Rapid city area weather (daycare, best schools, tornadoes)

[Sage44]

Hello again!

I do have a lot of info on my other thread, but something else I need to know about the RC area weather.
How long is your summer?

We lived in Oregon for awhile and besides the jobs being scarce the other thing that made us crazy was the weather, very few days of sun all year, it rained so much there that the cars would get moss on them.

I do not mind winter weather in winter, but not all year long!
And don't get me wrong I do not mind a summer storm, but I do enjoy the sun

Also I didn't get much response from the area schools and how they are...anymore info on that would be great!

[BusySocialWorker]

The best thing about our area (in my opinion) is that we have very distinct seasons - I LOVE having a spring summer fall and winter!!

May is typically when it starts gettting nice - but we have had snow into May - Last year we had a big blizzard the first weekend of May! It stays pretty nice through September sometimes even October. June July and August are what I would consider true summer here. Sept Oct and Nov - Fall, Dec, Jan, Feb, March - winter - and april may - spring - but that's just my thoughts and it really varies year to year.

We have a lot of sun in the summer and low humidity- it is great! On the flip side, we have some awesome thunderstorms which I love.

Schools - it is all relative from where you are coming from - some dislike the schools - others think they are of good quality.

Comming from Metro Denver - the schools here ROCK! I would never have stayed in Denver with my kids - the schools were way way overcrowed (to the point they went half days all year long to accomodate the students), plus ESL was such a big issue that I feared that some students suffered.

My oldest is 4 and in pre-school through my employers daycare program and all I can say is WOW - they are so wonderful - that is a HUGE perk of my job and honestly a big reason I don't job hunt for something else My little one is also in their program and I just could not be happier!

[Sage44]

HI-BSW!
Your job sounds outstanding!!! I would LOVE to land a job like that.

They are going to half day for pre-k this year because of the number of kids here..not sure what ESL is, but if it's the program for the lesser "fortunate" they have that same problem here and why they are going half day, but so far that is only pre-k.
There is 20-25 kids per class here and the teacher do not watch them. one pre-k kid broke his collar bone last year becasue no one was watching him in the playground and my daughter got her hair cut off by two kids in her class. Scissors in hand and unsupervised.

Truthfully I feel scared to send her to K this year!!

Weather sounds perfect. Do not like tornadoes much, but I see RC area doesn't get them often, like SF.
T-storms are ok with me, get some doozies here too.
Just as long as the sun gets out for more than 20 days a year!

Thanx!

[BusySocialWorker]

ESL - English as a Second Language program - Denver had a large spanish speaking population so the schools taught English in the classrooms

[g33kgrl]

I've only been here about a month so I don't have a lot of details about the weather yet but I am loving the weather here compared to Eastern North Dakota and Minnesota. It has seemed to rain a lot in the month we have been here but it also has been very sunny too. The weather here to me is kinda strange.. will be beautiful then all of a sudden rain.. then beautiful again.. lol.

Schools - again being new here my kids haven't gone to school here yet but I did receive a lot of comments about the schools. There seem to be some that like the schools and some that dislike them. I looked up information online to compare the school my kids used to go to and the one they will be going to now that we live here. If you came from a horrible school, these schools might be great to you. If you came from a great school, these might not be as great.

If you go to the Rapid Area Schools website and then under Parents & Students there will be a link to the district report card. That was most helpful to me. I compared that district report card to the one from where we moved from. I think another thing is not only the school itself but what teacher your child gets. I know back at our old school there were amazing teachers who went above expectations as well as not so amazing teachers that I felt didn't do enough for the kids.

If you go to search above, and put in Rapid City Schools, you should see a post on there about schools with a bunch of replies. Hopefully that helps while you are waiting for more info

[andyroo]

In my opinion, these are the best schools in rapid city.

Elementary
-Pinedale
-corral drive
-meadowbrook
-rc christian
- st Elizabeth seton

Middle
-west
-southwest
-rc christian
-stm

High
-stevens
-stm
-rc christian
- central high school is too crowded and their drop out rate is embarrassing.

I went k-12 in rapid city and never really had a problem. There are always going to be teachers who are just flat out not good. However, in my tenure I came across a lot more good ones than bad.

Rapid city's weather during the summer is always fun to watch. Everyday Right around 3-4 in the afternoon a thunderhead starts brewing over the hills. It doesn't always turn into a storm but when it does the thunder is literally window-rattling loud. I think it's because the thunder kinda bounces off the hills and creates a loud echo. But what do I know ? Lol

[Jammie]

http://www.city-data.com/city/Rapid-...th-Dakota.html

Here's a link to the CD page for RC. If you scroll down, there are some weather charts and among them is a temp chart.

[ashnat]

sorry, gotta throw in my opinion which disagrees. We have 2 distinct seasons, winter and summer. Spring doesn't exist usually. Except this year it seems we're still in Spring and haven't had summer. Fall is beautiful but very short. We can have snow from October to May here. Granted the snow that falls in Oct and May drops in one or two storms only.
Halloween has been cold, crappy, and either rainy or snowy the last 4 of the 5 years I've lived here.
And I think it's funny someone can love the schools here but have a child in preschool only. Yes there are terrific preschools here, but that's not the rapid city PUBLIC school system.

[BusySocialWorker]

Ashnat - I have every right to voice my opinion about the schools since I work directly with the kids in the school systems doing evaluations, just as I did in Denver... so I find THAT funny.

[nocatee]

Winter last a full 7 months - grey and dismal. The sun does shine some but everywhere you look you see grey and skeletons on anything that grows (with the exception of occasional evergreens). Autumn maybe a month. Spring maybe a month. Summer 3 months (except this year). The several year drought broke this spring but it has been much cooler this year so this may wind up being the year that 'real' summer never comes.

I lived on Whidbey Island for 11 years (I know that's not Oregon but it is further north in the Pacific Northwest - in Puget Sound). I never had any problems there with SAD there but I have major problems with it here, even with my lightbox - winter is so long, harsh and dismal.

Remember 'winter weather' is not the same everywhere. Are there areas that get hit worse the RC some/most of the time - sure but when we get hit it is hard and long.

Have a question? - Why are you so set on Rapid?