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Old 04-02-2017, 10:55 AM
 
11 posts, read 28,922 times
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Hopefully we will be moving to Philadelphia this Summer.
Looking for affordable place to rent 2Bdr (2Bath preferred) - within walking distance from a decent school and not too far from City attractions and museums etc.
My browsing of best school ratings gave me awful results - most of best schools are located in Suburbs lacking public communications and far from office - we could as well stay in Princeton.
We are extremely interested in Julia R. Masterman school - but looks like we already missed an opportunity to enroll for the next year (2017). Does anyone know this school? How can we get our daughter in there? She is in 4th grade currently.
GAMP is also very interesting school (my daughter does piano and sax) - but I am not sure about living in this area and I did not find any decent apartments there.
So I am looking for a combination of apartment + school + easy (mostly public) commute. I've spent hours online, and I selected Parkway House Apartments - and I would appreciate reviews and opinions!! Is the Art Museum District a good place for a family?
So far I have 2 scenarios in mind -
1. Rent in Philadelphia (Parkway House Apartments?), get into Masterman (or do homeschooling for a year and then get into Masterman) - within about 12 min drive to the office in Bala Cynwyd - and about 20 min to Philadelphia Dance Academy by public transportation (which is a very important part of the plan).
2. Rent in Bala Cynwyd - go to school in Bala Cynwyd (ratings are very good). But commuting to Philadelphia Dance Academy at least 3 times per week does not sound like fun and basically we are in Suburbs again, missing all Big City flavors. And I did not find any good apartments within walking distance to school so far...
Any helpful comments are VERY MUCH appreciated!!!
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Old 04-02-2017, 11:26 AM
 
10,787 posts, read 8,700,624 times
Reputation: 3983
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paolabelle View Post
Hopefully we will be moving to Philadelphia this Summer.
Looking for affordable place to rent 2Bdr (2Bath preferred) - within walking distance from a decent school and not too far from City attractions and museums etc.
My browsing of best school ratings gave me awful results - most of best schools are located in Suburbs lacking public communications and far from office - we could as well stay in Princeton.
We are extremely interested in Julia R. Masterman school - but looks like we already missed an opportunity to enroll for the next year (2017). Does anyone know this school? How can we get our daughter in there? She is in 4th grade currently.
GAMP is also very interesting school (my daughter does piano and sax) - but I am not sure about living in this area and I did not find any decent apartments there.
So I am looking for a combination of apartment + school + easy (mostly public) commute. I've spent hours online, and I selected Parkway House Apartments - and I would appreciate reviews and opinions!! Is the Art Museum District a good place for a family?
So far I have 2 scenarios in mind -
1. Rent in Philadelphia (Parkway House Apartments?), get into Masterman (or do homeschooling for a year and then get into Masterman) - within about 12 min drive to the office in Bala Cynwyd - and about 20 min to Philadelphia Dance Academy by public transportation (which is a very important part of the plan).
2. Rent in Bala Cynwyd - go to school in Bala Cynwyd (ratings are very good). But commuting to Philadelphia Dance Academy at least 3 times per week does not sound like fun and basically we are in Suburbs again, missing all Big City flavors. And I did not find any good apartments within walking distance to school so far...
Any helpful comments are VERY MUCH appreciated!!!
I can answer one of your questions about the Art Museum district. It consists of two primary neighborhoods: Fairmount and Spring Garden with two other adjacent ones(Brewerytown and Francisville) which are currently gentrifying. Fairmount, especially, is quite stable and has been familiy friendly for a long time. I live in Spring Garden. I love it there.

Masterman(it's a combined middle and high school)is spectacularly difficult to get into, btw. It's not only the best school in the city but the best in PA (the HS), afaik, and one of the best in the country.

You didn't mention where you may be employed. That will help narrow down any advice you get.

And the dance school? My niece teaches tap(free lance) So what are looking for wrt instruction?
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Old 04-02-2017, 11:51 AM
 
