Bayless vs Affton (St. Louis, Oakville, Mehlville: houses, school districts, living in)

[KCLucymom]

OK, I'm finding that some homes addressed in Affton say Affton for the school and some say Bayless. What is the difference? Is it the school name or a totally different school district? Are they good schools? My kids will start in the fall, so I kinda need to make a decision.

[aragx6]

Bayless is a school district. It's very small (I think they only have one elementary, one middle and one high school. Other than that, I didn't know much about it, but their MAP scores don't look so hot: Bayless schools, St. Louis - MO: charter and public schools. St. Louis school district - St. Louis MO school district

[KCLucymom]

June 6th is my trip to St. Louis to meet with my realtor and look at houses. I'm getting very nervous. I've found some beautiful homes in Affton and Bayless that are in our price range ($175k) but I'm still nervous about the school districts. I keep hearing how wonderful Lindbergh is (and some others) but the houses are so old and expensive. Would moving to Affton be a mistake? Would we be putting our kids in a bad school system or is it just not "top ranked"? What about Mehlville? That area also has some lower priced houses, but again, I don't hear alot about the schools. The only thing I've heard is that in Mehlville, Oakville HS is the best highschool there. Well, my kids are still in elementary school. We also want to think about resale value in the future.

EEK! I'm scared. I've never been to St. Louis. This is a BIG ~ HUGE decision that could effect our futures tremendously.

[aragx6]

I really feel like if you can get your kids into average or above schools and really instill in them the importance of education, they'll probably be just fine.

I can't imagine how scary all of this would be for a parent; when I moved out of state I was only thinking about myself, which made it far easier.

I will say this: From a resale perspective, it probably does make the most sense to get a smaller and less-updated home in a stronger area with better schools and fix it up over time; you'll probably make the most money that way.

[TGS]

Affton and Bayless are two separate school districts. Both are pretty small, with only one building per elementary, middle, and high school. The districts are right next to each other and are pretty similar.

Both districts have seen a huge amount of young families moving in, especially the Bosnian immigrants that were once living in the city but are moving to Affton and Bayless for better schools. The immigrant families are generally stable and hard-working, but because of the language barrier their kids often aren't doing as well on the MAP tests as the rest of the middle class families in the area, which make the school districts look worse than they should.

I know plenty of families that are very happy with the schools. There aren't many discipline problems, and because the districts are so small, the kids don't tend to get lost in the shuffle as much as in a larger district. On the other hand, Lindbergh and Mehlville are larger districts with more wealthy families, so their district can offer more special programs and sports at the high school level. If you can't afford Lindbergh or Mehlville, then Affton or Bayless should be fine.