Best area in Spokane to raise a family (Everett, Cheney: where to stay, sex offender)

[orygun]

Originally Posted by Griff05

We are relocating from Montana to the Spokane area and I am also interested in the best schools (mine are in elementary) can anyone help?

Why do you want to come to Spokane?

[orygun]

Originally Posted by dubga17

What's so bad about Spokane? Is there extremely high crime?

Well...I think it depends on who you are and where you have been in life. My background is raised in Illinois, 19 years in Oregon and 1 year in Montana, now Spokane. For us, it's the urban culture. The juvenile delinquent types abounding. The foul mouths I have heard out of 7-year-olds! The graffiti on playground equipment. Property crimes. New gangs. Drive-by shootings. And what people told me before I came "the less than desirable people." Pets limited to 3 cats and 3 dogs in town and 4 dogs and 4 cats in Spokane County. Seem to be a fair amount of dog attacks on people, including children.

Some comments from people

"If you come here from out of state, you have to start work as a temp."
"Nobody will rent to you if you don't know someone and you are from out of the area."
"It's a small town and has small town mentality"
"The police are really corrupt"
"You'll learn pretty quickly to get out of Spokane and live somewhere else"
"It's cheap here so everyone moves here"
"There are a lot of losers here"
"All the pedophiles from Seattle are released over here so we have a LOT of sex offenders here."

Of all the places I have lived I have never experienced anything like Spokane. There are more people FROM HERE than anywhere I lived. Not many transplants and it seems Spokanites let you know how they feel about newcomers. Unless perhaps, you are a thriving upper income finely established person. Coming here without a lot puts a person in a category here. Several employers asked my ex how many times he has been in jail and how many convictions he has had. He is a pretty regular looking guy too.

I really don't want to offend anyone and the Chamber of Commerce will probably send me hate mail now, but I wish I had heard these things before I moved here. Or more of it. Partly I guess I didn't listen well enough thinking there were better work opportunities here. But I hear the same thing as Montana and how hard it is to make a living here. From what I can tell if a person isn't from here or doesn't have some awesome job opportunity here, then there is no reason to live here.

[Annyoakly]

Hi, First of all, I am an educator in Washington and have two top notch realtors in my family. Realtors are not suppose to recommend school districts. You can find all that information at wa.k12.us or our Office of Supt. of Instruction. Other sites that report testing, etc. are subjective to the comments of individual family experiences. We all know that the school is made up of the families who are in the community. The fact that you are asking tells me that the community will be better because you are there. I have worked in the West Valley and the Mead School Districts. Both are on the outskirts of Spokane. From personal experience as a Special Educator,
Mead has the more honest services. West Valley, however, will take transfers and has an aggressive pre-school program. We are going to send our grandchildren to Central Valley School District in the Spokane Valley. It is actually East of West Valley SD363 in most latitudes. It is growning and has some good leaders at the helm. I am always fighting for the at risk students which you children probably are not. I have also been an English Language Learner administrator/teacher. If you want more culture, go to District 81 or Spokane Schools. They have the most varied programs and they do run most
South Hill schools someone above recommended. They are landlocked as is West Valley and they are not growing. Liberty Lake is really growing, so that is where the money will be, Central Valley. Mead has had the money but they tax their constituents very highly. I know; I worked on the levy's. You get what the community will pay for in returns. Yet, don't forget that you have alternatives. There are some wonderful Christian Schools like Valley Christian and Northwest Christian and private schools like St George's and
Gonzaga Prep. ( Christian, too, I guess.) There are charter schools and virtual schools virtually everywhere. Also, in WA, you can choose to send
your students to another school district if there is room and if your school board will release you. Those landlocked schools may not release you. Then,
you would have to stay in your home school until your repeated petition goes through or you would have to pay for an education you believe is better. I am going to write a book about how to choose the right school for EACH family member/student. One size does not fit all and your students might each fluorish better in other than the same environment at school. I should probably stop and not write the book here. I am available for consultations.

[Shutterbugsheri]

Well...I think it depends on who you are and where you have been in life. My background is raised in Illinois, 19 years in Oregon and 1 year in Montana, now Spokane. For us, it's the urban culture. The juvenile delinquent types abounding. The foul mouths I have heard out of 7-year-olds! The graffiti on playground equipment. Property crimes. New gangs. Drive-by shootings. And what people told me before I came "the less than desirable people." Pets limited to 3 cats and 3 dogs in town and 4 dogs and 4 cats in Spokane County. Seem to be a fair amount of dog attacks on people, including children.

Some comments from people

"If you come here from out of state, you have to start work as a temp."
"Nobody will rent to you if you don't know someone and you are from out of the area."
"It's a small town and has small town mentality"
"The police are really corrupt"
"You'll learn pretty quickly to get out of Spokane and live somewhere else"
"It's cheap here so everyone moves here"
"There are a lot of losers here"
"All the pedophiles from Seattle are released over here so we have a LOT of sex offenders here."

Of all the places I have lived I have never experienced anything like Spokane. There are more people FROM HERE than anywhere I lived. Not many transplants and it seems Unless perhaps, you are a thriving upper income finely established person. Coming here without a lot puts a person in a category here. Several employers asked my ex how many times he has been in jail and how many convictions he has had. He is a pretty regular looking guy too.

