The Pittsburgh School District Mega-Thread! (Lebanon, Upper St. Clair: relocating, jobs, diversity)

[guylocke]

Quaker Valley School District

Quaker Valley School District serves an area roughly 12 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. The main arteries to and from this are are Rt. 65 or Rt. 51. The district compromises many smaller towns including Aleppo Township, Bell Acres Borough, Edgeworth Borough, Glenfield Borough, Haysville Borough, Leet Township, Leetsdale Borough, Osborne Borough, Sewickley Borough, Sewickley Heights Borough, Sewickley Hills Borough, and Fair Oaks Borough. The most famous and most expensive is the Sewickley area. It has a European feel with many old and Victorian homes that can be extremely pricey and beautiful. Sewickley Heights is an exclusive community that is one of the most expensive in all of Pennsylvania, similar to the Fox Chapel manors. Other towns are much more reasonably prices. The district is in Allegheny County and the zip codes are 15143, 15056, and 15310.

[guylocke]

Since I have given these blurbs, hopefully other people will talk about the beauty and feel of certain areas as well as personal experiences. I hope this was a good start! Many of these school districts serve areas that are quite different from one another. Some are from new money, some are old, and several are outside of Allegheny County taxes.

Feel free to ask any questions about other school districts in the... MEGA-THREAD!

[IHeartPA]

Originally Posted by guylocke

Franklin Regional School District

Franklin Regional School District serves an area roughly 18 miles east of Pittsburgh. The main artery to and from this area is I-376 and Rt. 22. It serves the Borough of Murrysville and the towns of Export and Delmont. These places are in Westmoreland County and Murrsville is also a growing area. Property ranges from quite reasonable from old established neighborhoods to extremely expensive in the new development from new wealth. The zip codes are 15668, 15632. and 15262.

This is my personal favorite suburb and school district.

Of course this is my personal favorite suburb and school district, too! I have two children in this school district, one at the middle school level and one at the elementary level. My daughter attends Newlonsburg Elementary. This school has roughly 250 children enrolled. Newlonsburg has a family feel to it, great teachers, staff and administration. Franklin Regional Middle School, although a much higher enrollement, still has the same feel to it as the smaller elementary school.

I love the municipality of Murrysville. Everyone is friendly, welcoming and engaging. Of course, I also feel this way about Pittsburgh proper. My brother lives in Mt. Washington and I still find folks to be warm and friendly.

[guylocke]

IHeartPA, care to tell us a little bit about Murrysville and what you've gathered about Export and Delmont?

[Katiana]

This is a very good idea. I think it should be a "sticky".

[guylocke]

The mega-thread isn't so mega! Why doesn't anyone share their own experiences regarding Pittsburgh school districts? Or if you know a lot about some of the places I mentioned already, speak up! Let's hear it!

[IHeartPA]

Originally Posted by guylocke

IHeartPA, care to tell us a little bit about Murrysville and what you've gathered about Export and Delmont?

Sure! First of all, anyone can go to Murrysville's own website, (Municipality of Murrysville, PA), to find out more about Murrysville.

Murrysville is a beautiful, suburban municipality located about 22 miles east of Pittsburgh. Murrysville has beautiful (both old and new) neighborhoods. Most streets are tree-lined. I liken Murrysville to living in Mayberry RFD as far as the friendliness and warmth of the people, and also that most people know each other. Moving into Murrysville as an outsider has never been a problem for my family. We've been accepted with open arms and people have really gone out of their way to make sure things were going well for us when we first moved here. I also liken Murrysville to living in a Thomas Kinkade painting as I have found most of Murrysville to be very picturesque. The neighborhoods and community are well cared for. Most homes are attractively landscaped. Most of the single family homes are on large lots. Mine, for instance, backs up to a creek (with a small, handmade bridge made by the previous owner to cross over to the other side of the creek) and we have a herd of deer living in the hills. My kids not only like to watch the deer (both day and night), but enjoy throwing the corn out for the herd to eat.

As far as local government and Franklin Regional School District, both welcome input from citizens. From the schools to the municipal offices, people have been engaging, eager to assist and eager to get input from us about how we think things might work better, etc. I find the local government and school board to be very progressive here.

Murrysville is filled with many parks and recreation facilities. There is a great sense of community here with most weekends filled for things to do as a family. Oh, and I think there are around three golf courses here in Murrysville.

There are a lot of national businesses on Hwy. 22. Hallmark, Panera Bread, Wendy's, McDonald's, Dunkin' Donuts, etc. Also, there are a lot of quaint shops to still give Murrysville a hometown feel on Old Wm. Penn Hwy. We have one Giant Eagle, two Shur Save's and a Rite-Aid. There are several banks (PNC, S&T, Citizens--for example) here in Murrysville.

Murrysville is filled mostly (I'd estimate around 96%) with married people who have families (young children).

