West Des Moines, Families, Schools and African Americans.. Questions

[maniac77]

Originally Posted by Danibelle

Thank you for such great feedback! We spent the day in WDM and we were pleased and felt at home! Everyone was so inviting and warm! We didn't see a lot of diversity, we didn't see many people at all! We got the feeling that everyone spends time indoors with family (a plus). We looked for homes and met some wonderful people in the process! OK areas...we loved the areas closer to Crossroads school but we didn't like the area in the Waukee school district. The neighborhood in the Waukee area seemed a little closed in, less family oriented. We'll update more because we'll be back in a week!

Thanks for the update and Happy Thanksgiving! I like the area around Crossroads Elementary too. That's a great school, and there are some nice townhomes nearby. I agree with you. I don't really like the Waukee area either. I went there for a Christmas party once and all the houses in the subdivision were the same gray color and size. I thought that was weird.

I got stuck in after-school traffic near Waukee the other day and the pick-up area was very disorganized with about 50 cars on the side of a busy street to pick up children. Many elementary schools have pick-up and drop-off lanes, so I found that to be strange. I think that would be annoying to deal with on a daily basis. While Waukee schools are excellent and growing more rapidly percentage-wise than even West Des Moines schools, Waukee is just too far removed from the rest of the metro IMO. I know it's not that far from the Des Moines proper, but if you had to commute into the city (or even West Des Moines) everyday, I think that would get annoying. I realize that commute is considered nothing to most people.

I hope you find a nice place and school and that's it warmer next week when you visit. It was -11 this morning and it's supposed to be 50 on Saturday. That's weather in Iowa.

[Tek_Freek]

Retired. No children. Lived in Des Moines/West Des Moines my entire life. Just moved to Las Vegas.

The last 28 years we lived near 58th and Center, which is about 8 blocks west of Crossroads. My take on what I experienced would be this.

Diversity is growing rapidly in WDM. When driving the number of people that are driving around us that are non-Caucasian has risen dramatically.

The woman across the street from us played in the Des Moines Symphony and taught clarinet in her home. Definitely not all white students.

You won't see a lot of diversity when you move in to your home/town home. You will if you move into an apartment complex. From Ashworth Road and Vista (approximately) north and curving around to about 68th on Vista there are apartments. To see diversity spend some time driving through the parking lots there.

But it's not an area where you will be surrounded by a large mix. We now have a comparison since we moved to Las Vegas. This city is diverse, but oddly enough the area where we moved is no more diverse than West Des Moines. Not planned that way, it just happened. Weird.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: If I could breathe in summer and not cough incessantly in winter we would still be in West Des Moines. In a single story, but still there.

Have you read through the CD page regarding WDM? It shows percent of population by race and the crime stats are worth looking at.

//www.city-data.com/city/West-Des-Moines-Iowa.html

[maniac77]

I found a website that gives a breakdown of the ethnic diversity (plus other information) in each school in the West Des Moines School District (and most of the other public schools in Iowa). It breaks it down by year and shows that West Des Moines is indeed getting more diverse at every school (though some are still very white). One of the elementary schools, Crestview Elementary, which is in Clive, but is part of the West Des Moines School District, is only 50% white (based on 2012 figures). This site kind of reinforces what Tek_Freek and I said in earlier posts. West Des Moines is becoming more ethnically diverse. Here is the site below for reference:

West Des Moines Elementary Schools - Find a School in West Des Moines, Iowa - SchoolDigger.com

[eagetal96]

We are currently in the midst of a relocation from Waukee to western suburbs if Chicago. We moved to the Des Moines area with a 2.5 yr old 6 years ago and decided to buy a year later after renting in WDM and feeling out the area. The schools are a WONDERFUL and our eight year old's best friends are both Hispanic and our 4-yo's preschool teacher (through the YMCA) is African American. we are so sad to be leaving the area as it has so much to offer! West Des Moines or Waukee, I think you'll find both communities welcoming and very family oriented. We have a great house in Waukee close to market ready too

[donkeytank]

Though this is an older thread, you people do realize that the Des Moines Public Schools are only 43% white.