schools/neighborhoods in Vancouver, WA (Longview, Salmon Creek: condo, low crime, custom home)

[calimom]

My family (husband and 3 daughters) may be facing a move to the Vancouver area. We are native southern californians and have no clue about the schools or neighborhoods in Vancouver. Does anyone have any suggestions about a safe, quality neighborhood to raise three daughters in with safe and good quality schools?? We appreciate any feedback.

[diggitydot]

Originally Posted by calimom

My family (husband and 3 daughters) may be facing a move to the Vancouver area. We are native southern californians and have no clue about the schools or neighborhoods in Vancouver. Does anyone have any suggestions about a safe, quality neighborhood to raise three daughters in with safe and good quality schools?? We appreciate any feedback.

Some of the best schools are on the east side of Vancouver near Fisher's Landing. I'm not sure what ages your daughters are, but I've had exceedingly good experiences with Fisher's Landing Elementary.

Vancouver has two different school districts, Vancouver SD and Evergreen SD. Evergreen is consistently ranked higher in most all major benchmarks. I have several family members who teach in various districts between WA and OR, but they've all worked in the Evergreen district at some time or another and have found it very professional and innovative. (My aunt is even a principal at one of the elementary schools in the Evergreen SD.)

The Evergreen SD is most of the east side of town and the Vancouver SD is usually more on the west side of town.

I prefer the area of Vancouver that butts up against Camas, (east side of town). It's a cute area, has low crime, access to lots of different types of shopping, REALLY easy access to the freeways, good schools, and cute little neighborhoods. But I'm a little partial to Camas and Washougal so that might cloud my opinions a bit.

Enjoy the area! I miss it and can't wait to come home! If you have any other questions about the are, feel free to PM me. I lived in that end of Clark County most of my life and love it.

[iamtiffiney]

I know the Lincoln neighborhood is pretty nice. and Lincoln elementry is really nice and has a lot of family activities. My son went there in 1st grade, after having problems at sara j anderson and lake shore. Sara J anderson was the worst elementry school I have seen as far as how they handle kids that are advanced or even smart. Theyd rather let the smart kids sit aside and be bored and teach the ones who are behind. Lake shore was full of rude snotty teachers and after 3 weeks of feeling like a peasant when I dropped my son off and being looked down upon I withdrew him. Now my children go to roosevelt. its a decent school though if your child has any special needs, be it being advanced or aspergers(highfunctioning autism) they have limited help and the kindergarten teachers arent trained to handle children who arent 'normal' as for middle schools 13 years ago mcgloughlin was good but thats when I went there and Fort Vancouver is an awsome highschool. Good luck with your move

[sykesfamily]

I just want to throw my tid bit in. I used to work for eergreen school district at one of the elementary schools and they were so far behind what my son was doing in the vancouver school district. My son is in the 4th grade and attends Minnehaha Elementary and has been there since KG. They teachers there are excellent and everyone there is nice and excepting. I have not had any problems at the school and all of his teachers have always called or emailed when they have had a problem. Good Luck!

[AndreaBu]

To me, Fisher's Landing represents the very worst in suburban sprawl. You can't go anywhere without a car, and are completely overwhelmed by the lack of neighborhood there. There is so little green there that it is oppressive. I know that many people seem to like that sort of thing, but check out community planners' sites - this sort of community is considered to be the death of community. That said, I nominate downtown Vanc neighborhoods as the very best. Downtown Vancouver is like the city of your grandparents in many ways - big old houses circa 1910 and up, quiet green neighborhoods with lots of trees and small streets with SIDEWALKS. You can easily walk to some of the very nice, cool little shops and restaurants that are springing up along Main and other streets. My brother and his wife have a small business in downtown Vancouver. They can walk to work if they like, and they can walk their two kids to school - Hough, which is a great school. Access to freeways is very close, but you don't feel the presence of cars in the way you do in other places. Some blocks down is the wonderful Esther Short Park area, where there is a farmer's market in the summer and an indoor market year round. Many nice shops and restuarants here, and the number is growing. The City of Vancouver has some great development plans for the waterfront. It is a nice, community-enhancing sustainable development that is going on in downtown - the historic center, of Vancouver. I grew up in Vancouver and I hardly recognize the suburbs these days. It used to be all farmland. Now it is all strip malls. Where it is not that, it is huge 'street of dreams' houses on small plots. Downtown Vancouver is a nice alternative to these if you prefer a smaller-feeling community with a real community feel.

