Some questions for a gay family thinking of relocating to Shingle Springs (San Francisco: co-op, home)

[brikag]

Before the questions are asked, we would like to say that we are a same-sex couple (male), with children, thinking of relocating to the Shingle Springs area. We know that there is a certain amount of tolerance to each and every city/town. We're a fairly quiet family. We do not decorate our front lawn with Pride flags. We attend PTA meetings at our children schools. Go shopping at the malls and grocery stores like everyone. It goes w/o saying we understand not all cities/towns are totally tolerant and accepting.
These are some of the questions....

1). Will our children have situations at school, ie., harassment or intolerance, from not only the school kids, but from the faculty and administrators, as well?

2). Is Ponderosa HS one of the better schools in the area?

3.) What is a realistic commute time from Shingle Springs to downtown Sacramento?

4). Lasty, are GLBT families fairly accepted in the community and surrounding areas?

We would like to thank you for your patience. I know we're probably beating a dead horse with this topic, but we have to do our homework before we decide what is best for us and our children.

In conclusion, if you are a GLBT family or know of one, your responses would be highly appreciated.

Thank You!

[Tims1977]

Do some research on Senate Bill (SB) 777. This bill prohibits school administrators from engaging in or enabling harassment based on (among other things) gender in the California public school system. I don't live in CA but I believe the bill passed and Governor Schwartzenagger signed it into law.

I will try to answer your question as best as I can. I grew up in the Sacramento area and attended high school in the early and mid nineties. I knew of one person who was gay who was harassed and taunted unlike anything I had ever heard of or could imagine. After high school he escaped to San Francisco where he became a dancer. But, yeah, those were hard times to be gay unless you lived in either New York City, San Francisco or L.A. Lesbians in Sacramento had it easier back then. In 1995 my mom went to a baby shower for a lesbian couple which was well attended and supported. In my senior year girls were already starting to come out but most guys who were gay were still in the closet.

But my long distance view of Sacramento is that it must be more accepting and tolerant of male homosexuals then it was a decade ago. When I go to myspace and view the profiles of my classmates from high school it is surprising to see that a few of them who I never would have suspected of being gay are now openly "out." They obviously don't fear any reprisals from their former and current friends by publicizing their sexual preferences. I imagine if these people (who still live in the Sacramento area) can freely embrace their lifestyles then a progressive shift in thinking must have ocurred. But keep in mind that my views are probably not very accurate. California in general seems like a liberal place to me now because I've been living for the last twelve years in a staunchly conservative part of the country where all things like pot, gay sex and atheism are not tolerated in the least. I still imagine that Sacramento has a long way to go if it is ever going to be like San Francisco. But the cost of living in that city is high, and wherever there is a high cost of living you will find a lot of sophisticated and smart people. And sophisticated and smart people generally aren't the social conservative types. They usually have enough common sense and pragmatism to not judge people. They are too busy chasing after their own dreams and successes.

[cityx]

Originally Posted by Tims1977

And sophisticated and smart people generally aren't the social conservative types. They usually have enough common sense and pragmatism to not judge people. They are too busy chasing after their own dreams and successes.

Nice. Very well put indeed!

[brikag]

And sophisticated and smart people generally aren't the social conservative types. They usually have enough common sense and pragmatism to not judge people. They are too busy chasing after their own dreams and successes.



Very well put, Tims1977!!!! Thank you for the positive input! It will make our decision easier!

[justducky2]

Hello brikag, I live in Shingle Springs, and I would welcome your family! I'm a former teacher, am a freethinker, and embrace diversity.

1). Will our children have situations at school, ie., harassment or intolerance, from not only the school kids, but from the faculty and administrators, as well?

I don't know how old your kids are. If you live in Shingle Springs proper, not Cameron Park, they would attend Buckeye Elementary. I love Buckeye. It is a little country school. My daughter has a classmate who also went there - who had multiple issues that could have been picked on. She was immediately accepted and treated like everyone else...there was no bullying. At the middle school, too, there was no bullying. In fact, my daughter was being bullied, and the school jumped right on it and took care of the problem. Knowing the administrators and faculty at Buckeye El and the middle school, I don't think that you'll have a problem. Someone I know who works at another local school district further east, I know that there is a male same-sex couple with kids there, and nobody on staff thinks twice about it - they are another family in the district.

