Syracuse, here I come? (New York, Clay: mortgage, house, neighborhoods)

[MAJ9001]

Hi All:
I am new to this forum. Thank God it exists!

My brother and sis-in-law had been campaigning for several years now to get me and my family to move to Syracuse. Well, I am seriously thinking about it now following the death of my husband recently.

I am in Queens, NY with three children - a 15-year-old and 11-year-old twins. I am struggling with a 1,400+ mortgage and other expenses.

Is Syracuse a good idea for a single parent? What about options for high school? What are some good areas in which to buy a house and re: job search are hospitals a good place to start?

I am planning on visiting as frequently as I can in the next six months but would appreciate comments from others who have recently moved to the area from downstate or out of state.

Thanks!

[cuse]

Syracuse is a great place to raise children! I grew up in the western suburbs of the city. That are is very nice and housing is affordable. The areas are Camillus, Westvale, and Onondaga Hill. All three have great schools for kids, hardly any crime, great services from public departments, and there is hardly any traffic. Schools in this area are West Genesee and Westhill School Districts. Both have great middle and senior high schools. If your children are into sports they will love it even more!
Hospitals in the area seem like anywhere else in need of nurses. Crouse, St. Joe's and Community are the three big ones. Decent pay and a good atmosphere (my wife worked at Joe's)
Best of luck to you. any other questions please ask.

[Glen NY]

We made the move to Syracuse three months ago and I think this area is absolutely beautiful. I love it. Nice people, no traffic, scenic rides many places to be on or near the water in cluding all the lakes nad the huge rivers. Sunset, fall foliage it is just spectacular. My only warning to MAJ9001 is that we moved with our 15 year old and the social transformation is proving to be quite difficult, so difficult that my wife is considering moving back to Long Island. Our children are the highest priority. Both children agreed they would move but never envisioned how difficult breaking in to an established social setting(high school) would be. Our younger daughter is doing well with the move and loves her horse back riding lessons.

[MAJ9001]

Thanks for your reply. Yes, I agree I think my teenager will have the toughest time with the change. He is quite social and has lots of friends and is into basketball. On the other hand, he makes friends quite easily and I think the change will be good for him. I am worried about the kinds of friends he will make. We had some problems in middle school. But I guess that is an issue anywhere you go.

Are the high schools here zoned? What are some good ones? Are there ones to avoid? or is that only a question for downstate?

Thanks again!

[cuse]

maj9001,

here is a link I stummbled onto. Some info may help you. Best of Luck!

http://www.comehometosyracuse.com/

[bellafinzi]

Originally Posted by MAJ9001

Are the high schools here zoned? What are some good ones? Are there ones to avoid? or is that only a question for downstate?

Thanks again!

Not sure what you mean about "zoned", but I can tell you the best school districts in the area. I'll list them.

The Best 5 School districts in the Syracuse area are

-Fayetteville/Manlius or FM (covering the southern town of Manlius and northern Pompey

-Jamesville/DeWitt or JD (covering the southern town of of DeWitt)

-Westhill (covering the northern eastern part of the Town of Onondaga)

-West Genesee (covering the town of Camillus)

-Baldwinsville (covering the town of Lysander and part of Van Buren and a small slice of the town of Clay)


The other suburban School districts are good, just not in the top five

-Liverpool (covering the western part of the town of Clay and the western part of the town of Salina)

North Syracuse or NS (covering a huge part of the town of Cicero, eastern town of Clay, and eastern town of Salina) this is a very large school district, the 5th largest in Upstate New York. Over 2,000 students are at CNS, which is the 10th, 11th and 12th grades alone.

East Syracuse/Minoa or ESM (covering northern town of DeWitt and northern town of Manlius)

Central Square (covering the northern part of Cicero -Brewerton and the towns of Hastings and West Monroe in Oswego County)


I don't know anything about Solvay. I've never heard it was good or bad. Solvay is very close to the city and the older neighborhoods of Geddes. I guess the only school district to avoid would be the Syracuse Central School district -the city schools.

[bellafinzi]

Found some nursing job links for Syracuse

http://www.crouse.org/CrouseJobs/clinical.asp

https://jobs.upstate.edu/applicants/...=1169680269927

http://www.sjhsyr.org/sjhhc/stj_about_3.asp?id=127

[Sgoldie]

Seems like 3/4's of the jobs in the paper are for nurses. You can probably wangle a sign-on bonus at some places.

[Glen NY]

Re; Syracuse suburban school district
Using the percentage of student who graduate with regents diplomas as a gauge for school quality, I found the following results on the NYS School report card site

School year percent year percent
West hills 04 97 05 96
West Gen 04 94 05 96
FM 04 82 05 95
Bville 04 91 05 94
JD 04 86 05 93
Liverpl 04 73 05 92
N.Syr 04 70 05 89
ESM 68 81

Using this as a gauge to rate schools usually proves pretty accurate. I put Baldwinsville schools up there with the best of them.

[bellafinzi]

Glen NY, thanks for the info. The whole Baldwinsville area, including the school district is hard to gauge because it's grown so much recently. It's transitioning from a middle class suburb to a more upscale suburb. With it comes better schools.

I have special powers, so I can change my list of school districts a little.