11 posts, read 28,922 times
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Thank you so much for your answer!
I mentioned that office is in Bala Cynwyd.
I am interested only in Philadelphia Dance Academy - my daughter is level 2 by ABT standards and she also does modern (contemporary) and jazz. She is doing 4 hours per week now, and it should be 5-6 hours next year. She also did 3 performances with PYB - and I'd like her to continue in Phila. I don't want her to become a professional ballerina, but I don't want her to stop and waste all these years of training. She is at pretty good level based on ABT standards. Some kids from our ballet school are accepted into Princeton (and ballet was a huge plus in these cases), some kids even goes to ABT and other professional ballet schools and groups. I know from our teachers that PDA is at the same professional level of teaching, so this is what I want Most likely we could commute to PDA even from Bala Cynwyd... (thanks to wonderful public transit in Phila - we could not get to our Princeton Dance now without a car) - but I am looking for some ways to reduce stress and minimize commute. And in any case Academics are more important.
I never spoke to or visited Masterman, only did some web research, and I understand that this is "difficult to get into"... I guess that getting into 5th grade would be easier (if I new a year ago and started enrolling back when)... Are there any good schools withing Spring Garden and Fairmount? I would love her to go into some good school (not necessarily the BEST one - she is not THAT gifted - but she would work hard to stay in Masterman). Schools closest to Parkway House Apartments have ratings 1 out of 10... No way...
My husband is a homemaker with some very little working from home, and he does not drive, so this is another reason why I'd love to stay within city limits - so he could get my daughter anywhere they want to without me driving (and I could concentrate on my work and career). At this point if I get this job - I could not drive my daughter to ballet or any other place on time, where we live now. That was a major reason for me to move. And since my husband stays at home we could do some homeschooling - but not for long, I don't want my daughter to be completely home schooled. She needs friends and competition.
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Old 04-02-2017, 12:02 PM
 
Location: Dude...., I'm right here
1,763 posts, read 1,533,775 times
Reputation: 1987
To cut the long story short, and I'm beginning to sound like a broken record, there are no good PUBLIC schools in Philadelphia. The very few good "public" schools, and I mean less than a handful good ones, admit exceptional students only and I think have a waiting list too.

Renting in Bala, may be your best option.
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Old 04-02-2017, 03:58 PM
 
11 posts, read 28,922 times
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Thank you so much for your opinion, I appreciate it!
One more question - where are 2 other schools that I found - Meredith William M School (725 South 5th St, Philadelphia, PA 19147) with rating 8 out of 10, and Penn Alexander School (4209 Spruce St, Philadelphia, PA 19104) - 9 out of 10. They both are K - 8, good for us for now. Are these, as you saying "admit exceptional students only"? Are these good areas to live, anyway? Thank you!!!!!!
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Old 04-02-2017, 05:48 PM
 
Location: Philadelphia (East Falls)
72 posts, read 125,774 times
Reputation: 69
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paolabelle View Post
Thank you so much for your opinion, I appreciate it!
One more question - where are 2 other schools that I found - Meredith William M School (725 South 5th St, Philadelphia, PA 19147) with rating 8 out of 10, and Penn Alexander School (4209 Spruce St, Philadelphia, PA 19104) - 9 out of 10. They both are K - 8, good for us for now. Are these, as you saying "admit exceptional students only"? Are these good areas to live, anyway? Thank you!!!!!!
Those are two good public schools. You must live inside the catchment, which sometimes changes and sometimes there is even still a lottery for despite where you live. Both surrounding neighborhoods are very nice and not inexpensive. Probably pretty similar in niceness and price to art museum. If being in the city is worth a longer commute for you to Bala then this is a good choice to get yourself into one of these catchment areas. Your commute to Bala wouldn't be terrible at all.
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Old 04-02-2017, 06:39 PM
 
11 posts, read 28,922 times
Reputation: 13
Thank you for your reply! I appreciate it!
Yes, my point is that I am looking for good school somewhere within a good public transportation to Philadelphia Dance. Right now I am facing possibility of 1 hour+ drive one way to work (from NJ). Comparing to that any commute from Philadelphia should be better, I guess. From Meredith William School area it would take about 25 min - perfectly fine.

Maybe we should really do home schooling, considering situation with public schools in Phila...
I did not know anything about Masterman till few days ago, I swear. And now I am reading articles on web regarding subject and ... it is scary. I am not even sure if I would want to get into that race. Horrible...
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Old 04-02-2017, 06:47 PM
 
11 posts, read 28,922 times
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Meredith William M School looks good to me, but their boundaries are very limited as of now, and it would be hard to get any apartment there. At least I could not find any apartment complex/building.
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Old 04-03-2017, 02:14 AM
 
2,537 posts, read 2,650,453 times
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Meredith is definitely a great Elementary and middle school, and the area is nice. It is called Queen Village, and you are starting to have a mix of hipster, sex shops, cheap and quality restaurants along South St.
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Old 04-03-2017, 02:52 PM
 
2,450 posts, read 5,583,755 times
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Is there any info on the neighboring McCall school?
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