad. I'd rather live here in Greenville than in Hermitage because it's safer and more countrylike, and the ride to Hermitage isn't bad so I keep the best of both worlds.

[mr. wilson]

Greenville is a nice quiet place to live,although the school is not good. Jamestown,which is only 10 minutes away has a great school and a lot of outdoor activities since the lake is there.

[dugdogmaster]

Originally Posted by PA_Bound

My husband has accepted the job and we will be moving. I'm a little nervous, though, because we still need to sell our house here (in Texas). We're finishing up the last few things and it should be on the market soon. I wanted to rent something before we buy so we can become more familiar with the area, but the real estate agent I spoke to insists that renting will be nearly impossible because we have 2 cats. There are other reasons why I'm not thrilled with her so I'll be talking to another realtor next week.

It's hard to really get a feel for the different school districts just by looking at websites. I'm really liking what I read about Hermitage. Greenville schools seem to emphasize testing more and the curriculum didn't seem as good. Do you have any feel for the school districts' reputations? Also, the realtor I spoke to suggested Sharpsville, but there aren't as many homes available there.

If it's not too late, I'd like to add my opinion. Sharpsville is nice, it's quaint, and the school district is public, yet top notch. And there's a few parochial schools near by with good reputations. Sharpsville is about 15 minutes south of Greenville, in what is called the Shenango Valley. The Shenango Valley is made up of several communities all nestled together that make it seem like one bigger city, they include the cities of Farrell, Hermitage, Sharon, and the boroughs Sharpsville and Wheatland. Some actually include West Middlesex and Masury, OH as part of the Shenango Valley. It's a relatively safe community, however I would recommend staying out of Farrell until you become familiar with the area. The Shenango River Resiovor is located in the valley and is great for outdoor activities, and there is also Buhl Park. And there's plenty of great restaurants in the valley and some shopping. Oh, and there's tons of homes for sale and rent in Sharpsville, many of them very beautiful.

[underink]

Originally Posted by jabernethy

Mrs. Abernethy thanks you for your kind words!

If I didn't know better, I would say that's the infamous Rockin' Ranch Abernethy.


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The school districts in Greenville are good. They actually don't emphasize testing quite enough in my opinion. At any rate, there haven't been many complaints about the classes (my only complaint is that there aren't enough AP classes). In general I'd prefer to go to Greenville over any of the surrounding school districts, especially Reynolds. Greenville is highly integrated with technology (we don't even use white boards anymore; teachers use 'smart boards', and the school is equipped with laptops). It's all interactive now. Greenville is pushing for a higher standard of learning with the technology grant it just got. It also revamped the staff quite a bit over the last few years. It added some extra classes, such as Appreciation of Film, and has customizable classes that aren't listed. For instance, there's no official Graphic Arts 2, but you can still take it. Same with Programming / C++. Students who prove advanced in certain areas can sort of 'make up' classes in Greenville as Independent Study. There's no Internet Publishing 4, but my friend took it because she was so good the other three semesters; it was listed as Independent Study and she helped work on the website for part of her grade. Greenville does play on strengths very well and will make the curriculum fit your child's needs in that way. It has German, Latin, Spanish, and Chinese as far as languages go, as well. Much of it is done online. The AP classes are truly college-level and are very challenging.

I like Greenville's district the best.

[tony losacano]

I had some offers to move back to the area. I grew up in Greenville and have fond memeories of it in the 60's and 70's. I have no children or wife at this point. I'm also considering moving to the Conneaut Lake to be near the water. Any suggestions would be great including where to meet a womman for a 51 year old man.

[dm16125]

I would definitely suggest making Greenville your new home. I have lived here for about a year and I absolutely love it. It's a nice small town with a good school system, very low crime and it's not like it's in the middle of nowhere. 30 minutes or less drive will get you to Sharon, Hermitage, Grove City or Meadville where there is more "going on". Total change of pace from living in the Pittsburgh area and a welcome one. Nice affordable housing and very low crime, if that's not rare what is. Usually you get one or the other but here you get both.