Roseville vs Fair Oaks (Sacramento, Orange: for sale, real estate, apartments)

[coast-coast]

My wife and I and our 2 1/2 year old daughter are moving to the Sacramento area this summer and we've narrowed our house search to Roseville and Fair Oaks. Both seem to have a good number of houses in our price range ($200,000-300,000) and the schools in both areas look good. I'll be working from home and my wife is a nurse who isn't sure where she'll be working yet, so commuting isn't an issue at this point.

I'd really appreciate locals take on the pros and cons of each area and just a comparison on issues like crime, general atmosphere, unique character, tree coverage, parks and fun outdoor family stuff to do, particularly good or bad neighborhoods in each area, etc.

Thanks so much.

[LivingLawge]

I live in Fair Oaks and spend a lot of time in Roseville. The two towns are different, for sure. Roseville schools are better than Fair Oaks schools only because some of the best schools in Fair Oaks area you have to open enroll into and aren't guaranteed a spot. If I had to just enter a school district, it would be in Roseville. My kids go to school in Rocklin and not at the school we are assigned to because it is not good. Fair Oaks is older, established, etc... There will not be anymore growth or expansion. Some people like the old Fair Oaks area because it is quaint. I do not, but I can't stand the chickens that run around free there. Roseville depends also on what part of Roseville as that varies as to what the area looks like. If your wife is a nurse, the hospitals in both areas would not be much of a commute. Roseville (depending on where) can be more cookie cutter, suburban. I like that, but some people don't. However, some of Roseville isn't like that at all. It really does vary, but that would be in the older section of Roseville, which I don't personally care for because of the layout. I think it all comes down to taste and what is most important to you. I could answer specific questions (well, give my opinion) if you have them, but it would be based on what I like. Hope you can narrow it down!

[coast-coast]

Do you mind telling me what schools your kids are zoned to in Fair Oaks?

[edwardius]

Where in Roseville are you looking at vs where in Fair Oaks are you looking at?

Some of the schools in Roseville are in program improvement (like Cirby Elementary). No school in Fair Oaks is in program improvement.

Map: See every local school on state watch list - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

If you want to compare the schools in two areas, figure out what specific schools your child will be attending in both Roseville and Fair Oaks and then compare those two schools. The variances are much bigger between schools in each district than between test scores among districts.

[coast-coast]

Edwardius,

Thanks for the reply.

We've been focusing on East Roseville, especially the Cirby Ranch and Maidu areas. In Fair Oaks we're focusing on the area south of Madison.

We will definitely research specific schools closely, once we've started identifying likely houses in either area.

[edwardius]

First start with the school performance maps here. That will give you a general idea of where the good schools in a specific neighborhood are. But then contact the school district to get the current attendance maps for the schools you are most interested in and figure out if the schools you are interested in are over-enrolled. You don't want to pay a premium for a neighborhood school, only to find out that your child can't actually attend it.

California School Performance Maps

Neither Fair Oaks nor Roseville are particularly high crime areas. Nevertheless its probably worthwhile spending sometime here to see which crimes are happening in both areas.

Online feature - Crimemapper - sacbee.com

Lastly you might want to spend sometime checking out the Meagan's law database. It tells you where the registered sex offenders live, but its also not a bad proxy for figuring out where the parolees end up.

California Megan's Law - California Department of Justice - Office of the Attorney General

Lastly this is the craigslist housing ads in map form. Once you find a school you are interested in, you can see how much homes are selling for in that neighborhood.

HousingMaps

This site does the same thing but with the mls.

HotPads - Map Search for Real Estate, Apartments & Houses for Rent, Foreclosures and Homes for Sale

[LivingLawge]

I am zoned for Northridge Elementary. Would not send my kids there, and have visited the school as well. Many people have moved to the area thinking because they lived next to a school they could go there, only to find out it is open enrollment only. San Juan Unified is not my favorite school district, but it isn't terrible. Looking at school based on test scores and data is hard until you see the school and the environment, the demeanor of teachers, etc... However, if you have a child that would do well no matter what, it won't be that big of an issue. Many kids go to the schools I wouldn't send mine to and survive and thrive just fine.

[shelato]

You can read about the open enrollment policy in the San Juan School District here.

http://www.sanjuan.edu/files/filesys...re%2010-11.pdf

In the San Juan School District are schools are open enrollment on a space available basis. That means if you don't like your neighborhood school and want to send your child to a different school in the district, the district will permit it if there is space available in the school you want to send your child to. But the parent is responsible for getting there child to and from that school when the child lives outside the school's normal attendance boundary. If you live in Orangevale and want to send your kids to Sierra Oaks, the school district isn't going to provide a special bus so you can send your kid to a school at the other end of the district. If you live in Orangevale and want to send your kids to Sierra Oaks, you need to provide transportation to and from Sierra Oaks to your home.

But where you live does matter in terms of priority in getting your child into a school. Especially when a school starts to fill up.

In a school that is full or close to full, first priority goes to current students and siblings of current students. The next priority is people who live in the schools attendance area. For Northridge elementary it would be students whose parents live within the boundaries of this map.

http://www.sanjuan.edu/files/filesystem/documents/NorthridgeElem.pdf (broken link)

Then and only then does the district start admitting people from outside the schools normal attendance zone into the school. But if you lived near Northridge Elementary and wanted to send your kids to the local neighborhood school, your child would have a preference for getting into the school.

[LivingLawge]

To clarify, just in case. I am not a fan of Northridge. And there are schools within SJUSD that are open enrollment only. Which means the only way to get in is through a lottery system of sorts. It doesn't matter if you live close by them, only if your name is picked from the computer system. The ones close to Fair Oaks are: Orangevale Open and Cambridge Heights. I have friends whose children go to both of these and they are very happy. We did not get into either when we originally tried when my son started Kindergarten, so we went outside the district to a Rocklin charter school.

[CityGirl72]

We live in Fair Oaks by choice - our other choice for family was Folsom. I like Folsom much more than Roseville.

We live where our son would go to Twin Lakes elementary - but I wanted him to go to Earl Legette. What I found out from my friend who works in the school ditrict is, Fair Oaks was the Folsom/Roseville of the 80s. Now the majority of those families have grown up leaving more spots open in the schools.

All I did was ask the district for the school I wanted - and they had plenty of room.

Earl Legette is a 9 stars (out of 10) at GreatSchools.net