Liberal, diverse neighborhood w/ good school (Swarthmore, Jenkintown: 2009, transfer, top schools)

[Prof1]

Looking for liberal, diverse neighborhood w/ good schools. Moving summer 2009. Plan to spend around $500-700 for single family home. Would prefer to live in city, but want a good school (elem, MS, and HS). Any advice?

[jun21]

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[phillyzoo]

Based on your housing budget and if you want to live in the city then University City is your spot. Sadie Alexander is one of the top schools -public or private- in the city. But, you should talk to a realtor so they can help you figure out what the exact catchment is. This will aid in your efforts to get into SA.

Another great family neighborhood is Fairmount. There is a good elementary school in the neighborhood, Bache Martin, and there are tons of families.

[ooodsie]

If you looked slightly outside of the city on the main line you would find good school systems as well but still be minutes from the city.. ie; lower merion, wynewood, ardmore.

[otters21]

As far as liberal diverse areas in the city are concerned, West Mount Airy would be a good choice. However I don't know mucn about the schools.

[thesixth]

Depending on where you work, you might look at Swarthmore/Wallingford neighborhood in Delaware County. You are outside of the city, but close enough to it, and that area is pretty liberal, maybe less diverse than a city neighborhood would be.

[juniperbleu]

I second West Mt Airy, but I also don't know about the schools.

[orrmobl]

Originally Posted by thesixth

Depending on where you work, you might look at Swarthmore/Wallingford neighborhood in Delaware County. You are outside of the city, but close enough to it, and that area is pretty liberal, maybe less diverse than a city neighborhood would be.

Very liberal, great schools, safe, great place to live.

Beats spending all that money and playing the school district lottery every few years in the city! Private school or don't move there IMO.

[captainrm83]

Central high school is a good high school. From what I understand, it is public but you have to meet guidelines (through an application process) to be accepted.

Chestnut Hill and Mount Airy are nice. I like Jenkintown, too (minutes outside of Philly, still close to everything).

[juniperbleu]

Originally Posted by captainrm83

Central high school is a good high school. From what I understand, it is public but you have to meet guidelines (through an application process) to be accepted.

Many high schools require applications, unless it's your "neighborhood" school. Central is really good, as is Girl's High and Masterman. Then there are the specialized programs like International Studies at Bodine, agricultural/veterinary sciences at Saul, Air & Space at Northeast, art at CAPA, Engineering at Carver, and a bunch of others. All 8th graders are encouraged to apply to the school/program of their choice (at least, that's the way it was when my mom worked at a middle school--our neighborhood high school was pretty bad). I helped her put the applications together, and also remember some applying to non-special admission schools, like Roxborough or Lankenau. I think, technically, you can apply to just about any high school in the city.

http://www.phila.k12.pa.us/students/...transfers.html