[diggitydot]

Originally Posted by AndreaBu

To me, Fisher's Landing represents the very worst in suburban sprawl. You can't go anywhere without a car, and are completely overwhelmed by the lack of neighborhood there. There is so little green there that it is oppressive. I know that many people seem to like that sort of thing, but check out community planners' sites - this sort of community is considered to be the death of community.

Wow. And here I was, having a neighborhood with all my neighbors and didn't even know that we lacked it. Seriously, though...maybe we were an anomaly, but we had lots of green areas. Parks close by, front and back yards, and our home backed up to a greenway. We all knew each other, socialized together, and kept an eye on each other's families.

Originally Posted by AndreaBu

That said, I nominate downtown Vanc neighborhoods as the very best.

I respectfully disagree with that assertion. I worked in downtown Vancouver for many years and quite a large amount of it is a dump. You have lots of homeless people living in Esther Short park and trying to get into the nice condo buildings during the inclement weather. While the downtown area has some great aspects, I wouldn't want to live down there during non-business hours.

Originally Posted by AndreaBu

Downtown Vancouver is like the city of your grandparents in many ways - big old houses circa 1910 and up, quiet green neighborhoods with lots of trees and small streets with SIDEWALKS.

Some of the areas are adorable. Absolutely. But a lot of neighborhoods in Vancouver have sidewalks. I don't really consider those a major selling point over say, a low crime rate. Check out this link for Clark County crime rates by neighborhood: http://www.clarkcounty4sale.net/Crim...e_1691387.html

You'll see this:

Neighborhood...............Population............. .Crimes/1,000 residents
Arnada (downtown).................980.................... .......403
Esther Short (downtown)..........812........................... 2,342
Fisher's Landing East................7,455......................... 73
Village at Fishers Landing..........664............................50

Originally Posted by AndreaBu

You can easily walk to some of the very nice, cool little shops and restaurants that are springing up along Main and other streets. My brother and his wife have a small business in downtown Vancouver. They can walk to work if they like, and they can walk their two kids to school - Hough, which is a great school.

I absolutely agree...you can walk around most of downtown Vancouver. But I wouldn't necessarily call Hough Elementary a "great school". Most of the schools in downtown Vancouver are mediocre, at best. A few stand out in the crowd, but very few. And certainly not Hough.

Here are some stats from greatschools.com for Hough:
http://www.greatschools.net/modperl/achievement/wa/2054

Compare those stats to those at Fisher's Landing:
http://www.greatschools.net/modperl/achievement/wa/596

HUGE differences.

Originally Posted by AndreaBu

Some blocks down is the wonderful Esther Short Park area, where there is a farmer's market in the summer and an indoor market year round. Many nice shops and restuarants here, and the number is growing.

Again, I absolutely agree with your opinions here. But the OP has a family and asked about schools, too. And there are some great shops and restaurants in several different parts of Vancouver...but not all parts of town have great schools like Fisher's Landing.

I would just recommend that the OP visit the areas mentioned before deciding which one to transplant their family into.

[coltoncity]

My daughter went to both Middle Schools Hockinson and Discovery (dt).

Hockinson is more college prep work which is great unless in Middle school like other kids yours may fall behind. Then you are in trouble. It is a 'one track' school so no room to take a class slower or one level down because it messes up schedules. Not much done for harrasment/bully type things ... most people working there grew up together. More elitist.

Downtown, Discovery MS encompasses Rosemere. My daughter loved the fun and easy going feeling of the school but is the toughest school. Kids seemed friendly and accepting, parents very nice. Lots of issues with fights & some with drugs though. It was also the first time she was jumped. Guard on sight though. He does a fantastic job, the best anyone could have done. They love their kids.

The school filters to Hudsons Bay ... very scary at times. Ft Vancouver is worse but with high drop out rate/pregnancys from what 2 former students say.

