Moving to Philadelphia (Chester, Penn: house, neighborhood, elementary schools)

[Firefox101]

My husband received a job offer in Philly. We have a 5 year old and prefer to live in the city. My concern is the public schools. Are there any solid public schools in Philadelphia and family friendly areas. I'm also open to close suburbs my budget is 500K other than schools everything else is negotiable.

[chessimprov]

Schools in CC and Queen Village are solid. Also some of the Magnets, but the good ones are never a guarantee. Let cyber school be your backup. Quality academic education and included in your tax dollars in PA with self-motivated students especially and very safe.

[PHL10]

Not enough info to really help you. Fill out the moving here question in the "sticky".

[KoNgFooCj]

By the way, "CC" refers to Center City.

[PhilliesPhan2013]

Originally Posted by Firefox101

My husband received a job offer in Philly. We have a 5 year old and prefer to live in the city. My concern is the public schools. Are there any solid public schools in Philadelphia and family friendly areas. I'm also open to close suburbs my budget is 500K other than schools everything else is negotiable.

I'm assuming you'd need two bedrooms? Spruce Hill might work for you! Penn Alexander is a Blue Ribbon elementary school.

[MarketStEl]

The public elementary schools below are all strong performers:

Greenfield (Rittenhouse/Fitler Square)
McCall (Society Hill)
Meredith (Queen Village)
Penn Alexander (Spruce Hill)
Powel (K-4) (Powelton Village)

The schools below don't enjoy the lofty reputations of those above, but they have active and engaged parent and non-parent support groups, and most parents of students in them say their children are getting a good education:

Chester Arthur (Graduate Hospital)
Bache-Martin (Fairmount)
Andrew Jackson (Passyunk Square)
Kearny (Northern Liberties)
Nebinger (Queen Village)

You will have no problem enrolling your children in any of these schools save Penn Alexander, which is wildly oversubscribed.

[LexNYC]

With that budget I'd say go into the close outer burbs and have access to better public schools. Lower Merion, or possibly most areas of Delaware County.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by LexNYC

With that budget I'd say go into the close outer burbs and have access to better public schools. Lower Merion, or possibly most areas of Delaware County.

The OP said they "prefer to live in the city." I at least would like to help them live in the place they prefer.

One of the things I've come to learn over the course of several conversations with parents of children in "bad" Philly public schools is that children can get good educations in "bad" schools - the parents make more of a difference than the school does, and many schools that score low on the rating sites have principals and teachers who give their students their all.

My advice to house-hunters now is this: You don't choose your house sight unseen, do you? You have eyes and ears. Visit the local school in the neighborhood(s) you're interested in and see how it works. It may work better than the GreatSchools number or Niche grade would lead you to believe.