Special Ed - good school districts (Riverside, Corona: houses, moving to, health)

[GeoffMayo]

We're looking for a school district in (probably) Riverside Co that is known for its good special ed program for middle/HS. Obviously GreatSchools can be used to find good school districts for regular classes, but it's not helpful for special ed because a good school district can have a bad special ed program, and vice versa.


How is Menifee, for example?


Temecula and Murrieta have both good school districts and good special ed programs, but too expensive for houses for us. Menifee is now a good school district but special ed? Further north (San Bernadino), Redlands is a good school district but bad for special ed; Yucaipa is middling yet has a good special ed program. Etc.


Thanks.

[Mav4Life]

Hi Geoff,

>Redlands is a good school district but bad for special ed;

We have a 4-year-old autistic son and are thinking of moving to Redlands. Would you happen to know if Redlands' special ed also bad for a child that age?

Thanks,
Mav

[GeoffMayo]

Hi Mav,


Our 11yo son was in Loma Linda Behavioral Health Institute (BHI) for a while undergoing therapy and during that time we had various people doing the training/therapy, and offering advice. One of these was a former special ed teacher who now works at BHI. While she didn't state any difference between special ed services for different grades/ages (so I can't answer your immediate question), her opinion was that Redlands was not helpful generally. Her advice to us was to look at schools in Corona, Riverside, Yucaipa, and a couple of other places, and to avoid Redlands. IIRC *East* Highland is fairly good (broadly east of the 210 where it splits from the 10 northwards and north of the river).



Others have since said that Riverside Country is generally more helpful than San Bernadino county, though exceptions exist. If you can expand your search area, Temecula (our current school district) is very good, both for regular kids, and for those with special needs. Murrieta USD is also supposed to be good, and now we're hearing that parts of Lake Elsinore/Wildomar USD is up and coming for both regular kids and special ed. Still not sure about Menifee USD.

[Mav4Life]

Geoff,

Thanks for the great info on the whole region. Temecula, Murrieta, or Lake Elsinore/Wildomar sound great but a little too far for us to move to at this point. But East Highland, a place I hadn't really thought much of, sounds like a good compromise. Will check that out!

Mav