Rapid City Schools (Sioux Falls, Rapid Valley: for sale, apartment complex, rental)

[g33kgrl]

Hi again! We've been doing some online searching for apartments and rental houses in RC. We found a few that we plan to check out when we come down there the first part of February. The one that we are considering most is Harmony Heights. However I see that the elementary school my kids would be going to is General Beadle (or something like that). I did some looking at the district report card and websites that compare schools and notice it is one of the bottom schools. I am wondering if anyone has any opinions about that school. I'm a little concerned about sending my kids to a school that might not be very good or that they would fall behind in. (we will be looking at places near "better" schools when we come down there in February). Harmony Heights will kinda be our "last resort" place if we cannot find anything else that will work for us.

Thank you for you thoughts on this!
Jen

[DannyBanany]

Harmony Heights is a very nice, big apartment complex but I think the commute to General Beadle would be kind of out of the way. You have to go west, backtrack east on I-90, then head south. Kind of sounds funny. I'd think they'd have to go to Pinedale or something on the Westside. Hopefully they at least bus them to General Beadle.

General Beadle was totally torn down and rebuilt last year. It's Rapid City's newest school and it has a public library branch, medical center, and community center inside. It's in the worst part of Rapid City (Central Northside) but they're getting some great teachers to work there and it's really a school that reaches out to broken homes and people of lesser means. I've never heard of any problems with it. It's a really good community outreach school.

[ashnat]

you've got mail.

[g33kgrl]

Thank you for the info Danny.

Thanks ashnat.. you have mail back.

[sioux-zq]

Who said north rapid is the worst part of the city?

[DannyBanany]

Originally Posted by sioux-zq

Who said north rapid is the worst part of the city?

Me. Do you disagree?

[ashnat]

AND me! AND it IS!

Danny we are agreeing a lot lately.

[luv_it_here]

I'll throw an "I 3rd that!" onto the end here. Of course, I tend to agree with Danny anyways - at least a lot more than ashnat. But . . . I'm still new to the area, so that could always change. North Rapid is pretty ghetto. Southside/Westside both have ups and downs, I'm partial to the west side, because I live there.

Rapid Valley just isn't my thing . . . and I don't know enough about it to comment too much on it, except that it seems like one great big housing development, with no stores, little community involvement, and a crappy drive into town when the weather gets bad.

[DannyBanany]

Rapid Valley's alright. They have pretty good views depending on where you are but they need more commercial businesses out there. Hopefully all the development on Exit 61 will attract more developent out that way.

I love the Westside. It's by far the prettiest part of Rapid City but I think there's even less commercial development out there than in Rapid Valley. There are some new stores and restaurants going in along Sheridan Lake Road though so that's pretty good. Which reminds me, has anyone been to Uncorked yet? It's a new wine and tapas bar out that-a-way.

The Southside is where I live and I think it's the most convenient part of town. The hospital, medical centers, banks, and the 8th Street strip are all pretty closeby and it doesn't take long to get anywhere. Yet the houses are all very new and nice and there are some nice parks nearby. The Southside reminds me a lot of Sioux Falls with houses on one side of the street and medical plazas on the other.

The Northside kind of speaks for itself and I don't want to upset anyone so I'll just kind of leave it at that.

[ashnat]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a Junior High on Elk Vale Rd at some point in the future. It may be wishful thinking, but it would be nice.
The thing about the Valley is that it's nice for those that like to live outside city limits. Dons Valley Mart is ok for last minute shopping for dinner ingredients. Otherwise I drive into town.
I frequent JD's Pizza on a WEEKLY basis. It truly is EXCELLENT food. And Jeff the owner is a great guy, so personable.
I would love to see more out this way, but over the weekend I noticed a For Sale sign over the RC Medical Center Coming Soon sign. So they backed out. Bummer.