Pleasant Valley Elementary School and Variances (live, relocate to, office)

[bbbmmmlll]

My family is about to relocate to the Damonte Ranch area. I was expecting that my daughter would go to Brown, but it looks like we're in an area that would cause her to go to Pleasant Valley Elementary School 7.5 miles away.

Needless to say we didn't scout out Pleasant Valley when we were there so we don't have a feel for it other than it seems to be not quite as strong as Brown based on test scores, an older school and has students from all over. What is most concerning is that it looks like my daughter will be far from all her classmates which is a problem we have with her current school - she's 15 minutes from school and none of friends lived anywhere near us. We were hoping to have some of her friends nearby.

So my questions:
1 - Does anyone have an experience with Pleasant Valley?
2 - Any idea how difficult a variance would be to get? Seems like Brown is pretty crowed so I'm guessing it wouldn't be approved. The Brown front office tells me it's impossible.

Thanks!

[mama78]

My son is going to first grade in Pleasant Valley and I am happy! I got variance for him in order to avoid Double Diamonds Elementary. PVE scored pretty high last year, and yes Brown has better ratings, but it's also crowded and year around. I am a fan of traditional track and small school, and PVE is perfect size for my child-arround 400 students. I would not worry about the distance to much, you can always give her a ride for play dates etc. I have had many teachers recommending this school for my boy