North bay vs. South bay area (Boston, Cambridge: neighborhoods, top school, subdivisions)

[jenmal]

We have narrowed down our choices, and are most likely to end up in the Boston area. We have asked a few people about good choices for towns to live in (we don't want City of Boston school district), and we have opinions split down the middle as to North suburbs (Swampscott, Marblehead, Salem, etc) and South suburbs (Quincy, Braintree, Weymouth, etc). We are looking for a fairly small school district, that is not super competitive, but has decent test scores, close access to public transportation into the city (not for commuting, but for extra-curriculars for the kids--Harvard & MIT in particular), laid back atmosphere (well, as laid back as you can get outside of Boston, but still close to the city), a town where you can walk to school, library, etc, if you choose. Someplace with diversity in population, income, and housing options. Someplace without a lot of industrial/commercial type areas, more focused on small businesses and residential neighborhoods, no subdivisions, more grid-like street patterns.

Any suggestions? Any reason why North bay over South bay? Anyone with experience with particular school districts that may/may not be good choices for really, really, bright kids? I know that MA as a whole doesn't do gifted programming, it is up to the individual school district, so any that are better than others? Anyone with anecdotes about the Harvard summer school for kids or the MIT splash program?

TIA,
JEnnifer

[ChunkyMonkey]

On the North Shore, you should look into Winchester (small, quaint, good schools, not so diverse) but close proximity to Boston/Cambridge. Another alternative is Arlington (diverse, relatively good school, close to boston), and Melrose (close proximity to Boston, decent schools). As for the South Shore, Milton is also quite diverse with a fairly large asian community. Also, have you looked into Hull. They have a commuter boat service to Boston. I'm not so sure about schools on the south shore. For the most part, I think Massachusetts has one of the top school systems in the country. Don't judge a school my MCAS scores, some just teach to the test. You'll have to decide on what you consider a good school based on visits as well as curriculum, student/teacher ratio, etc. Good luck.

[smarty]

Originally Posted by jenmal

Anyone with anecdotes about the Harvard summer school for kids or the MIT splash program?

MIT splash program are for kids in the City (7-12 grade) as a community service. Run by students. Subject depends on the MIT students' interests. It is cheap. Cheaper than summer camp. btw MIT do not give Merit scholarships.

It is a program in my mind to give kids a taste of the subject. Have you try to learn how to programming in C in a few lessons? If you are that smart, you do not need the program. He can learn by himself. On the other hand, there are many other subjects like Chinese painting, chess, history, .... Not all technical.

As to districts/school dealing with "smart" kids. It really depends on how good you are negotiating with the school. My friend (I heard his son IQ in 150 range) negotiated to move his son up 2 grades since the teachers do not know what to do with him. He is still on top of his class of which he is almost 2.5 years younger. The question always is he physically and mentally ready to deal with older kids? The social side.

"Someplace with diversity in population, income, and housing options." - You will notice that town with decent test scores do not have diversity in population, income or housing options. By the way, MIT do not consider Asians as minority (at least under represented minority). Hence, towns with good scores are mostly high income white 90+% and Asian 5-8%. (almost no blacks and hispanic)

[maggiekate]

i know Marblehead is nice, and as another poster did say winchester also.

the south shore, i would go to plymouth, Braintree is near boston, however with the bus and computer rail, plymouth is better. Braintree had alot of car thefts, and Quincy, was once real nice, but close to Braintree.