I really don't want to offend anyone and the Chamber of Commerce will probably send me hate mail now, but I wish I had heard these things before I moved here. Or more of it. Partly I guess I didn't listen well enough thinking there were better work opportunities here. But I hear the same thing as Montana and how hard it is to make a living here. From what I can tell if a person isn't from here or doesn't have some awesome job opportunity here, then there is no reason to live here.

[+] Rate this post positively

I was considering moving to Spokane, from Arizona, but after reading THIS post, I think I've changed my mind. My gawd,....it sounds like a REALLLLY crapy place to me. I have been reading all of the posts about Spokane and it really seems like more bad than good. I know every city has it's bad points, but holy cow. If there is anyone out there who's lived in Spokane as a transplant and has anything good to say, please help. Otherwise I think I've been scared off for good. I don't want to live in run down, redneck crap hole. I thought Tucson was bad, but at least we have jobs. None of that "gotta know someone crap" that's exactly what I DON'T want. I hate that mentallity...why would people want to treat transplants that way. "Spokanites let you know how they feel about newcomers"
""The police are really corrupt"....That one really threw me. GEEEEEZ
this is the one that convinced me...""All the pedophiles from Seattle are released over here so we have a LOT of sex offenders here."
Oh MY GOD. RUN RUN RUN LIKE HELL.
I think I'll stay right here thank you very much.
Sincerely Disapointed.

[WendyK]

Shutterbug Sheri - All I can say is you should come for a visit and decide for yourself whether or not Spokane will work for you. It's not a small town - there are many different neighborhoods and I can tell you that they're not all like what some of the negative posters will have you believe. I am a transplant from Florida and I have found Spokane to be a very good place to live for my family. I work with people every day who are moving here from other areas and they LOVE what they're seeing. One comment I usually hear from visitors is that "everone I meet is so friendly here!" Every town in America will have good and bad points. You really should check it out for yourself before you decide. What was it that had you considering a move here originally? When we moved here in 1998, we didn't know anyone at all. It was a blind faith type of move and I have not regretted it in the least. There are many good, kind, friendly people here and they're not hard to find. Best wishes to you wherever you go...

[Karlos2121]

Yes. At least visit Spokane for a week or so and get your own feel for it. Visit the malls (downtown/northtown), check out the parks (riverfront/manito/riverside state)...

I ended up staying Spokane after graduating from EWU (I grew up in the Lakewood/Tacoma area). I've lived in Cheney/Spokane full time since '98 (wow almost 10 yrs now).

The negative things said by one of the above posters can also be said about Tacoma.

While I can't speak about the quality of schools...I can say that I've grown to love living here. There's plenty of outdoor activities nearby, there are clearly 4 seasons a year, crime (at least where i live) is low. My house value in 3 yrs has gone up dramatically. The good far outweigh the bad.

...just my 2¢

[groundwerks]

Originally Posted by Griff05

We are relocating from Montana to the Spokane area and I am also interested in the best schools (mine are in elementary) can anyone help?

Hi, just curious where you are living, My husband and I are in Helena, considering Spokane also...just wondering why you are moving and why spokane? (we are in the same boat it sounds like)

[orygun]

Yes, it is true. There is good and bad everywhere. We have lived in Eugene, Oregon. Missoula, Montana. Oregon City, Oregon (Portland Metro). So that is my experience. I haven't lived back in the Midwest in a long time or ever back east so this place might seem like heaven in comparison.

Eugene was pretty wacky but seems like it has grown more conservative over the years? Not quite the same hippy population. I would prefer living there to Spokane. Eugene is more open minded to different types of people, so the poster from Tucson might consider that area.

I agree that the people in Spokane are very friendly. But there is a definite small town mindset that many natives will agree with. Eugene and Missoula didn't have that. I am wondering if it has something to do with those towns having public universities?

Visiting would be good. You could decide for yourself. There are some lovely homes in the south hills, but probably with big price tags.

The sex offender thing is true though maybe it isn't as bad as bigger cities? It is definitely all in the perspective!

Another curious thing about Spokane is the head lice! I don't know what is up with that. Having lived around a lot of Oregon and part of MT and kids in daycare in different places and going to different schools we never saw lice until we came here. I was told there is a full-time person at the county health dept. in charge of lice since they are becoming resistant to the current treatments. At my work place as a nurse I see a fair amount of it. My kids picked it up from school and we thought we had it knocked out and they are back. In 13 years of having children, Spokane brought us our first lice problem. People say it is everywhere and I believe that to be true, but there seems to be a particular problem with it here.

[metrospokane]

Originally Posted by orygun

But there is a definite small town mindset that many natives will agree with. Eugene and Missoula didn't have that. I am wondering if it has something to do with those towns having public universities?

Just an FYI: Spokane has two public universities (WSU Spokane & EWU Spokane) located adjacent to downtown, and a private university across the river.

[orygun]

Originally Posted by metrospokane

Just an FYI: Spokane has two public universities (WSU Spokane & EWU Spokane) located adjacent to downtown, and a private university across the river.

Aren't those quite different than the "real" campus?