Schools in Waltham? (Boston, Cambridge, Newton: middle-class, affordable houses, best school districts)

[tribechamy]

In our big metrowest house search, Waltham comes up as a place with a great commute distance (for us anyway) and with reasonably affordable houses. However, everything I've seen on the school system is negative. (greatschools.com or Boston Globe and Boston magazine, etc.)

Is this the whole story? There are two colleges in Waltham and tons of tech companies with highly educated employees. Where do the kids of Brandeis professors go to school? Does everyone just commute from Newton and Lexington?

[Cato the Elder]

Originally Posted by tribechamy

Where do the kids of Brandeis professors go to school? Does everyone just commute from Newton and Lexington?

Not Waltham from what I'm told (my neighbor teaches there). The older faculty generally live in Brookline, Winchester, Lexington, Newton, Concord, Lincoln, Weston, Wellesley, Belmont, etc. (they bought years ago when these places were significantly less expensive). Mid-career faculty tend to live in Sudbury, Acton, Carlisle, Arlington, West Concord, Waverley Belmont, etc. Recently hired faculty need to venture further out to Stow, Littleton, Westford, etc. The Fitchburg line provides options. I wouldn't be surprised if faculty and staff get pushed out to Ayer in the coming years.

[tribechamy]

So nobody stays in Waltham? Having a hard time understanding why a city with so many employers and so close to Boston is skipped over as a place to live. I grew up in Newton and while Waltham always had a reputation, I thought it was turning around a bit with new restaurants and housing developments and things.

Are there any schools in Waltham which are better rated? Any good resources for families with children?

[Cato the Elder]

I just saw the neighbor tonight and he said some empty nesters and faculty with no kids stay in Waltham. The vast majority live elsewhere, mainly due to schools. I've always liked visiting Waltham myself, but one thing I don't fully understand is where the tax dollars go.

[donewithpretty]

Cato, I thought you were a Brandeis prof living in Concord, no?

Tribechamy, do your local schools have to live up to where professors want to send their kids? I know several educated, middle-class families living in Waltham who use the public schools. Why not check out the Waltham school facilities and programs and see if they would work for your kids?

[Cato the Elder]

Originally Posted by donewithpretty

Cato, I thought you were a Brandeis prof living in Concord, no?

Tribechamy, do your local schools have to live up to where professors want to send their kids? I know several educated, middle-class families living in Waltham who use the public schools. Why not check out the Waltham school facilities and programs and see if they would work for your kids?

Nope, work in Cambridge but one of my co-PIs is at Brandeis (underrated school in my opinion). I know schools can be a contentious issue on here and meant no insult to Waltham. As I've stated on here, I love the downtown area and dine there frequently - great midpoint to meet friends who live in or near Boston. Regardless, the word on the street is that few faculty members with kids from any university live in Waltham, if that means anything to a particular person...

[tribechamy]

Originally Posted by donewithpretty

Tribechamy, do your local schools have to live up to where professors want to send their kids? I know several educated, middle-class families living in Waltham who use the public schools. Why not check out the Waltham school facilities and programs and see if they would work for your kids?

That's really the information I was looking for - are there good schools in Waltham (there must be, right?), and can anyone tell me more about the particular schools.

I mention professors just because conventional wisdom is that one of the reasons the schools are so well regarded in Lexington, Belmont, etc. is because of the large number of university professors who live there. It stands to reason: where do those who value education choose to educate their children? But now Cato's account of professors who teach in Waltham choosing to educate their own kids elsewhere makes me wonder why. Is it just reputation, or is there more to it?

[495neighbor]

Originally Posted by tribechamy

That's really the information I was looking for - are there good schools in Waltham (there must be, right?), and can anyone tell me more about the particular schools.

I mention professors just because conventional wisdom is that one of the reasons the schools are so well regarded in Lexington, Belmont, etc. is because of the large number of university professors who live there. It stands to reason: where do those who value education choose to educate their children? But now Cato's account of professors who teach in Waltham choosing to educate their own kids elsewhere makes me wonder why. Is it just reputation, or is there more to it?

Maybe just don't want to see their students in their private time.

[charolastra00]

I'm a staff member and alum of Brandeis and few of us live in Waltham. Younger staff and faculty without kids might stay there, as do some who send their kids to the Rashi School (private). I chose to live further out because I don't want to deal with seeing my student workers socially. :P

As a student, I volunteered at two of the elementary schools (the one near Brandeis and the one on Bacon Street). I thought both were decent, but parents are less involved than in, say Newton or Lexington schools. Waltham is surrounded by some of the best school districts in the country, so it struggles with a negative reputation in the region because it can't compete. That said, plop the Waltham school district in just about any other part of the country, and it's fine and likely above average.

[Dan1974]

Credentialism is the result of mediocre leadership in corporate america, unable to evaluate performance for it's real value. So it rely on University faculty to tell them who is who and what is what.

It has evolved into a business, providing a very lucrative revenue for those creating the illusion of elitism out of this ponzi scheme.

Like everything else based on false pretenses and fraud, it will eventually deflate in the coming decades. It is well established by now that Ivy leaguers are mediocre performers. Personally, when asked about my opinion about a candidate with an all-star academic background, I alwasy give a thumb down. They come in with a sense of entitlement and are not willing to "fight" for anything.

So this maskarade will eventually end, and so will this psychotic distortion about altering a kids future forever if they happen to mingle with anything else than propped up overachiever, pressured by tiger moms to get these straight As for 2 decades in a row.

I want my kids to do well, but have life experience as well, and not reach adulthood as socially awkward wimps, whose only skill is to score a perfect SAT which, if they are lucky, give them a marginally better shot at getting a job in todays economy. And we wont even talk about student debt here but, you get the point.

People are nuts, thats what I think. Completely insane....