cascade park area? schools? (Vancouver, Camas: hotel, house, transfer)

[karelise]

Does anyone know whether or not Cascade Park in East Vancouver is a nice area? The house I'm viewing online has the following schools listed:

Crestline Elem.
Wy East Middle
Mountain View High

Any thoughts about the quality of these schools?

thank so much!

[fitzydog]

I am a student at Camas, but I live in Cascade Park. I go there because of all the negative things I here about that happens at Mountain View. A great school though is Union High school. I don't know about K-8 in this area. We do have a very involved Boy Scout district here though, very large.

[karelise]

thanks fitzy dog! So do you like Camas High School? We're looking there as well.

Just curious, what kind of negative thigns happen at Mountain View?

thanks for your honest reply!

[karelise]

By the way, were you able to choose Camas even though you live in Vancouver? Is there an open choice policy or just personal circumstances? (If so, you dont need to explain - just wondering if there is some kind of policy that allows you to live in one place and go to school in another.)

[StealthRabbit]

remember that a good choice for HS is Running Start (Clark College)
Academics - Running Start
I have had several friends who did both Camas HS and Running Start.

I know they have preferred Camas HS to Mtn V, Washougal, Evergreen, and Ft Vancouver. Sky View HS (NW Vancouver) has some beneficial programs.

btw, you can usually do a boundary exception with a reasonable excuse. Another way is to figure out a program the school of choice offers but your 'assigned' one does not, and then pursue that program.

I'm sure there is more current info on boundary exceptions than I have, since my kids just graduated college, but we did exceptions in HS and used Running Start also.

[ang08]

Those schools are not the best. I went to Wy'East and Mt. View and they were decent schools then (15+ years ago) but have really gone downhill from what I hear. I know there is quite a drug problem at Mt. View. I know that Shahala Middle school is good (east Vancouver). Union High School is brand new, haven't heard anything about it yet. We are in Camas and are very happy with the elementary school so far.

[karelise]

thanks everyone.

I've read good things about all Camas schools, incl. elementary. As far as Vancouver, I got the impression that Illahee and Fisher's Landing elem. schools were very good and, as you just mentioned, Shalala Middle school as well. I saw some non-cookie cutter homes in some established neighborhoods that fed into Wy East Middle and Mt. View so I was hoping for some decent reports but I think they are not sounding so desirable.

I really appreciate everyone's candidness about the schools and also info about the boundary issues.

[thirtysomething]

My children attend Camas schools (elem & high). They enrolled in January, and so far we have been very pleased. Initially, we moved from another state to a hotel in Vancouver, but knew we were moving to Camas (after a lot of school research).

In order to enroll them in an 'out of bounds' school, you need their "home" school to release them, and the "new" school to accept them. In our case, even tho they were never enrolled in WA schools, the VSD had to release them since we were living within their boundries. I know that Camas will deny transfers if the class enrollment is 2 from the limit (to leave room for those who live within the boundries). Most sschools probably have that same rule in place.

[karelise]

how have you found your relocation to Camas? I'm still trying to get a feel for what Camas is like. Aside from the schools, any likes or dislikes that you want to share?

[HokeyGassaway]

Wy'East is a decent middle school. It is a feeder school for the EXCEL students (academically gifted) in middle school. I have many friends who go to Crestline. It is ok, but Riverview, Fircrest (which hosts the part time EXCEL students), or Hearthwood are better. I would stay away from the Sifton and Image schools. They were both rated as "need improvement" last month.

HokeyGassaway