Tell me about your life in Winchester, Arlington, Natick or Needham!

[bonsey]

I think Newton is a great option, too! We're a minority lesbian couple with a teenager moving from SF, and Newton and Arlington are our top and runner-up choices, respectively. (To be fair, Arlington is 2nd only because we have friends in Jamaica Plain and because their HS ranks a bit lower than either of Newton's HSs.) Good luck, and feel free to message me if you need any recommendations for inspectors and whatnot.

[MelissaInJersey]

Thanks. That was interesting that you moved from Arlington to Natick. I will look up Sue Lima.

[gil1515]

Natick is a great town with many great neighborhoods. Brown Elementary was ranked 1st in the state for math and highly rated for ELA. Memorial is great as well. Good luck. For 650,00 it is your best location as far as amount of house you can get. On the south side, it boarders Sherborn which is pretty pricey.

[J_Dumas]

I grew up in Sharon and own a home in Arlington. You can't go wrong with the education system in Sharon. Arlington is good but not top tier like Sharon. Diversity-wise, Sharon and Arlington are both solid. Sharon has a ton of temples and mosques despite being surrounded by mostly white towns. Arlington is right next to Cambridge and gets some of that urban feel to it. Diversity is nothing like say NYC or big cities in California, but it's decent and you shouldn't have problems from anybody. Hope this helps

[queerfaith]

Does anyone know what families do for help picking up kids afterschool? Are there college students in these town that might watch my kids from 3-5 pm? Or are there moms whose kids have gone off to college, who work as PT babysitters?[/quote]


All elementary schools are arraigned so that students do not cross Mass Ave (and a few other major intersections). (Some special needs classrooms require attendance at schools which do cross such roads due to not having locations at each of the elementary schools). Some years there have been parenting groups that have organized "walking schoolbus" programs. Many parents/caregivers pick up kids-especially primary age. I think by 3-4th grade many begin walking with friends. My husband was an MIT grad student and we were advised to find a rental unit in the Bracket elementary area. We did and were generally very pleased with the school and neighborhood. When my youngest were in middle school, we relocated to East Arlington. I drove the kids to school more often, because the distance was much greater with high school just past the center, and middle school in the heights. And the kids did not get moving well in the AM!



In the Fall of 2018 all 6th graders will attend a remodeled/opened space at the former Jr High East, due to increased enrollment in Arlington Public Schools. All elementary schools have been updated beginning in about 1999/2000 and having just been completed this past year. The Middle School I believe has some expansion plans-or perhaps the 6th grade will just remain at a separate location. The High School is in study for modernization and expansion (deciding on which of several plans to undertake), and hopefully will be completed prior to true overcrowding. The regional vocational/technical (Minuteman) high school is, I believe set to open this year or next after a major rebuild/tech modernization. This is really a High tech/college prep school for many of the students enrolled, with students prepared to hold some entry level job in field at graduation.



Also look on town website or google for Arlington email list. Also a parents list. Sometimes rental units are first mentioned on there, as well as childcare.

[MikePRU]

Originally Posted by smile_cc

If you end up wanting to buy in natick use a good re agent that knows the town. We used sue Lima (cold well banker) and would recommend her.

Wow! There's a name I haven't heard in a long time. I've done a number of transactions with Sue over the years. Unfortunately, she passed away in 2015.

Originally Posted by queerfaith

Does anyone know what families do for help picking up kids afterschool? Are there college students in these town that might watch my kids from 3-5 pm? Or are there moms whose kids have gone off to college, who work as PT babysitters?


All elementary schools are arraigned so that students do not cross Mass Ave (and a few other major intersections). (Some special needs classrooms require attendance at schools which do cross such roads due to not having locations at each of the elementary schools). Some years there have been parenting groups that have organized "walking schoolbus" programs. Many parents/caregivers pick up kids-especially primary age. I think by 3-4th grade many begin walking with friends. My husband was an MIT grad student and we were advised to find a rental unit in the Bracket elementary area. We did and were generally very pleased with the school and neighborhood. When my youngest were in middle school, we relocated to East Arlington. I drove the kids to school more often, because the distance was much greater with high school just past the center, and middle school in the heights. And the kids did not get moving well in the AM!



In the Fall of 2018 all 6th graders will attend a remodeled/opened space at the former Jr High East, due to increased enrollment in Arlington Public Schools. All elementary schools have been updated beginning in about 1999/2000 and having just been completed this past year. The Middle School I believe has some expansion plans-or perhaps the 6th grade will just remain at a separate location. The High School is in study for modernization and expansion (deciding on which of several plans to undertake), and hopefully will be completed prior to true overcrowding. The regional vocational/technical (Minuteman) high school is, I believe set to open this year or next after a major rebuild/tech modernization. This is really a High tech/college prep school for many of the students enrolled, with students prepared to hold some entry level job in field at graduation.



Also look on town website or google for Arlington email list. Also a parents list. Sometimes rental units are first mentioned on there, as well as childcare.

I'm pretty sure the person you're responding to has figured it out by now. In fact, this thread is 6 years old. So, that kid might be driving themselves home from school by now.