Nichols College/Dudley/Webster Advice

[LeavingMassachusetts]

Originally Posted by oochaosoo

I lived in Southbridge for 6 years in a VERY nice part. It was a 5 house cul-de-sac on 4 acres of land. I also teach in Southbridge. It is very frustrating that we have such a bad name. It is not as bad as people report. There are some extremely nice areas and the schools are improving. In the 5 years that I have worked there, there has been tremendous growth and all of the staff work super hard! A new MS/HS will open in 2012.

I currently live in Webster on the Lower Gore section (near the Lake) in a newer development which is beautiful! I love it here. It's very convenient to the highway, stores, etc. I know a few teachers who work in Webster and they say the same thing as I did.

The MCAS scores do not measure the quality of teachers.

Good luck with your decision.

There are some very nice areas in Southbridge, I lived there too for a few years. You also live in the one nice area left in Webster. Both towns leave a lot to be desired though and are not nearly as nice as they used to be.

If you were buying a home in this part of Mass, I just don't understand why you would choose Southbridge or Webster over Oxford, Dudley, Charlton, Sutton or Auburn. It seems like a no brainer to me.

[thenewtexan]

Originally Posted by oochaosoo

I lived in Southbridge for 6 years in a VERY nice part. It was a 5 house cul-de-sac on 4 acres of land. I also teach in Southbridge. It is very frustrating that we have such a bad name. It is not as bad as people report. There are some extremely nice areas and the schools are improving. In the 5 years that I have worked there, there has been tremendous growth and all of the staff work super hard! A new MS/HS will open in 2012.

I currently live in Webster on the Lower Gore section (near the Lake) in a newer development which is beautiful! I love it here. It's very convenient to the highway, stores, etc. I know a few teachers who work in Webster and they say the same thing as I did.

The MCAS scores do not measure the quality of teachers.

Good luck with your decision.

Yes, that's very nice. However, the OP is looking for a good high school now, not in 5 - 10 years when hopefully Southbridge will have their act together. She needs to look in Dudley or Charlton.

[hiknapster]

I agree with all of the above posts. Webster was the armpit of the area even when I was a kid, back in the 60s. My mother was born and raised there. Thank gawd my dad insisted that we live in Southbridge. My mother never stopped going on and on about wonderful Webster. I rented there in the 90s and I couldn't wait to get out. That's when I finally moved out of state.

My mother has gone back to Webster, living in a condo for the past 10 years, and she finally sees how bad the place is; in fact she tells me how much worse it has become. I wish I could get her to move but she will probably die there.

Yes, stick to Dudley/Charlton, Oxford or Auburn, in that order.

Looking at the big picture, though, even Webster has a lower crime rate than the national average. I cannot stress enough how high the crime is in The South, including Florida. It's very different. And small towns down here can be very backward. Very.

I wouldn't send my kid attend a Webster school, though, although it is still probably better than most rural southern schools.

I miss Southbridge. Back then it was truly Mayberry. I got my first bra at Edward's department store, which was in a beautiful, old brick building downtown with a real elevator! There was a dress shop, a shoe store, a stationery story, a children's clothing store, a produce store...I could go on and on.

It's funny because when I bought my house in Knoxville I realized, a few months later, that I had bought into a neighborhood that looked just like one of my favorites in Southbridge. And the house looks like my piano teacher's house! Of course there are no sidewalks here...

[Lowerdeck]

Even now, Southbridge shows much more potential than Webster. Webster seems stuck in the past, while Southbridge is at least trying to improve itself it seems Main St. in Webster looks half dead, and you can clearly see the older storefronts not even renovated for whatever's there now. Main St. in Southbridge meanwhile looks much nicer, at least downtown between South St. and the rotary anyway. The Conference center and hotel is a nice redo of the AO plant. Southbridge has work to be done yes, but at least it doesn't look as hopeless as Webster. Webster's state of mind is just baffling - it's like Mass.'s best impersonation of the rural south