school district, propane, etc. (Syracuse, Clay: homes, college, business)

[ckwyviorka]

So I have a couple of questions. We are looking at homes in Syracuse and thought we had it narrowed down as to where we want to live, but not sure now. We have found a couple of homes that we really like in the Constantia area, but I was wondering about the schools in that area. Central Square school district, how is it? Also, a couple of the homes have propane as their heating source. Can it be switched to gas heat? I have never in my life had propane for heat, so I am not sure what it entails. Any help with these two questions would be greatly appreciated.

[Sgoldie]

The Central Square school district is excellent.

I believe the reason that people use propane is that natural gas is not available to them at that particular location.

[bellafinzi]

I believe most rural areas of Upstate NY do not yet have access to gas. The northern suburbs of Syracuse....Cicero, Clay, Lysander, Salina etc....have natural gas.

Constantia is very rural. Lots more snow up there too......Constantia probably averages 30 more inches of snow each winter than in Syracuse.

Even though Constantia is technically still within the Syracuse Metropolitan area...it is way out there in the boonies. Oneida Lake acts as a buffer dividing rural eastern Oswego County from more suburban Onondaga County. Commuting to downtown Syracuse or even the suburbs of Syracuse from Constantia could be difficult during the winter months.

According to Business First on bizjournals.com the Central Square school district ranked 363 out of 441 school districts in Upstate NY. Only two other school districts in the Syracuse area ranked worse: the city central schools and the Hannibal school district. Probably isn't as bad as the ranking indicates....but surely isn't one of the best in the area.

Top-Rated Public School Districts in Syracuse area

[ckhthankgod]

A good rural district in the Syracuse area, in my opinion, would be Tully. Marcellus is more of a small town, but has some pretty rural areas too. Weedsport in Cayuga County is another good rural school system. Some others that are mostly or partly rural that are good are:Fabius-Pompey, Baldwinsville, Skaneateles(but very affluent for the most part), Onondaga, Chittenango and Cazenovia(but ditto Skaneateles comment).

[ckwyviorka]

thank you for the feedback! We are looking for homes with land(2+ acres) and it seems that the only way to get that in a somewhat newer home at a reasonable price brings us to the extreme outskirts of Syracuse. We'll keep looking. I love the Baldwinsville area so that is where I would like to be, but it depends on the hubby's office location. I kind of figured considering where Constantia was located that it was rather out there. Thank you again!

[kmbell]

I wouldn't trust those school rankings so much, I'd talk to someone who went to school there. Low average test scores can give a place a bad ranking when in reality it offers plenty of AP and advanced options for students looking to excel, as the Syracuse City Schools do. Rural schools may have good test scores, but a relative lack of resources for students looking to go to a top college. Just take it on a case-by-case basis, sorry that I can't tell you about Central Square specifically.

[ckhthankgod]

Check out www.greatschools.net for things like test scores and other information. You can also check out the district websites as well.