Wausau schools? (Appleton, Weston, Rib Mountain: renting, house, buying)

[geekduo]

Okay, I'm happy as a clam right now. After months of searching and not finding good job opportunities to be able to stay in Wisconsin, my husband now has 2 really good prospects.
The first one is in Appleton, which would mean we could stay in the same school district we're in. The school district is excellent, we love the area, but we don't have many social ties yet.
The second one is in Wausau. Twice as close to family and friends that we wish to see more of. It's at the doorstep to the northwoods, we love going up there for camping, x-country skiing, etc. It's smaller, but seems to have a stable economy. All in all, I'm doing a jig at the prospect of moving there and hopefully settling down for the rest of my life if possible! If the job turns out to be promising this will definitely be my vote to take.
All of the other job prospects involve moving a couple of states away.
While I'm all for broadening our horizons, the oldest child is in junior high, it's time to stay put.
So anyway, my question is, how are the Wausau area schools? I've heard that DC Everest is supposed to be excellent, but how about the rest? We will be renting for a while so choices of housing are less than if we were buying.

[Liz_E]

Hi geekduo! No one seems to be replying so i hope i can help. I'm not exactly sure what you (or your children) want out of schools, but all of them are good. I went to everest, and i think it's decent, and I've heard Weston seems to be currently growing more than wausau. (I think of wausau as the whole metro area, weston, schofield, rothschild, rib mountain etc.) If you like how it is split up more- 6&7th grades are middle school, junior high is 8th&9th, so the age difference when entering high school might not be as 'scary' lol.

Wausau East's high school is very new.. I don't know too much else about it though.

West is in the Rib Mountain area and is where many kids from everest (and sometimes newman) want to go. I think this is because it has much more freedom, if you like that. For example i think it's ok to carry backpacks to all the classes (NOT ok at everest) and has an open campus for lunch (at everest you get renaissance cards for good grades and can leave during lunch but have barely any time to eat!) one person metioned it's more college-like.

If it's the teachers that you want to know about i think it's just what the student gets..they all have very good teachers who work there and some who aren't too great.

So if you have any more questions i'd be happy to try to answer them!

P.S. yes XC skiing is awesome! Go Nine Mile!

[WIRes]

I graduated from DC Everest in 1990 and think I had a fairly good education. Sports are the focus of that school...mainly football.

It is an extremely fast growing community and I have heard that test scores are suffering. They seem to look okay from this website though: D C Everest Area School District schools - district elementary, middle, and high school information
Here are Wausau area schools in comparison: Wausau Schools - Wausau Wisconsin School Ratings - Public and Private

The Everest school district really serves the metropolitan areas of Schofield, Weston, Rothschild, Kronenwetter, Ringle...I'm sure I'm missing someone. Anyway, Wausau is served by Wausau East, Wausau West and Newman High Schools. Newman is a catholic high school.

The new Wausau East High School is really spectacular and worth a look. But of course looks aren't everything!

My daughter started public school in the Wausau school district in what I believed to be a very good elementary school....we even purchased a house in that area specifically so she could attend elementary school there, only to discover it was really not a very good school for her. We have sinced moved her to a private school and are very happy with her progress and how she is treated by her teachers.

Good luck with your search!