Mount Lebanon commute too long to CMU? (Fox Chapel, Oakland: real estate, chapel)

[morefromcali]

Originally Posted by Hopes

The T only goes into downtown. There is no subway going from downtown to Oakland.

Heck, there is no subway going anywhere. It just loops around the immediate downtown area.

Oh, that's too bad

[pghlibrarian]

Originally Posted by morefromcali

Doesn't the T go to CMU from Mt Lebanon? Would that be a viable option?

The T goes from Mt. Lebanon to Downtown. There are good bus connections from Downtown to Oakland and CMU as well. We're moving near South Hills Village next month and my partner will be taking the T and the bus to Pitt in Oakland when we move.

We took the T and then the bus to Oakland in March when we visited and it took about an hour each way, which may seem like a long commute by Pittsburgh standards, but is easy compared to a DC commute. Parking at Pitt is awful, and he's not a big "commute by car" kind of person, so this should work fine for him. It's not perfect, but it better than driving.

[likepgh]

"You might want to give another look at homes in the Squirrel Hill area. The public schools there are pretty good, especially at the younger grades. We just bought a house one block from Minadeo w/ the idea that we do not want to send our children to private school. Mt Lebanon school district is second to none, but we were drawn to the easy access of Squirrel Hill."

I second trlstreet's advice. We also live near Minadeo and send our daughter there. We've been happy with the school so far (albeit only a year) and impressed with the level of education. Go on-line to the Pittsburgh Public Schools and the Mt. Lebanon school sites and you will see that Minadeo's test scores compare quite favorably with the Mt. Lebanon elementary schools, especially if you adjust for poverty levels. Minadeo feeds to a magnet middle school and then to Allderdice which remains one of the best non-magnet urban public high schools you can find anywhere.

When moving to Pittsburgh from other areas, a lot of people assume that the city public schools here must be as terrible as in other metro areas and not even worth considering. If you're looking at the East End, particularly Squirrel Hill, that's not the case. Mt. Lebanon is a nice suburb and there are a lot of people who commute from there to Oakland, but if you want a more urban neighborhood like Squirrel Hill, it would be shame to dismiss it based on an assumption that you would need private school tuition to live in the city.

[city or suburb]

thanks for the positive feedback on the schools in the squirrel hill area. maybe we'll be able to work something out - we'll look into it more. i'm excited to hear something that isn't negative about the pittsburgh schools... and i need to look into minadeo - i hadn't heard of it yet. we are a little behind schedule with respect to making this move. thanks.

[john123321]

Originally Posted by city or suburb

My husband and I are relocating to the Pittsburgh area this summer and are torn regarding which neighborhood/suburb to move to. He will be working at CMU and I, at least for now, will be staying at home with the kids. If I do go back to work, chances are good that it will be downtown.

While we love Shadyside and Squirrel Hill, and possibly some of the other downtown neighborhoods like Point Breeze and Oakmont, we just don't think we can afford private schools, which takes us to Mount Lebanon. From what we can tell, though, the commute would be horrible...does anyone know just how bad it really is? He would probably leave around 8am and come back leaving CMU around 6. What is the best time scenario (say not during rush hour), and what is the worst? The last time we came to visit Pittsburgh was on the 23rd of December and it was raining and really a miserable drive from downtown Pittsburgh to Mt Lebanon, but the school system and nice downtown area keeps us going back to it. We'll be back in town soon to try to test this out for ourselves, but any feedback would really be appreciated.

If you live in Squirrel Hill, you can send your kid to PGH public schools and feed into Alderdice High School, which is a better school than 90% of suburban high schools.

[5stones]

sorry to differ with you but Allderdice isn't better than Mt Lebanon HS.

Look at several different sites and compare scores and ratings. MtLebo is known as one of the BEST public HS in the area! Upper St Calir is also extremely good.

Allderdice is one a the best public HS in the Pittsburg public schools system I'd agree with you on that. North Hills and Fox are very good as well.

[john123321]

I said it was better than 90% of the suburban schools...clearly Mt. Lebo is in that other percentile. But this person said they wanted live in the CITY but worried the schools were bad. I was assuring her that in Squirrel Hill that just isn't the case.

Besides, is there really a big difference between sending your kid to the 12th best school in the region or the 2nd best? I doubt it.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by john123321

Besides, is there really a big difference between sending your kid to the 12th best school in the region or the 2nd best? I doubt it.

There's a huge difference!

You need to look at state rankings to get a true idea of county rankings.

For instance, let's take Mt. Lebanon and Alderdice since they are being discussed right now.


