House rentals - Springfield PA to Wilmington DE (Philadelphia, Chester: neighbourhood, school districts)

[BC on the move]

This post is similar to the link below, but is placed here to solict input from the Philadelphia crowd...
http://www.city-data.com/forum/delaw...ml#post8690952

I am looking for recommendations on neighbourhoods to move my family into. Based on a few nights of research I have decided to narrow the search to the area essentially between Wilmington and Springfield. As my job will be only for 2-3 years we will be renting a home.
Key factors to us include:
1. Safe neighbourhood for raising young kids (middle/upper class areas preferred)
2. Access to good schools for grades 1-6
3. Ease of access to I-95 ( I will have a fair bit of travel for work)
4. Availability of rental housing since we are having a difficult time finding rentals over the internet (2-4,000 sq ft, 4 bedroom min)
We are moving from Canada and our knowledge of the US school system is unfortunately based on what we are fed by the media and our research to date has unfortunately only compounded our concerns about moving into a different school system.

Any advice on choosing and finding schools or rental agencies is also appreciated.

[orrmobl]

You should look for something in the Wallingford-Swarthmore, Rose Tree Media, Garnet Valley or Unionville Chadds Ford school districts.

Unionville-Chadds Ford (country surroundings) is the best, and closest to Wilmington, then Wallingford (green space, liberal, collegiate atmosphere, close to everything which is good and bad as you get city attitude with your fries), then Rose Tree Media (walkable downtown, quaint, not as liberal as Wallinford but the rest applies), then Garnet Valley (newest developed area so new developments and keep-up-with-the-Joneses types).

Check out towns like Wallingford/Swarthmore/Nether Providence/Rose Valley, Media, Elwyn, Bethel, PA, Glen Mills, Thornton, Chadds Ford, parts of West Chester in the Chadds Ford district.

[BC on the move]

Thanks, the advice on this forum is starting to help make this move seem a little less overwhelming. Still a lot to consider though...