About Export...I don't believe Export is filled with as many married people with families, but I could be wrong. I'd do a Google search if one really wanted to find the demographics. Export is an old mining town with about 2500 people. I have a nephew who lives in Export with his wife and two small children. Both kids go to Franklin Regional schools. My nephew's house is cute, but Export does not have the same type of well-cared for neighborhoods. Rather, there are pockets of homes that are better maintained than others. Export has a small "downtown" area that has a small ma and pa grocery store, a nail salon, a Moose Lodge, a laundromat, a barber, etc.

Delmont...Delmont is a nice area too. I think Delmont has around 2500 people living there. This area also attends Franklin Regional schools. Most of the people living in Delmont are married with children. I think Delmont has a couple of golf-courses and is, of course, the home of Wal-Mart. I think Delmont probably out of the three towns has the most crime, but I could be wrong. Delmont has a number of banks, restaurants, etc.

That's about all I can think of. GuyLocke, if you have anything else you'd like me to share about these areas, just let me know. Also, please feel free to correct or add your opinion about anything I've posted. Good thread. Thanks for starting it!

[guylocke]

That's about all I can think of. GuyLocke, if you have anything else you'd like me to share about these areas, just let me know. Also, please feel free to correct or add your opinion about anything I've posted. Good thread. Thanks for starting it!

That was perfect!! I agree completely about the progressive nature of the school board and offices. I would also mention that Murrsyville has a really beautiful country club, my friend did their floral arrangement and they were always stunning, just stunning. I know we have some members who can describe Mt. Lebanon, too! Speak up!

[claremarie]

Regarding the North Hills School District, I would characterize most of Ross Township as solidly middle-class (with some lower middle class areas in the neighborhoods adjoining the City of Pittsburgh). There are a few upper-middle class neighborhoods near the border with McCandless, but the vast majority of homes are well within the range of middle-class families, which, combined with the good reputation of the schools, makes it an affordable choice for families with one parent staying at home.
Most of West View is closer to lower-middle class. There are only two homes currently on the market for more than $200K and (incredibly to me as a DC resident), more than 30 homes offered at under $100K.

[LadyOfTheLake]

My kids have been in both Quaker Valley and Moon Area school districts. Quaker Valley is far, far better. There are only 1900 kids in the entire district, comprising 11 townships and boroughs. Some of these have more of an urban feel to them, others are rural. The district is also pretty economically diverse--you've got a mixture of upper, middle, and lower classes of kids all rolled into one. There are two elementary schools (Osborne and Edgeworth), one middle school, and one high school. The district spends approximately $17,283 per student and graduates around 99% of all students. (I've seen numbers between 96% and 100%, depending on the year.) Around 94% go directly to four year colleges and universities.

All four schools are National Blue Ribbon Schools. The high school is also recognized as a Pennsylvania Digital School. QV is often regarded as one of the best and academically top-ranked school districts in the nation. In the spring of 2006, US News and World Report ranked Quaker Valley High School among the top 2% of high schools nationwide.

The high school is particularly known for its quality, international-level education. The school district is proud to be one of the first fifteen U.S. districts (and the first district in Pennsylvania) to offer the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme. It has also been named among the best 100 schools in the nation for music education. Quaker Valley has been ranked in a University of Pittsburgh study to be first in the region in use of technology, as an Apple Distinguished School for technology, and as a 2004 recipient of the Technology in Action Award (AASA). The high school offers CISCO classes, furthering student knowledge in advanced technology. It also offers 11 AP subjects in addition to IB: English Literature, AB Calculus, BC Calculus, German, Spanish Language, U.S. History, European History, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, and Computer Science, with over 20 more offered as part of APEX. Kids in grades 10-12 can also cross register at Parkway CTC to further their technology learning.

QV borders Moon Area, Cornell, Ambridge, Avonworth, and Franklin Park (North Allegheny).

Here is the website: Quaker Valley School District

Some of the boroughs are expensive to live in because home prices are ridiculous (Sewickley Heights), but others such as Fair Oaks are pretty cheap.

There are also private schools in the district as well: Sewickley Academy (costs more than Harvard), St. James Catholic School, and Eden Christian Academy.

There's lots of old money here, but as I've stressed in other threads, most people aren't wealthy.

QV was part of a pilot program in which every child got his or her own laptop starting in 3rd grade. Once the grant was up, they evaluated and realized that the kids that were best served by this were high schoolers. In the younger grades, kids need to learn to read, write, and spell before you can hand them a computer, not to mention that if they lose it, well, you were out of luck.

The results of the evaluation can be found here: http://www.k12blueprint.com/k12/blue...RAND_TR107.pdf


I think Fox Chapel, Mt. Lebanon, and USC are overrated--or maybe it would be better to say that QV is underrated by Pittsburghers. They are far larger than QV, but that doesn't mean they're better. The only thing USC has going for it is the IB program, IMO. Fox Chapel has more money than God. My ex-husband graduated from Fox Chapel and could barely read and write. And Mt. Lebanon...I've never understood why they're ranked so highly by Pittsburghers. I've lived all over this city--including most of the school districts on the list--and IMO QV is the best, followed by North Allegheny.

PS--I graduated from Pittsburgh Public Schools.