Working Biotech in Cambridge, wanna get outta Boston to Suburbs.. FINALLY! (Somerville: 2013, home)

[Boston Shudra]

Originally Posted by bugelrex

There's a difference between diverse and having several kids aged 8 years plus in a class who come from broken homes with zero interest in education.

First of all, there are plenty of bright and motivated kids in the Boston public school system. However, it’s sort of a moot point if the OP chooses to send her kids to private school for elementary like she said in her post..

[semiurbanite]

Originally Posted by bugelrex

There's a difference between diverse and having several kids aged 8 years plus in a class who come from broken homes with zero interest in education.

Those kids do tend to fall behind, but when the majority of the class are motivated students it's really not going to have an impact, you can see it in the data as the "not economically disadvantaged" kids often score just as high as the kids in top districts.

[wolfgang239]

Originally Posted by semiurbanite

Based on what? You wont know unless you try it, most people that try the schools in recent years end up loving them. But there are people who have already decided, no matter how much data you show them or families you talk to - they just want the suburbs due to space, SES of peers, or the illusion of safety. You don't seem all that fond of what Somerville has become so in that case sell for a huge profit and move on.

The % of ivy-league or MIT educated parents coming into our Somerville school is shocking. Most parents here could sell their 3-bed condo and buy a whole house in Belmont but fewer and fewer do it every year. 3 schools now have waitlists, 4 years ago only one did and that one sometimes doesn't even have a waitlist anymore. No district is changing for the better faster. As I already showed you, the #1 top performing 3rd grade MCAS scores of any school in the state was a Somerville school last year, out of over 300 schools, WITHOUT controlling for income. I don't put a ton of stock in MCAS because the high scoring schools often teach to the test and I'm sure this one does too, but that's pretty shocking.

Yawn

[sawyer2]

Originally Posted by semiurbanite

Most parents here could sell their 3-bed condo and buy a whole house in Belmont but fewer and fewer do it every year.

Not to step into the fray here....... but at 2 recent Belmont start-of-school-year meet and greets, many of the new parents that I met were from Somerville and many were leaving specifically BECAUSE they had issues with the school system.

The issues ran the full gamut .... from discipline, poor educators, lack of academic challenge at middle school all the way to gangs/drugs at the high school. They had tried for years to make Somerville schools work but had essentially given up.

I'm not saying Somerville is all bad .... but its certainly far from all good ....... and I do hope it continues to improve as it benefits everyone. I'm sure you will send some links or slice/dice some data to refute this but this was very real, and it wasn't just from one couple with a special snowflake child.

Incidentally, based on what they do for work, I would think these these folks can well afford to buy their house in Belmont so it wasn't space/cost related - in fact, some were keeping their Somerville place as a rental.

[wolfgang239]

Yes, those are many of the concerns I've heard from fellow parents with kids in the schools here. Not just internet strangers armed with peculiar slices of data and new york times articles.

[bugelrex]

Originally Posted by wolfgang239

Yes, those are many of the concerns I've heard from fellow parents with kids in the schools here. Not just internet strangers armed with peculiar slices of data and new york times articles.

Especially in liberal towns, people dont want to openly discus the problem of gangs in high school in fear of being labelled intolerant... its easier to just move to have your children not be exposed to it

[semiurbanite]

Originally Posted by sawyer2

Not to step into the fray here....... but at 2 recent Belmont start-of-school-year meet and greets, many of the new parents that I met were from Somerville and many were leaving specifically BECAUSE they had issues with the school system.

The issues ran the full gamut .... from discipline, poor educators, lack of academic challenge at middle school all the way to gangs/drugs at the high school. They had tried for years to make Somerville schools work but had essentially given up.

I'm not saying Somerville is all bad .... but its certainly far from all good ....... and I do hope it continues to improve as it benefits everyone. I'm sure you will send some links or slice/dice some data to refute this but this was very real, and it wasn't just from one couple with a special snowflake child.

Incidentally, based on what they do for work, I would think these these folks can well afford to buy their house in Belmont so it wasn't space/cost related - in fact, some were keeping their Somerville place as a rental.

No question there are always some that leave, you can usually tell who they are right away. Wolfgang will probably be one. It's also different for older kids because the new wave in the schools are still in the K-5 grade range. There was a major shift 3-4 years ago where some schools went from 50% low income K classes to 15% low income over just a few years. There is a different mix in K than in 5th grade, never mind high school. And honestly some of the schools are not as good as others yet based on what I hear from parents - but the improvement is incredible and spreading to more and more elementary schools. It used to be that almost EVERYONE of means left by 3rd grade or so, now those people are a clear minority. When you live in Belmont, Arlington or Lexington you end up on the receiving end of all of the families that left. No school is perfect, we know 2 families that went to Arlington and 2 to Belmont a few years ago and they aren't all raving about those schools either, complaining about specific teachers, obsessive parents, and the higher student/teacher ratios. Some people just have unrealistic expectations.

[wolfgang239]

Sounds like a lot of elite or top % types moving in to shift the demographic so dramatically in a short period of time. I remember reading a somerville guy on the boston real estate now boards boasting about his home value like he was some kind of martin shkreli. I hope to move to a place that is a nicer balance between the playground for the rich you so adore and a closely knit community with less of the city issues that come with it. Definitely a tough decision, but have vs have nots is also not a great place to raise kids in reality.

[semiurbanite]

Originally Posted by bugelrex

Especially in liberal towns, people dont want to openly discus the problem of gangs in high school in fear of being labelled intolerant... its easier to just move to have your children not be exposed to it

Rephrase that - some people don't want to admit they moved due to race, so they blame "gangs". Gangs are far less of a problem today than 10 years ago. Teens driving cars are much more dangerous statistically, if your kid doesn't need to get into a friend's car they are actually much safer.

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by semiurbanite

Rephrase that - some people don't want to admit they moved due to race, so they blame "gangs". Gangs are far less of a problem today than 10 years ago. Teens driving cars are much more dangerous statistically, if your kid doesn't need to get into a friend's car they are actually much safer.

Car accidents and joining gangs are not random occurrences.