2). Is Ponderosa HS one of the better schools in the area?
Yes; it would actually be my first choice. El Dorado in Placerville wouldn't be a first choice for me; there are some middle schools that feed into it that have some kids that tend to get into trouble, although they realigned the district last year, and now some of the kids from the Lotus/Coloma area will now attend there, which hopefully will better that situation, although those kids used to go to Pondo and those parents are pretty darn unhappy that they have to go to El Dorado now. Union Mine High School is the newest school in the district, in Diamond Springs. Hmm...I don't know what the tolerance would be there. Lower socio-economics there, more in the country, not sure. Oak Ridge High School is in El Dorado Hills, rich kids there. El Dorado Hills is very conservative. I'm not sure that you would be happy there.

3.) What is a realistic commute time from Shingle Springs to downtown Sacramento?
I did that commute for 5 years. It depends on what time you leave home, and how far out in the country you are in Shingle Springs. If you are near the freeway, it's 45 minutes with no traffic; an hour to an hour and 15 minutes with traffic, and sometimes when it rains hard, there's an accident, or it's Friday during ski season it can be 1 1/2 to 2 hours to get home (but that's not often). There are also commuter buses and light rail (you pick up light rail in Folsom).

4). Lasty, are GLBT families fairly accepted in the community and surrounding areas?
I've heard through the grapevine that there are a number of GLBT families in the Somerset or "South County" area; I don't know if that is true, or not. Personally, I think it depends on your family and how you personify yourselves. If you aren't flying rainbow flags and not being in people's faces about it, I personally think you would be fine. With the families I know, anyways, you would be accepted. That said, this is a conservative, Republican county, and frankly, there are some rednecks around, I don't want to mislead you on that.

Best wishes to you and your family, whatever you decide. If I can be of further assistance, please let me know.

[moovin]

Go to greatschools.com and search for Ponderosa High in Shingle Springs. Check the test scores. Those are generally a good indicator of the health and quality of a school. Last I remember Ponderosa was in the low 800s or something which is quite good. Folsom, Granite Bay, and Rocklin faired marginally better at between 830ish and 840ish... It's all good.

[brikag]

Justducky2,
Thank you very much! We haven't made our big move yet. We are looking at a 2-3 year time frame. We are "putting our ducks in a row" kind of mentallity phase in our lives right now. We looked all over the US and asked the same questions and received different, but clarifying answers. We like the Sacramento area, but we are still looking. We were in the area in '06 and we liked the area. And you are right, we don't flaunt our lifestyle to the public. It just seems some people are not ready for it. And that's ok.
Thank you very much.

Moovin,
Thank you very much for your info! Funny that you mentioned Greatschools.com. That's how we came to the conclusion that we should concider the area. Their API were very high for the area...one of the top ten in the state, may be. But thank you, once again! We have greatscools bookmarked in our school file. It is such a huge asset to have when concidering a place to live.

Thank you to Everyone!!!!!!

[girll]

well i think no matter where they go there will always be that idiot who likes to bother others but i wouldn't know, i am also thinking of moving there when i am 18 im not gay but i would not make fun of or harass your children just wanna show my support so good luck and let me know how it is if you decide to move in because i wouldn't want to move into a homophobic town

[Jimbo15]

I suspect in Shingle Springs most people probably wouldn't care if you were gay and I would be very suprised if you ever actually confronted direct homophobia. A big chunk of the audience for both Rosie ODonnel and Ellen Degeneris is stay at home Republican moms. I think a lot of the fear of republicans by homosexuals is unfounded.

That said you might have better luck looking more at Nevada City, Grass Valley and perhaps Chicago Park.

Nevada City is a former mining town, that became a tourist area in the foothills. During the 70's, a lot of hippies moved up to the area grow weed. There were always a lot of homosexuals in that crowd. They stayed and became part of the community and opened up a lot of the antique shops. They also created institutions like Kvmr, the Briarpatch and the Yoga farm.

Welcome to KVMR 89.5 FM Music of the World. Voice of the Community. Nevada City, CA 95959

BriarPatch Co-op Community Market

Sivananda Ashram Yoga Farm

The big advantage that Nevada City, Grass Valley and Chicago Park have over Shingle Springs is that you are much more likely to see and deal with other homosexuals in these towns vs Shingle Springs. I mean there is something to be said for knowing other gay parents trying to raise kids of their own, who have an idea of what kind of challenges are involved in that. In Shingle Springs, I think you are much less likely to run into that.

[hydro]

I would not reccommend most areas of El Dorado County (Shingle, Placerville, etc.) because there are not a lot of other gays here. There is a gay population is some (nice) areas of downtown Sac. Neva City was a great suggestion. Even Auburn would be a little better. I would not describe Shingle Springs as being socially progressive. I would feel stifled there if I were living alternative lifestyle.