Mill Creek vs Everett school district

[mkarch]

Originally Posted by BellevueNative

The only reason some areas are approaching "those levels" again is because inventory is so lacking. People are moving to the area and need housing, so they're bidding up prices out of desperation. If the housing stock was as it was five years ago, the sales prices would not be as high as they are.

And I agree about north Bothell. We just drove through there yesterday on our way to Woodinville, and it really is a mess. All the land along 35th is being bought up by developers putting up cookie cutter homes on tiny lots...and 35th is just one lane in each direction. Bothell-Everett Hwy is already a traffic nightmare through Thrasher's Corner, and it will get worse with more homes. And the Bothell schools are already crazy crowded. But the thing that I really disliked about north Bothell were the big power lines and HUGE regional power station at the corner of 35th & Maltby Road. It freaks me out! And both my husband and I got instant headaches when we drove through some of the developments nearby.

The sad part is that area you're referring to used to look nice. Most of the roads were lined with thick forest and houses were set back away from the road. It is never going to look good again with all the trees cut down, powerlines everywhere and roads packed with cars.


The inventory situation is definitely odd. I'm seeing a significant number of homes coming on the market that were last sold in 2006-2007 that are not short sales. I don't think we're quite to the point where most of the people that bought then are above water, but we might be close in popular parts of seattle. In these areas there is virtually no new SFH construction. The little bit there is is either priced double the median or undesirable "small lot" homes. Vacancy rates are low, so I don't see how the inventory situation will get back to the way it was 5 years ago unless people start leaving in droves.

[Freebird2007]

The schools in Mill Creek are often rated 9 or better. I wouldn't say that is subpar. However, schools in Everett....yeah rating of 2-3 would scare any parent away. I wouldn't look at the school districts and would rather focus on the schools themselves.

[Freebird2007]

Bothell is seeing a nice bump in prices thanks in part to Google

[HD321321]

I have first hand experience with this. We were in the north Bothell area and my son attended Northshore schools. I was so excited that we fell just within the boundaries of Northshore and thought it would be great. But I noticed there was very little PTA involvement and support, the schools were very unstructured and communications out to parents were nil. Teachers were nice but it didn't feel like they used multiple methods for learning. They just stuck to the curriculum and checked the boxes. We attended 2 different Northshore elementary schools and saw the same results. Then we bought a different house and I was completely bummed that it was right across the borders and in Everett school district. I thought we were doomed and it would be even worse. I was completely wrong. Three of the surrounding Elementary schools have some of the highest test scores in the State - well above most of the Northshore schools. And I can see why. They have such great organization and parent involvement. The parent orientation was so detailed and the teacher gave a presentation about all the methods they use to help grow and continue challenging each student. The teacher had already studied each child's personality and reading levels and engaged parents in group discussions about how to challenge each child differently. Parents were just more involved. The PTA activity sheet is 2 pages long and in Northshore there was nothing. The Everett SD school focused on good habits, problem solving, comprehension and more - not just sending homework and checking it off. This Everett school is hands down better than what we experienced with 2 different Northshore schools. I also did a quick check and if you look at the district stats. Everett has more PER STUDENT funding despite the lower local funding. It's not just total funding that's important. It depends on how overcrowded the schools are and how involved the parents are.

Anyway, that was our experience. I feel it completely depends on the local school you are in and you should look at how close you are to the edge of the districts border. If you are on the far north side of Northshore, you will see much better schools a few miles away being in the far south of Everett district.