cedar rapids high schools (Des Moines, Iowa City: houses, neighborhoods, school district)

[tjlmama04]

We will be moving to Cedar Rapids from Gainesville FL next year. Our oldest will be starting high school. so I'm looking at the different schools. I love the older houses that are on the east side and zoned for Washington but it looks like JFK is the better school.

Looking for opinions.

And Dewey59, I'm not a dive bomber. lol.

[Meemur]

Originally Posted by tjlmama04

And Dewey59, I'm not a dive bomber. lol.

LOL!

Sorry that I can't answer your question about CR but if you have any questions about the Des Moines area, please ask!

[Dewey59]

Originally Posted by tjlmama04

We will be moving to Cedar Rapids from Gainesville FL next year. Our oldest will be starting high school. so I'm looking at the different schools. I love the older houses that are on the east side and zoned for Washington but it looks like JFK is the better school.

Looking for opinions.

And Dewey59, I'm not a dive bomber. lol.

That's hilarious! Glad to hear it!

Yes, you are right, JFK would be a better environment anyway.... not sure about scholastic accomplishments, because I never had kids there. But there are more "undesirable elements" at both Wash and Jeff vs. Kennedy.

If you are willing to get out of the city of CR a little, both Prairie (south of CR) and Lin-Mar (mostly Marion, but does include a small section of NW CR) are good districts with few problems.

Be careful when looking at older houses as for the most part, those older neighborhoods are the bad neighborhoods. Character sometimes comes at a price! There are some older neighborhoods that have nice character in the north part of Marion that might be in Lin-Mar, not sure. Anyway, most of those neighborhoods are ok. And honestly, I wouldn't be too concerned about the Marion Independent school district either. That would be a better choice than either Wash or Jeff in my humble opinion.

[tjlmama04]

Thanks for the advice. I do plan on doing a little more research. My girls are both straight A students and in advanced programs so we'll take that into consideration as well.

[foundapeanut]

I'm a Kennedy graduate (decades ago) and consider my success in life, I totally owe to being a Kennedy Cougar.

J/K!

[Vitae]

Jefferson is awful. Washington is a mix of awful and decent. Marion is awful. Prairie, Kennedy, and Linn Mar are all pretty decent.

Kids from Washington and Jefferson have been involved in shooting in the last couple years. 14 and 15 year old kids shooting each other. I wouldn't send my kids to either school if someone paid me to do it.

[Dewey59]

Originally Posted by Vitae

Jefferson is awful. Washington is a mix of awful and decent. Marion is awful. Prairie, Kennedy, and Linn Mar are all pretty decent.

Kids from Washington and Jefferson have been involved in shooting in the last couple years. 14 and 15 year old kids shooting each other. I wouldn't send my kids to either school if someone paid me to do it.

Since you are calling Jefferson and Marion both awful, does that mean you consider them equal? What is your basis for calling Marion awful? I personally know close to two dozen kids that went to Marion Independent schools and consider all of them (except one) really bright, and well mannered kids.

[Vitae]

A school being bad doesn't mean no intelligent or high achieving students ever go there. I myself am a Washington graduate and a doctor, however that achievement is very much in spite of my high school and was not helped by it in any significant way. Of course there are bright students at Marion, there are everywhere, but if you want good information about a district you need to know about broad academic trends and not what a few dozen people are like. The Marion district consistently has low test scores and pulls mainly from low SES neighborhoods which is correlated with lower academic achievement and higher rates of problem behaviors. There is also the ongoing issue with multiple students being sexually abused. I know that is occurring at the elementary school level but the way administration, who is also in charge of the high school, has handled it is literally criminal.

[tjlmama04]

Part of the reason I am looking at Washington is it seems to have more diversity than JFK. We are also looking at Iowa City schools as well. My Brother-in-law will be starting at West high in the fall so we'll see how he likes it.

[Vitae]

If you mean racial diversity I would say that's true, but I'm not sure I understand why that is inherently a positive for you. I would encourage you to think of the pros and cons of diversity at the high school level. There are absolutely benefits to broader cultural exposure, but the diversity at Washington will also include exposure to things like gang violence. Only you can decide if these are good or bad, or if the good outweighs the bad. I can tell you I did fairly poorly in terms of academics at Washington and a large part of that was because I did not feel safe there, and it is hard to concentrate on academic achievement if you don't feel safe.