Moving to Kansas City. (St. Louis, Lee's Summit: crime, houses, established neighborhood)

[lpdsag]

My husband is thinking of moving to Kansas City. Is there a big difference in schools in Kansas vrs Missouri? Is kindergarten all day? What is your opinion of the schools there? We currently live in Papillion Nebraska and love the school program. I would like to here thoughts on living in Kansas City either Missouri or Kansas. Where are the best living areas? Any info would be nice. Gas prices? How are they and such.

thanks so much!

[MrsMo]

Most districts have all day kindergarten, although I have heard Lee's summit does not.

[rondamarchant]

You're right. Lee's Sumit doesn't currently have all day kindergarten but it is on the way....

From the Lee's Summit Journal....
The R-7 Board of Education approved all-day kindergarten during its July 19 meeting. With approval to implement all-day kindergarten in 2009, the district administration will now review with the Citizens' Advisory Committee a proposed 2008 no-tax-increase bond issue to build several classrooms at various sites for this purpose. Transportation, staffing, and operation expense are all included in the long-range budget planning process and are not a part of any future bond or levy considerations.

R-7 Superintendent David McGehee said the reasons for switching to all-day kindergarten are many, but most of the cause focuses on giving students more time in the classroom.

[kmflan]

Kansas schools have a better reputation than Kansas City,Missouri schools. Having said that, There are plenty of school systems on the Missouri side that are great. Lee's Summit comes to mind. I think Ray-Pec is another.

My neighbor, here in Belton, is president of her sons PTA and she has been VERY happy with the Belton Schools. They have a program where the teacher moves up to the next grade with the students. So your child has the same teacher 2 years in a row. It makes for much easier transitions and the teacher already knows each students learning strengths and weaknesses. I guess if you had a rotten teacher, it could be bad. But my neighbor just raves about it and her kids, all 5 of them 9th grade down to 1st grade, are making A's and B's.

Belton is also very affordable with a quaint little downtown area and your major chain stores as well. There is a wonderful new community center with yoga, pilates, aerobics, weight room, indoor track, basketball court, outdoor playground, etc...Family membership for Belton Residents is $42/ month for unlimited use.

Gas at the local Quick Trip was 2.79 a few days ago.
Downtown Kansas City is 35 minutes away, even in traffic on 71 Highway.
The Plaza and Westport are about 30-35 minutes.
KCI Airport is 45 minutes in traffic on 71 Highway.
Sprint Campus is about 20 minutes.
Lee's Summit Shopping Center is also about 20 minutes.
Target/Kohl's/Grocery is less than 5 minutes from my house.
Downtown is within walking distance, about 1/2 mile.
The main city park with the city pool is about 1/2 mile also. We've walked to and from many times.
There is a local farmer's market on Thurs evenings throughout the growing season.

Belton isn't perfect. We usually drive into the city for a good ethnic restaurant. But all things considered, we've been very happy here and out neighbors are fantastic.

[city-man]

The schools "Up North" of the river in Kansas City are good. They are building new school(s) right now in fact. The schools in Liberty are considered to be very good. Most of the schools on the Kansas side are good. Stay out of Claycomo at all costs. Belton has a bad reputation as being a dump. I here it's been coming back but just thought you would like to know. Also, Lee's Summit is very good and people love it there.

Have you looked at St. Louis?

[2005hawk]

If you like Papillion, you should consider Gardner, Kansas or Raymore, MO. Both are newer suburbs that are growing very quickly. They're basically bedroom communities on the verge of becoming major suburbs.

[GraniteStater]

If you prefer established neighborhoods with sidewalks, developed bike trail systems, large shade trees, and a mix of age groups than I would definitely cancel out Gardner. Gardner is on the southwest edge of the KC metro, but the property values have been hurt by the inter-modal facility they want to build there. Also the area is extremely conservative with mostly cookie cutter houses. The age ranges are much younger than the state average and their are not as many middle age or older people as a total percentage of the population compared with other cities in the kC metro.

[adonijah]

Originally Posted by lpdsag

My husband is thinking of moving to Kansas City. Is there a big difference in schools in Kansas vrs Missouri? Is kindergarten all day? What is your opinion of the schools there? We currently live in Papillion Nebraska and love the school program. I would like to here thoughts on living in Kansas City either Missouri or Kansas. Where are the best living areas? Any info would be nice. Gas prices? How are they and such.

thanks so much!

Ugh, your husband may want to reconsider.

We have some nice outlying areas, parts of Lee's Summit, Belton, Leawood (which is actually Kansas-right by the State line), and Blue Springs are all OK. I say this as someone who has lived here for over 25 years, and now as a man in my early 30's, I can tell you that much of KC ain't what she used to be.

Crime, gangs, and HORRIBLE City management have rotted KC for me and my family. We are moving soon, going out West to a smaller town and hopefully will be able to live out the rest of our lives without all the sirens and incompetent (that's putting it nicely) public schools.

There are some nice points about KC, it's just that for me anyway, it's negatives outweigh its positives. It wasn't always that way, but the neighborhood has changed a lot in the last 15 years.

Good luck!

[kmflan]

I have been here for 12+ years and I love it. Miss the ocean though

[DontBelieveYourLies]

Kansas City, MO has been under mass reconstruction, redevelopment, and revitalization within the last decade, but especially more so in the last couple of years.. The new Power And Light District is opening up and it looks awesome... Several thousands of people have flocked to live in the downtown area which was once a crime mecca.. This is not the case at ALL anymore.. Besides all of the new business and the bettering of older business..tons of living spaces are sprouting.. Things in Kansas City, MO are growing and changing rapidly, and that's exactly why I'm moving there myself. The city is being hailed world-wide for the positive activity that is present..and I don't want to miss it!

The school systems within the city mimic many other big city school systems. Think of the Kansas City MO metro area as a big circle... All along the circle there are great schools... In the middle of the circle within the city itself, the schools aren't desirable.. They're not good.... but things can and will get better with time as long as there are people who try to make it so. There are a lot of places to choose from when it comes to schools.. and also, living.. I don't live there yet, but I've read a lot of positive comments about a LOT of different places.

Stay on the Missouri side, although the Kansas city has a few nice offerings if you stay close to the state line. Lawrence is particularly charming.

Don't move to St. Louis.. eeek.. No need to go closer to the southern states..