Best Elementary School Districts? (Long Beach, Riverside: how much, home, best school districts)

[Taboo2]

We are moving to LA and would love to know the best school districts in the area for K-6. It would help if they were reasonably priced areas as well. So obviously Bev Hills would have a great USD but we can't afford that. I'm thinking more like sherman oaks or pasadena?

[BRinSM]

Sherman Oaks would be in the LAUSD. Also, I believe the local middle schools feed into Van Nuys HS. Not a good place.

I can't help you with Pasadena, but being a much smaller city, I'm sure their public schools are better.

[Charles]

What does "best" mean to you? State performance data are located on the California Dept of Education website.. Did you analyze them yet? How much research have you already performed?

[los$candalous]

typically, on these message boards, when people bring up the word "best", they want to know where affluent, young, rich, hip, 'WHITE"-collared people are

there is also the opposite whenever people say an area is "bad"

[puffle]

Originally Posted by Taboo2

We are moving to LA and would love to know the best school districts in the area for K-6. It would help if they were reasonably priced areas as well. So obviously Bev Hills would have a great USD but we can't afford that. I'm thinking more like sherman oaks or pasadena?

Riverside Elementary School, Sherman Oaks Elementary School, Kester Elementary School are all good. The problem is what are you going to do after 5th or 6th grade? The middle and high schools are terrible IMO being a former student and resident of S.O. all of my life. There is a lottery system to get into a better school/magnet once your children hit 7th grade. If you move to the Conejo Valley such as Oak Park,Agoura,Westlake Village, and Thousand Oaks you would have great choices straight across the board and a much better place to raise a family, which I did for 13 years. Good luck to you.

[JTGJR]

You don't mention if you're limited to a particular area and LA is huge with pockets of good and bad throughout. If you intend to be here until such time that your child/children will move into middle school, that's what you should be researching. As has been noted in some particular areas, the K-6 schools can be quite good, but moving to middle schools and high schools in the same area may not be desirable. Westside and South Bay school systems boast good reputations from K-12. Try looking north to south at the cities listed below. 1*- less expensive, 2*- expensive, 3*- very expensive. And, yes, it's all relative and based on median home prices.

Santa Monica ***
Culver City *
El Segundo **
Manhattan Beach ***
Hermosa Beach *** can be mentioned at the K-6 level and feeds into Redondo or Manhattan at the middle school level I believe.
Redondo Beach **
Torrance *
Palos Verdes ***
Long Beach *

[laysayfair]

Originally Posted by puffle

Riverside Elementary School, Sherman Oaks Elementary School, Kester Elementary School are all good. The problem is what are you going to do after 5th or 6th grade? The middle and high schools are terrible IMO being a former student and resident of S.O. all of my life. There is a lottery system to get into a better school/magnet once your children hit 7th grade. If you move to the Conejo Valley such as Oak Park,Agoura,Westlake Village, and Thousand Oaks you would have great choices straight across the board and a much better place to raise a family, which I did for 13 years. Good luck to you.

Absolutely true! I did the same thing 8 years ago.

[Sorcerer68]

According to the sources I checked a few months ago when my nephew moved here, Arcadia is #1 and South Pasadena is a close #2. I'd pick the latter, sensational place to raise kids. Of course BH is good as is Palos Verdes (great from K-12). Redondo Beach is also excellent.

[DawnW]

My first choice would actually be La Canada or La Crescenta. La Crescenta being a little less expensive. Arcadia, South Pasadena, San Marino are also great schools. I would stay out of Pasadena completely for public schools, although Pasadena is an awesome area.

Reasonably priced is questionable. Not sure what reasonable would look like to you.

Dawn

[Lake Conroe resident]

Originally Posted by Taboo2

We are moving to LA and would love to know the best school districts in the area for K-6. It would help if they were reasonably priced areas as well. So obviously Bev Hills would have a great USD but we can't afford that. I'm thinking more like sherman oaks or pasadena?

You won't be able to find good schools in reasonably priced areas as everyone else looking for that same piece of pie has already driven those areas prices through the roof. You will have to make the decision what's more important, good schools & desirable area or your wallet, or staying put where you are...