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Old 03-02-2008, 05:59 PM
 
3 posts, read 10,675 times
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We are relocating from MA to PA this summer. Are looking in the Garnet Valley school district. Looked at houses in Chadds Ford PA. Taxes seem pretty $$$$! We were told that Garnet Valley School District was one of the better districts. Are there any other districts that taxes are not so high!! My husband has to commute to Sewell NJ a couple of times a week and don't want his commute to be too long but willing to sacrifice for a good school district and more affordable housing. What about Downingtown? Kennett Cons.?
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Old 03-02-2008, 06:34 PM
 
Location: Philadelphia
691 posts, read 3,059,533 times
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Downingtown to Sewell would be a hellish commute. Even Kennett to Sewell would be pretty bad. If I were you, I wouldn't go any further north or west of the Chads Ford area. Have you considered living on the other side of the river in NJ? There are lots of nice areas w/ good schools. The Sewell/Washington Twp area is very nice w/ decent schools. IMO, there's nothing like living close to your work.
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Old 03-02-2008, 08:13 PM
 
Location: Villanova Pa.
4,927 posts, read 14,208,000 times
Reputation: 2715
Quote:
Originally Posted by nee64 View Post
We are relocating from MA to PA this summer. Are looking in the Garnet Valley school district. Looked at houses in Chadds Ford PA. Taxes seem pretty $$$$! We were told that Garnet Valley School District was one of the better districts. Are there any other districts that taxes are not so high!! My husband has to commute to Sewell NJ a couple of times a week and don't want his commute to be too long but willing to sacrifice for a good school district and more affordable housing. What about Downingtown? Kennett Cons.?
Downingtown schools are very comparable to Garnet Valley.Kennet Square doesnt fare as well. The Downingtown area has grown alot in the past 10 years as theres lots of newer amenities,shopping,restaurants etc., whereas Kennet is still a few years away, its still very rural. This is just my opinion but if you expand your options Downingtown would be a better choice than Kennet square at this point and time.

I'm not sure what the schools are like but newer housing communities are popping up all over South Jersey.Swedesboro NJ,Beckett NJ, and Mulica Hill NJ are growing rapidly and are 10-15 minutes from Sewell. The housing is cheap in comparison to the newer PA suburbs. May be worth looking into the NJ forum to see how the schools are.

One last option are the older, established communities in SE Pa.

Money Magazine/CNN does a poll every year about best affordable towns to live in the usa. Last year Moneymag/cnn ranked 3 Philly suburban towns in the top 15, no other metro had more than 1 in the top 50.

Nether Providence was ranked #9 and it is located in an outstanding school district(Wallingford-Swarthmore) West Goshen #12(West Chester School District) which is between Garnet Valley and Downingtown, and Horsham which would be to far a commute was #15. Heres the link.

Good luck.


Best Places to Live: Top 100 - Nether Providence (Wallingford), Pa. (9) - Money Magazine
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Old 03-03-2008, 11:09 AM
 
13,254 posts, read 33,504,937 times
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You can easily compare the schools in PA and South Jersey on this site: SchoolMatters - Home We lived in Garnet Valley School district for 6 years and Downingtown for four. Both have huge problems with sprawl but have great schools. Of the two, I preferred living in Garnet Valley.
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Old 03-04-2008, 08:26 AM
 
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What people tell you is better is often based on their perception/what they are familiar with vs the reality, ie test scores and metrics...Based upon high school rank I came up with this list. All these schools are good but the the first 10 or so are the best in the area...bear in mind I left out Philly and other parts of PA in the rankings. Garnet Valley High comes in at 74th in the state...

Tredyffrin Easttown has the Best suburban HS in the state, save Masterman in the city
Central Bucks East
Lower Merion- Harriton
Radnor
Central Bucks West
Lower Merion HS
Great Valley
Unionville Chadds Ford
Downingtown East
Lower Moreland
Central Bucks South
West Chester Henderson
Council Rock North
Methacton
Upper Dublin
Springfield Delco
Wallingford
West Chester East
Rose Tree Media
Wissahickon
Garnet Valley
North Penn
Phoenixville
Downingtown West
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Old 03-04-2008, 08:38 AM
 
Location: Villanova Pa.
4,927 posts, read 14,208,000 times
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You are off on Garnet Valley orb.

The 11th grade standerized math and reading scores testing above average:

Garnet Valley
87.8% tested above average for Reading.
75.8% tested above average for Math.

Springfield Delco
65.5% tested above average for Reading
68.1% tested above average for Math.

Perception has nothing to do with Garnet Valleys success, its an outstanding school district.

Using the 11th grade standerized test Garnet Valley would rank as the 8th best high school in the area.

1.Conestoga
2.Central Bucks east
3.Harriton
4.Radnor
5.Great Valley
6.Unionville-Chadds Ford
7.Lower Merion
8.Garnet Valley
9.Central Bucks West
10.Central Bucks South
11. Downingtown East
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Old 03-04-2008, 10:12 AM
 
1,623 posts, read 6,525,039 times
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Mine was based on hs rankings Schooldigger.com...I'm more interested in the schools rank than one particular grades rank as it gives the overall picture...

And according to School Matters,


Springfield Garnet Valley
Schoolwide Reading: 78.9% 80.3%
Schoolwide Math: 77.2% 70.3%
Combined: 78.1% 75.3%

So sorry Rain, the stats don't lie and my post is 100% correct...

Last edited by orrmobl; 03-04-2008 at 10:30 AM..
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Old 03-04-2008, 11:22 AM
 
Location: Villanova Pa.
4,927 posts, read 14,208,000 times
Reputation: 2715
Quote:
Originally Posted by orrmobl View Post
Mine was based on hs rankings Schooldigger.com...I'm more interested in the schools rank than one particular grades rank as it gives the overall picture...

And according to School Matters,
I stand corrected but something still seems very fishy about those numbers. I was actually going by 2006 stats in the prior post and assumed there wasnt going to be an earth shattering changes.

Here are the 2005,2006 grades and 2007 grades and all I can say is that Garnet Valley must have had an off freshmen group and vice versa- Springfield got very clever in a years time. I'm not sure what exactly happened in 2007 but as you can see from the test results that Garnet Valley over the last few years is the more stable school district.Up until 2007 Garnet Valley was a perennial top 10 district in the region.

Springfield
2005: 57.9% math
2005: 66.9 % reading

2006: 68% math
2006: 65.5% reading

2007: 77.2% math
2007: 78.9% reading

Garnet Valley

2005: 71.5% math
2005: 79.1% reading

2006: 75.8% math
2006: 87.8% reading

2007: 70.3% math
2007:80.3% reading

Last edited by rainrock; 03-04-2008 at 11:39 AM..
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Old 03-04-2008, 11:22 AM
 
274 posts, read 1,400,422 times
Reputation: 96
You could try the Broomall or Newtown Square area. They seem to have lower taxes than other parts of Delaware County. Would not be a horrible commute to NJ.
But keep in mind, if you are buying any new/newer properties in Delaware county, they will have higher taxes.
Also agree that you might want to check into Washington Twp NJ or Swedesboro, NJ for housing nearer to work.
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Old 03-04-2008, 12:10 PM
 
1,623 posts, read 6,525,039 times
Reputation: 458
Hence my post that people THINK they know what the best schools are, but fail to look at the stats...I have been looking at the stats for quite a while now so I knew I was posting the latest/freshest stuff rather than my stale opinion...
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