Moving to Seattle in June

[jdoyle5]

I live and work in Issaquah and my son attends the school I teach at. I live in Klahanie which is on the plateau just west of sammamish.

The schools up on the plateau have a lot of parent involvement through the PTSA. Sometimes too much. Some of the SAHM here in the Sammamish area can be very competitive and snobby. Not all but in my 16 years as a teacher, that has been my general impression. In my opinion, if you can walk into a school and get a feel for its diversity (besides asian and indian) then you will know that you are in a place that works with all people which is a plus. I don't know if that makes sense or not.

My only caution is the Issaquah Highlands. It's VERY crowded there. Zero lot lines, no yards, plenty of small little parks but they don't have character to them. It's also a little weird to drive up the hill and see the rise in house values. At the bottom, you have the YWCA, then apartments, then condos, then duplexes, then small single family homes, then larger mc mansions and at the very top of the hill you have your multimillion dollar mansions.

The elementary school in the Highlands has great teachers and leadership, it's just too darn crowded. They have 10 portable rooms on site and have had to move all kindergarteners to satellite schools.

[flyingsaucermom]

Originally Posted by jdoyle5

I live and work in Issaquah and my son attends the school I teach at. I live in Klahanie which is on the plateau just west of sammamish.

The schools up on the plateau have a lot of parent involvement through the PTSA. Sometimes too much. Some of the SAHM here in the Sammamish area can be very competitive and snobby. Not all but in my 16 years as a teacher, that has been my general impression. In my opinion, if you can walk into a school and get a feel for its diversity (besides asian and indian) then you will know that you are in a place that works with all people which is a plus. I don't know if that makes sense or not.

My only caution is the Issaquah Highlands. It's VERY crowded there. Zero lot lines, no yards, plenty of small little parks but they don't have character to them. It's also a little weird to drive up the hill and see the rise in house values. At the bottom, you have the YWCA, then apartments, then condos, then duplexes, then small single family homes, then larger mc mansions and at the very top of the hill you have your multimillion dollar mansions.

The elementary school in the Highlands has great teachers and leadership, it's just too darn crowded. They have 10 portable rooms on site and have had to move all kindergarteners to satellite schools.

Yep, this neighborhood is not for everyone. I have mixed feelings regarding the intentional income leveling but it ultimately sits well with me. It definitely makes it easier to see where we fit in. We could have afforded a SFH higher up, but settled on a condo across the street from where we had rented. What happened is that my kids had formed a "posse" with kids of 3 or 4 other families. I can't say I know any of the parents really well, but nonetheless, we've created mutual agreement and acceptance of each others' parenting philosophies. While parents higher up the hill might have their kids in 3-4 extracurricular activities and are really uber involved in their kids' lives, the school and other parents.. we're "relaxed", or as one person suggested, "lower-middle class" (which I suppose is true if only compared to other IH residents). The concept of a "playdate" is rarely used because it's just assumed that kids will be knocking on our door everyday and on a decent day, spend HOURS at the pocket park. Heck, today kids started showing up 15 minutes after school and they only left long enough to get their pj's and a pillow... spontaneously decided to have Friday night sleepover. Parents are happy, kids are delighted. Exactly the kind of childhood experience I didn't have, but wish I had. Not your style? There are plenty of other streets and housing clusters where they do things differently.

[Momofmad]

Just wanted to thank everyone for all of the information posted to my original question. After several trips to the area, looks like we will focus on Kirkland. Looking forward to our move!

[jkoenning]

Our moving Truck is scheduled to arrive (south of Houston, Tx) on June 17. We've decided to rent the first 6 months to a year so we're sure of where we want to be and have more time to really look (we require a lot more room, 4 bdrm minimum). I've been researching for 2 years and STILL don't know which city will be best for us and my kids. My daughter will be a junior and we need to stay within an hour of Seattle (if we didn't I'd live on the OP). This is SO hard to do from 2800 miles away. I actually had my grandmother call the other night and tell us not to go, that Washington was sinking. (due to the Whitbey Island slide on the news I'm sure). I'm a stay at home mom as well. Good luck to you! If you get any can't do without info let me know(: Thanks!