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We are exploring a move to Rochester as we have family in the area. We currently live in a state where there is no such thing as gifted/talented programming or any type of enrichment for kids who are ahead of grade level and bored in the regular classroom.
On their website, it seems like Penfield offers a lot of great options starting at the elementary level for kids in this situation, but I'm wondering if they actually put it into practice or if its just fluff on their website. If you have any experience with this and can recommend (or NOT recommend) a specific district that would be amazing! Thanks!
We are exploring a move to Rochester as we have family in the area. We currently live in a state where there is no such thing as gifted/talented programming or any type of enrichment for kids who are ahead of grade level and bored in the regular classroom.
On their website, it seems like Penfield offers a lot of great options starting at the elementary level for kids in this situation, but I'm wondering if they actually put it into practice or if its just fluff on their website. If you have any experience with this and can recommend (or NOT recommend) a specific district that would be amazing! Thanks!
If you ask this question to most people in the area they will respond with something along the lines of Pittsford, Brighton, Penfield, Fairport, Victor, etc. (most eastside burbs). But honestly pretty much all Rochester suburbs have pretty good schools, including the westside burbs. My kids go to Brockport now and we absolutely love the school district. Our kids started off in the Churchville-Chili district and had nothing but go things to say about that district as well.
Are there other things you would be looking for when decided where to move? Or is a good school district your top priority? Proximity to work and family? More rural or urban? Diversity? That info would help others when recommending options. Good luck!
That is great to hear you've had good experiences in two different districts!
Really our priority is a solid school district that can meet kids where they are whether that is ahead or behind their peers. We bought the house we live in now (in MA) thinking it was our "forever home" and knowing that our schools were rated mediocre-ly but supposedly better in reality, and now that our oldest kid is finally in school we are realizing things have gone from mediocre to pretty crappy. We are switching our oldest to private school but the thought of shelling out $20k a year times 3 kids for the rest of their education is insane when there are places we can live with good public schools and a MUCH cheaper house to boot.
Family lives in Gates but we don't need to be super close to them since we'll be so much closer than we are right now. I'll be working from home so that part also doesn't really matter. Ideally I'd like to live in a neighborhood where my kids can bike / walk with their friends without cars speeding by, and a town that is family friendly and has good recreation opportunities - but it seems like almost all the Rochester suburbs meet most of those things.
That is great to hear you've had good experiences in two different districts!
Really our priority is a solid school district that can meet kids where they are whether that is ahead or behind their peers. We bought the house we live in now (in MA) thinking it was our "forever home" and knowing that our schools were rated mediocre-ly but supposedly better in reality, and now that our oldest kid is finally in school we are realizing things have gone from mediocre to pretty crappy. We are switching our oldest to private school but the thought of shelling out $20k a year times 3 kids for the rest of their education is insane when there are places we can live with good public schools and a MUCH cheaper house to boot.
Family lives in Gates but we don't need to be super close to them since we'll be so much closer than we are right now. I'll be working from home so that part also doesn't really matter. Ideally I'd like to live in a neighborhood where my kids can bike / walk with their friends without cars speeding by, and a town that is family friendly and has good recreation opportunities - but it seems like almost all the Rochester suburbs meet most of those things.
Gotcha, everything you described is exactly why I moved to Brockport. I also wanted to really feel part of a community rather than just a big suburb. But honestly I think your best bet would be to do a little more research and maybe try and narrow down your search to say 3-5 areas and try and come for a visit and spend a little time in each area. Like I said before, I much prefer the westside suburbs, IMO it is much more middle-class, family and community oriented, down to earth kind of people. By comparison the east side burbs are more affluent with a more keeping-up-with-the-Joneses kind of mentality, which I'm not big on. But like I said, this is my personal opinion.
If you have any experience with this and can recommend (or NOT recommend) a specific district that would be amazing! Thanks!
I don't have any issues with Gates. I even lived there when I was young, but it would probably be my last choice, followed by East Rochester and East Irondequoit. I'm not saying these are bad areas, it's just there are so many good and even great choices to choose from.
Something to consider with Gates, OP is that its western portion is actually in the very good Spencerport SD. Many generally think of the Gates-Chili SD(not bad, but it isn’t as highly regarded as many of the other suburban SD’s). A sibling and their spouse who grew up there/attended G-C Schools, still live in the Chili portion of the SD(newer portion near Paul Rd.), but went the private school route(either Rochester or Northstar Christian and Allendale Columbia).
As others said, this is more about preference and other factors, as suburban SD’s in the area are at the very least above average in most categories.
Last edited by ckhthankgod; 02-19-2020 at 10:57 AM..
Something to consider with Gates, OP is that its western portion is actually in the very good Spencerport SD.
I think this is the most confusing thing for me as a non-Rochester native - figuring out what houses go with what school districts! Is there some guideline / borders that are posted somewhere? I've been putting addresses into the tax website and pulling where each house pays school tax but not sure if there's a more obvious way to figure this out!
OP, if you're looking for advice from people here, could you provide an idea of what your needs in a house are and/or an idea of what your budget will be?
Looking for 3, maybe 4 bedrooms, at least 1800 square feet, a mid sized yard. We can afford up to $475k but ideally would spend around $350ish.
That narrows it down. You can live in any town you want. I think you mentioned Penfield. I'd go with that.
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