Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Pennsylvania > Pittsburgh
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 08-19-2015, 07:38 PM
 
189 posts, read 164,780 times
Reputation: 297

Advertisements

duplo: Wow, that doesn't seem right. I'm not doubting you, but I'd maybe try to go up the food chain to get an answer. Or maybe whoever you called doesn't know. I work in this field, never heard of a district not sharing school attendance areas. Especially to "non-residents," who would be the ones asking...
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 08-20-2015, 08:07 AM
 
398 posts, read 699,062 times
Reputation: 251
If you call them, they will answer questions about specific houses. The reason they don't publish maps is because they're embarrassed about how imbalanced the feeder patterns are and about the gerry-mandering they've started to do (e.g. a new apartment complex that is very close to O'Hara is instead bused to Kerr, whereas new mansions get to go to neighborhood schools).
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-20-2015, 08:16 AM
 
398 posts, read 699,062 times
Reputation: 251
Quote:
Originally Posted by I_Like_Spam View Post
But they are subject to change, some of my relatives lived in Indiana Township near Middle Road, and attended Dorseyville Elementary, but now that isn't the case, they redrew the lines.
Was that decades ago? There's no Dorseyville Elementary.

We actually have the opposite problem in FCASD now -- they desperately need to redraw the feeder pattern lines, but won't. The school board is made up of small business people who run because they want publicity for their small businesses, period. They're not going to grapple with any challenges facing the district if it means doing anything difficult.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-20-2015, 08:30 AM
 
994 posts, read 895,120 times
Reputation: 923
Quote:
Originally Posted by duplo View Post
MamieRose: I actually contacted the district directly but they were unwilling to provide any data to non-residents. Surprisingly they suggested talking to an area real-estate agent as they apparently have an unofficial map!?!
It should be pretty clear by now. They want to keep riff raff like you (and me) out. Why in the world would they not be willing to tell you what school an address feeds into? What kind of crap is that? You are viewed as a threat.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-20-2015, 08:36 AM
 
12 posts, read 15,688 times
Reputation: 15
Quote:
Originally Posted by caroline2 View Post
We actually have the opposite problem in FCASD now -- they desperately need to redraw the feeder pattern lines, but won't. The school board is made up of small business people who run because they want publicity for their small businesses, period. They're not going to grapple with any challenges facing the district if it means doing anything difficult.
Are you currently in FCASD? This doesn't seem like a recipe for a high quality school district so I'm surprised the board is still in place...
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-20-2015, 09:30 AM
gg
 
Location: Pittsburgh
26,137 posts, read 25,783,846 times
Reputation: 17378
Quote:
Originally Posted by duplo View Post
Are you currently in FCASD? This doesn't seem like a recipe for a high quality school district so I'm surprised the board is still in place...
Why because one person on the Internet says something negative? Sounds about right for the Internet folks.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-20-2015, 10:01 AM
 
8,090 posts, read 6,900,139 times
Reputation: 9225
Quote:
Originally Posted by duplo View Post
If school quality is a top criteria for buying a house, isn't it normal to research schools and their boundaries first and then look for houses specifically in those areas? It seems backwards to pick a house first and then find out what school it's in.

In particular, I'm researching the boundaries for O'Hara and Fairview elementary.

You can search Zillow for specific schools.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-20-2015, 11:33 AM
 
398 posts, read 699,062 times
Reputation: 251
Quote:
Originally Posted by gladhands View Post
You can search Zillow for specific schools.
Zillow gives you the closest school as the crow fliest; it has no data on feeder patterns.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-20-2015, 02:58 PM
 
419 posts, read 443,167 times
Reputation: 323
Quote:
Originally Posted by MountainDewGuy View Post
It should be pretty clear by now. They want to keep riff raff like you (and me) out. Why in the world would they not be willing to tell you what school an address feeds into? What kind of crap is that? You are viewed as a threat.
As a proud alumnus of Kerr Elementary Class of 1977, I can proclaim that there was no riff raff there in the 1970s. Sharpsburg had their own school, Linden Elementary and also Madonna. Kerr was primarily middle to upper middle class families from Western O'Hara and eastern portions of Fox Chapel off of Hunt Road and parts of Old Mill Road. But even then, there was no Section 8 in Sharpsburg. They were home owners, many of Italian descent, whom I met when I went to Fox Chapel High. Sharpsburg, Aspinwall and Blawnox kids went to O'Hara Junior High at the time, along with eastern O'Hara, and the bulk of Fox Chapel. Dorseyville Junior High was western O"Hara,, a small portion of Fox Chapel, and Indiana Twp. The "riff raff" started to come along in the early 1990s as the housing stock in Sharpsburg grew older along with their owners. Many of these homes were bought and cut up into the apartments. Many of the tenants were being priced out of the East End. Section 8 housing was also available off of Penn Street and 11th.
From what I have heard, many parents resent having their kids from Fox Chapel and O"Hara McMansions have to go to school with someone who rents in Sharpsburg and does not have to pay school taxes. These kids are looked down upon and are sometimes called "River Rats." That was not the case when I went there. Times change.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-23-2015, 08:17 PM
 
12 posts, read 15,688 times
Reputation: 15
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rocket88 View Post
...The "riff raff" started to come along in the early 1990s as the housing stock in Sharpsburg grew older along with their owners....From what I have heard, many parents resent having their kids from Fox Chapel and O"Hara McMansions have to go to school with someone who rents in Sharpsburg and does not have to pay school taxes. These kids are looked down upon and are sometimes called "River Rats."
With talk of "River Rats," the fact that they don't publish official enrollment area maps (presumably due to gerrymandering?), and from reading a few other threads it seems like Fox Chapel might be snobbish?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Pennsylvania > Pittsburgh

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top