The county high school ranking:
Mt. Lebanon---1st out of 64
Allderdice---27th out of 64
(btw, that's not the top 10%----heck it's not even the top 40% )

The state high school ranking:
Mt. Lebanon---6th out of 693
Allderdice---318th out of 693
(btw, that's not the top 40% either! )

The following Allegheny County schools rank higher than Allderdice in county rankings:

1 Mt Lebanon
2 Upper Saint Clair
3 Moon
4 Hampton
5 Quaker Valley
6 Bethel Park
7 North Hills
8 Fox Chapel
9 Pine-Richland
10 Baldwin
11 Deer Lakes
12 South Fayette
13 North Allegheny
14 West Allegheny
15 Riverview
16 Thomas Jefferson
17 Carlynton
18 South Park
19 Plum
20 Gateway
21 Northgate
22 Shaler Area
23 Montour
24 Avonworth
25 Elizabeth Forward
26 Pittsburgh Hs Creat & Per Arts

The following schools in the greater pittsburgh area (allegheny and surrounding counties) rank higher than Allderdice in state rankings:

Mt. Lebanon (Allegheny County) 6th out of 693
Franklin Regional (Westmoreland County) 24th out of 693
Peters Township (Washington County) 26th out of 693
Upper St. Clair (Allegheny County) 27th out of 693
Moon (Allegheny County) 30th out of 693
Hampton (Allegheny County) 40th out of 693
Quaker Valley (Allegheny County) 43rd out of 693
Bethel Park (Allegheny County) 52nd out of 693
North Hills (Allegheny County) 55th out of 693
Greensburg-Salem (Westmoreland County) 63rd out of 693
West Shamokin (Armstrong County) 71st out of 693
Fox Chapel (Allegheny County) 75th out of 693
Pine Richland (Allegheny County) 80th out of 693
Baldwin (Allegheny County) 82nd out of 693
Deer Lakes (Allegheny County) 89th out of 693
Elderton (Armstrong County) 90th out of 693
South Fayette (Allegheny County) 95th out of 693
Mount Pleasant Area (Westmoreland County) 99th out of 693
North Allegheny (Allegheny County) 100th out of 693
Penn Trafford (Westmoreland) 103rd out of 693
Laurel Valley (Westmoreland) 115th out of 693
Leechburg Area (Armstrong) 116th out of 693
West Allegheny (Allegheny) 121st out of 693
Hempfield (Westmoreland) 134th out of 693
Belle Vernon (Westmoreland) 140th out of 693
Ford City (Armstrong) 141st out of 693
Greater Latrobe (Westmoreland) 143rd out of 693
Ligonier Valley (Westmoreland) 148th out of 693
Riverview (Allegheny) 150th out of 693
Thomas Jefferson (Allegheny) 151st out of 693
Burrell (Westmoreland) 163rd out of 693
Carlynton (Allegheny) 164th out of 693
Freeport ARea (Armstrong) 167th out of 693
Kiski Area (Westmoreland) 170th out of 693
Kittanning (Armstrong) 171st out of 693
South Park (Allegheny) 180th out of 693
Mars Area (Butler) 189th out of 693
Monessen (Westmoreland) 191st out of 693
Plum (Allegheny) 194th out of 693
Gateway (Allegheny) 205th out of 693
Riverside (Beaver) 211th out of 693
Yough (Westmoreland) 216th out of 693
Canon-McMillan (Washington) 217th out of 693
Derry Area (Westmoreland) 219th out of 693
Shaler Area (Allegheny) 232nd out of 693
Apollo-Ridge (Armstrong) 238th out of 693
Beaver Area (Beaver) 239th out of 693
Southside (Beaver) 256th out of 693
Freedom (Beaver) 269th out of 693
Montour (Allegheny) 276th out of 693
Knoch (Butler) 288 out of 693
Slippery Rock (Butler) 293 out of 693
Avonworth (Allegheny) 294 out of 693
Elizabeth Forward (Allegheny) 302 out of 693
Pittsburgh Center for Per. Arts (Allegheny) 311th out of 693
Southmoreland (Westmoreland) 315 out of 693
(btw, that's not the top 50%)

I have nothing against Allderdice. I just don't think it's fair to make inaccurate statements when people are depending on us for accurate information. Buying a house is a huge investment. Allderdice is a fine school. Many weathy families in the area chose to send their children to Allderdice. But the OP needs to know that type of information to make the judgement call. Just saying "it's better than most suburban schools" isn't accurate.

Data was compiled from the following site: Ranking of High Schools in Pennsylvania

[city or suburb]

wow...thanks for all of that info. we're starting to lean towards renting for a year b/c we can't decide. i can't tell you the burden this entire school issue is for us... and - as a mom - i feel a lot of pressure to make the right decisions... somehow my in-laws who both have no education beyond high school managed to make the right decisions for their two kids who then went on to receive graduate degrees from ivy league schools... i've seen how making the right decisions can help pave the way for a child... at least to an extent ... i guess if a kid wants to excel she/he will find a way to do it know matter where they are...so much to think about. but... the stats do help a lot to keep it all in the proper perspective.

[CaptainObvious]

Seriously, it would tick me off more to know the 1 mile from Squirrel Hill to Oakland was taking me 20 minutes to drive in rush hour than it would to make the 45 minutes trek in from Mt. Lebo. Also, Mt. Lebo homes are an unbeliveable deal right now- many many homes for sale and prices on the decline (empty-nesters leaving town). The school district in both places are great- I'd probably give a slight edge to Mt. Lebo. For my money, I'd go with Mt. Lebo.

Regards,
Captain O