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Old 04-03-2013, 05:19 PM
 
43,011 posts, read 107,679,689 times
Reputation: 30710

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Quote:
Originally Posted by otter119 View Post
I am grateful for the knowledge regarding PR and its self-induced financial problems. It makes us wonder how much will need to be cut to bring the district back into the black. I assume the smaller non-sports related programs will take the brunt of those cuts, as well as pending tax hikes to speed recovery.
Read the articles I linked. They already cut art, music, gym from the budget just last May 2012. Some of it was reinstated due to an agreement to raise property taxes 4.2%. However, in February 2013, the state won't allow them to raise the property taxes 4.2%. Guess what that means? They will have to return to cutting again. With having the state freeze their taxes, there is no guarantee that quality programs won't be cut at some point in the future. This isn't an easy fix for them. If they get back into the black, they will quickly get back into the red again via overspending. They have a proven history of doing that. But sports and activities will remain safe because they established an activity fee to pay for that.

Quote:
Originally Posted by otter119 View Post
My biggest fear in this whole thing is picking the wrong spot and regretting it as we take a huge step as a family in a new location.
I don't want to push Hampton because I live here, but it sounds like Hampton is the right choice for your situation. Pine Richland is clearly out of the running. At least, it should be. You're afraid of big schools, and NA's high school is big. You want an excellent district with small schools. That's Hampton. It meets all of your criteria for a school district. NA and PR have the biggest risk of potential future regret based on the priorities you shared.

Don't believe a word Copanut says. He has an Easter Bunny fetish. My children are no longer elementary school aged.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Copanut
Plus, Hopes dresses as the Easter Bunny every year at the Elementary school.
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Old 04-04-2013, 10:14 AM
 
Location: O'Hara Twp.
4,359 posts, read 7,487,518 times
Reputation: 1611
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hopes View Post
You're afraid of big schools, and NA's high school is big. You want an excellent district with small schools. That's Hampton.

The only reason to avoid Hampton is if you are having trouble finding a house. Hampton is smaller than NA and it is sometimse hard to find a home of your dreams for 200-250,000. Fox Chapel is also a fine school district but you would have trouble finding a "dream" home for under 250,000.

A big district has more home choices but also a bigger high school.
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Old 04-04-2013, 11:39 AM
 
30 posts, read 45,592 times
Reputation: 12
I guess you are right, the ratings posted on "great schools" makes Fox Chapel a comparable district to Hampton. Being that its on the very eastern side of our preferred landing spot, I will give it a look. Anyone else have comments regarding Fox Chapel?

Thanks,
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Old 04-04-2013, 11:48 AM
 
43,011 posts, read 107,679,689 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by otter119 View Post
I guess you are right, the ratings posted on "great schools" makes Fox Chapel a comparable district to Hampton. Being that its on the very eastern side of our preferred landing spot, I will give it a look. Anyone else have comments regarding Fox Chapel?
Also look at North Hills School District on "great schools."

I grew up in Fox Chapel and we have quite a few other active members who live there. You'll get lots of feedback and varying views. It differs from the other districts you are considering because it has extreme wealthy and poverty. It's a great district though. I'll post more later today when I have time.
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Old 04-04-2013, 11:50 AM
 
43,011 posts, read 107,679,689 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by robrobrob View Post
The only reason to avoid Hampton is if you are having trouble finding a house. Hampton is smaller than NA and it is sometimse hard to find a home of your dreams for 200-250,000.
I wouldn't say that it's a reason to avoid Hampton. It means if you can find a house, you'll most certainly not have trouble selling it later. I guess I'm taking more issue with your use of avoid. I'd say more accurately that you need a backup plan just in case you can't find housing you want in Hampton.
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Old 04-04-2013, 12:33 PM
 
Location: O'Hara Twp.
4,359 posts, read 7,487,518 times
Reputation: 1611
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hopes View Post
I wouldn't say that it's a reason to avoid Hampton. It means if you can find a house, you'll most certainly not have trouble selling it later. I guess I'm taking more issue with your use of avoid. I'd say more accurately that you need a backup plan just in case you can't find housing you want in Hampton.
Sorry, poor choice of words. What I meant, and what you understood was that Hampton is perfect for the other poster but he or she may have to look at other areas if they can't find a suitable house in Hampton.
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Old 04-10-2013, 08:39 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh
8 posts, read 11,401 times
Reputation: 16
Plum is by far the best suburb of Pittsburgh, nothing comes close!
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Old 04-11-2013, 06:57 AM
 
Location: Mid-Atlantic
12,529 posts, read 17,459,063 times
Reputation: 10629
Quote:
Originally Posted by robrobrob View Post
The only reason to avoid Hampton is if you are having trouble finding a house. Hampton is smaller than NA and it is sometimse hard to find a home of your dreams for 200-250,000. Fox Chapel is also a fine school district but you would have trouble finding a "dream" home for under 250,000.
Just to be a jagoff n'at, there are currently 19 active listings in the MLS ranging from 115 to 259K. Hard to say if you could find a dream home in that mix. If you go from 259 to 1 million, there are 25 more active listins. So Double Rob makes a good point, only 44 active listings in all of Hampton.
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Old 04-12-2013, 05:10 AM
 
5,047 posts, read 5,759,727 times
Reputation: 3120
When we were looking in this are, we did visit fox chapel and the kids loved it. Unfortunatley we couldnt find a house in our price range and we decided in South Fayette instead.
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Old 04-15-2013, 01:22 PM
 
30 posts, read 45,592 times
Reputation: 12
We are looking to relocate by the beginning of next school year.
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