Young family moving from MA to MI- help with neighborhoods needed

[MI-Roger]

After a little more thought I realized the city of Plymouth may meet your needs - IF you are willing to fore go the public transportation component of your wish list. Located between Ann Arbor and Detroit, I-96 East will take you from Plymouth to downtown Detroit while the M-14 expressway will take you from Plymouth to the North-east corner of Ann Arbor.

Plymouth and Canton share the same highly regarded school district but Plymouth is a city with a historical downtown area whereas Canton is an example of suburbia gone berserk.

[snoopygirlmi]

Plymouth Canton schools aren't as great as people make them out to be. Before we moved here, we were told, "oh, Plymouth-Canton is a 'good' district;" however, transportation and communication from the district is lacking. The school my kid goes to comes off as a prison - I can't do something as basic as walk my kid to his class because I'm not staff. Really - I get the need for security, but as a parent I think that attitude is a bit excessive. Also, for special ed, the expectations and standards for our son are a lot lower than they were in our old district.

They seem to be coasting on their reputation right now. They are better than some of the surrounding areas (Wayne-Westland, Ypsi, specifically), but Northville and Ann Arbor Public have a much better reputation.

There seems to be a real lack of leadership and it's very much a district in flux right now. They are redoing the boundaries for the elementary and middle schools right now and people aren't happy with the process, let alone the decisions that are being made. I really wouldn't move here for the schools.

Apparently, some of the other schools in the district are nice and 'good'. We just aren't zoned to one of those schools and they just took away the option to transfer schools w/in the district (because the number of schools is decreasing). Transportation services are simply a nightmare because the district is spread out and they spend a lot of time shuttling kids between schools. Oh - and there are 27 kids in my kid's first grade class. Needless to say, there's not really a lot I've been impressed with.

There also doesn't seem to be a lot of continuity either - you'll find that they divide the elementary school populations, so that a % goes to one middle school and the other % goes to another. I've never run into that kind of thinking in any other district I've moved to.

Also, people either really love or really hate "The Park" - where all 3 of the high schools share one huge campus - and they try to keep all freshman in the same building for most of the day. The high school the kid goes to is based on a lottery, not where you live. Oh - did I mention the traffic nightmares because Canton Center Road is only 2 lanes. Yeah. Cherry Hill Road is also going to be another nightmare once they get the new middle school built. (They are closing a middle school) Again, two lane road - large volumes of traffic driving on it.

Our family is just biding our time until we can move to another school district.

Housing prices are a lot cheaper here than they are in Ann Arbor, but I really wouldn't decide to move here until they have the elementary boundaries finalized and you can see if your new home will be zoned into one of the better schools in the area (ie, workman, dodson, etc). Oh - Allen, one of the better elementary schools, is on the chopping block (and that has people ticked).

Good luck.