Schools In Western Ma (Springfield, Amherst: movies, elementary school, university)

[RICKPOLINSKI]

Hello Massachusetts,
We're considering moving to Western MA around the Springfield area. We heard Northampton has a good public school system, but we're wondering what are some other towns that have a comparable reputation and are reasonably close?

[Vagus]

See this link:

//www.city-data.com/forum/massa...estern-ma.html

Also consider Longmeadow, East Longmeadow, Wilbraham.

[celli]

I lived in Amherst for many years and my oldest son attended school there for kindergarten through 4th grade. We loved it. He went to the Wildwood School. This was 1990 to 1995, so it's been a while, but I imagine the schools are still pretty good. I loved Amherst, and would move back in a heartbeat (if I could talk my husband into it). Schools were wonderful, great school band, great after school program . . . The town leisure services dept. had lots of programs for kids, including inexpensive day trips for school holidays, as well as summer camps, movies on the town green during the summer, swimming lessons at town pools, etc. (We live on the Cape now, and I have two more kids in elementary school and none of this stuff). I was a single parent in Amherst, and found it a great place to raise a kid. Very supportive, with lots of interesting things to do, yet also small town safe.

My one word of caution is that there are a lot of students, so you would want to be a bit careful about where you live, or you might find yourself with noisy neighbors. But the up side is that the University sponsors *a lot* of concerts, lectures, cultural events, sports events, etc, so there are lots of interesting things to do. And the students go away in the summer, so it's nice and quiet then.

Northampton is nice too, but slightly more big-city like. IMHO, it's hard to go wrong with either one. Amherst is slightly farther away, about 4 or 5 miles east of Northampton along Route 9. If you're looking for a more urban experience, go for Northampton. If you like a more small-town, college-town feel, go for Amherst. Northampton is a city, with a mayor. I believe Amherst still has town meeting.

The five college system sponsors free public transportation between the five campuses during the school year, so if you want to get around without a car, or if you have teenagers, this is a big plus. Especially considering that it is otherwise a fairly rural area. Personally, I think it would be an ideal place to be a teenager. Small enough to be safe, big enough not to be boring.

There are also plenty of little "bedroom communities" around these two towns.

[willdufauve]

It's Greenfield, Gill-Montague (& Turners Falls), and Franklin County Tech you want to avoid.