Frontier MS is a decent school in a NE sub division that is newer. They have a lot for kids to be involved with. The only thing is they do send all the kids expelled here but they stay in a certain room all day watched and taught.
This filters into Heritage and maybe now Union.

Gaiser MS is one to stay away from as the kids are ill prepared for HS. This filters into Fort Vancouver HS.

Evergreen can be good but some real bullying problems. One friend is sending her daughter to the new Union High School on North East side, from Evergreen because of this. Itll be new next year.

Prairie HS is some serious drugs.

Mt View supposed to be very good. Salmon Creek also.

Heritage (NE) is one of the best, very competitive sports. Battleground is a good school in a small town south of Brush Prairie (Hockinson) and has great IEP and extra help for all kids.

[arctica]

I have 3 kids in Battle Ground high school, and i am not impressed at all.

there is an excellent college prep jr high and sr high school in Battle ground (about 15-29 min north of Vancouver) called CAM. that is probably the best in the area, in my opinion. not a private school, but kids have to test to get in. 3 of my kids have been there in the past, and have done much better in every way than Battle Ground high school.

Ridgefield, Hockinson and Camas are the ones that seem to score best in standardized tests after CAM. i think it has to do with the fact that most of the families in those areas are professionals and value education.

i would not have my kids go to Hudsons bay or ft. Vancouver, those areas would really scare me....

[kimspiess]

Hi Calimom.

I understand your dilemma. I moved to Southwest Washington from Manhattan Beach just one year ago (my brother is a builder, so we got a gorgeous custom home with an amazing view for what a parking pad costs in MB)!

Below is some information that I sent to another user who also had questions about Vancouver. He is moving with his family from Las Vegas. I AM a realtor at Prudential Longview, but I love this website and would still share with you all that I know--regardless of my profession.

I am working with a company from Los Angeles right now that is relocating to the Portland/Vancouver area specifically because they want to be in an area where employees can get affordable, nice housing and quality public education. My primary purpose with the company is to identify those areas in Washington that offer all of the above and still allow access to Portland.

Vancouver is very large, and as such, has certain areas that are more desirable than others. You are correct in that Evergreen is a good school district. Take a look at Camas, which lies just east of Vancouver. It has great schools, nice highway/freeway access, and nice homes for a decent price. Another good place to look is up near Salmon Creek. It is just 6 miles from the Oregon (Portland) border, has beautiful new schools, plenty of nice neighborhoods, a major new hospital, and a very scenic and nice environment. The schools here don't score quite as high as the areas above, but still well. And keep in mind that Washington schools produce the top SAT scores in the nation year after year (except 2006, where the entire system was flawed, as acknowledged by the testing commission, and as such, should not be used in evaluating states' performance).

A super way to start your search would be to go to greatschools.net and look at school ratings, then search for homes near the schools that you would like your children to attend. This is what I did for the company moving from LA.

I wish you all of the best, Calimom, and think you will be really happy with your choice to live in the Pacific Northwest. Kids here have such a great lifestyle--good schools, a beautiful environment, clean air--you are really giving them a great foundation for the rest of their lives by bringing them here.

Good luck!

Regards,

Kim

[SaraBeth]

It kind of all comes down to your preferences I think. There are some nice neighborhoods on the east side and on the north side. I'm partial to Salmon Creek, Felida, Lakeshore and Hazel Dell. Good Vancouver schools in the area include: Salmon Creek, Felida, Lakeshore, Sacajewea, Chinook.

On the East side in Evergreen some good schools include: Fisher's Landing, Riverview, Columbia Valley, York, Harmony.

The reading instruction in Evergreen is more innovative. In the Vancouver school district, the approach is more basal and phonics overkill at least in the younger grades.
In Evergreen, kids are in real books from the beginning and school have entire leveled book rooms that supports this. Evergreen seems to have a slight edge on Vancouver in terms of technology but both districts have money and the support of their respective communities.

Evergreen has high expectations of high schoolers, not sure about Vancouver.

Don't judge a school solely on it's test scores--test scores usually follow high socioeconomics.