Longmeadow schools (Springfield, Cambridge, Newton: fit in, city hall, home)

[cupola_]

I'm looking to move to the Pioneer Valley and Longmeadow is the only place that comes up in a discussion of good schools in that area. What makes it so good? Is it just the numbers? Does anyone have personal experience in the Longmeadow school system? Especially if as a minority.

[in_newengland]

Not a minority, but I grew up in Longmeadow and several of my family members taught there. The school system was always rated as near the top for the state.

I can't explain what made it so good but I will say that there was a lot of pressure and competition for grades. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it does have a downside. For example, when I meet another Longmeadow High graduate, we say something like, Oh, someone else who survived the Longmeadow school system!

I think East Longmeadow or some of the other nice surrounding towns would provide a more well rounded, less stressful experience.

Success in school depends to a great degree upon experiences and support at home. With a good home background, kids will do well in almost any decent school system.

Longmeadow can be snobby and there's a lot of keeping up with the Joneses.

The town is very convenient for commuting but prepare yourself to join the "right" clubs and for kids to have lots of homework and social pressure.

I will say one thing: I never had a bad teacher in Longmeadow and we always had the best of everything.

[GeoffD]

Personally, if I had a higher income Springfield job, I’d rather live in Northampton than Longmeadow. Longmeadow is a tiny suburb and lacks the population base to support a Main Street. Northampton is the county seat for Hampshire County and has a vibrant Main Street plus Smith College. The town is more socioeconomically mixed which is healthy for a school system compared to a homogeneous upper middle class Stepford suburb.

[mdovell]

Eh. Northampton is pretty much smith. Years ago it looked good but priced people and businesses out. I've never heard of issues with Longmeadow and I drive though it at least 4x a week. There's been some more developments for seniors. Just be careful at the east longmeadow rotary..it's um yeah

[in_newengland]

GeoffD is exactly right. Northampton is a great place, bustling with activity, Smith is barely noticeable but you can avail yourself of its cultural benefits. Only thing is, it is one of the most liberal cities in the entire country and it's well known for lesbians. If you're not open minded and very tolerant, you might get annoyed, but I think anyone would fit in in Northampton.

As for Longmeadow, the zoning is so strictly residential (a few upscale shops are allowed but no Main St. Grocery store and drug store, gas station and that's about it.) The main thing is joining the ritzy and outrageously expensive country club and hobnobbing with the "right" people. Nothing much for kids in Longmeadow although it does have a park with a swimming pool. Emphasis is on money, social status.

East Longmeadow is a different story although long ago it used to be part of Longmeadow. When I lived in Longmeadow, EL was looked down upon. You didn't speak to people from EL! But the factories are long gone (as are the farms ) and it's become a lovely suburban town with good schools. The people are much friendlier than Longmeadow people and it's more diverse. There's rich and poor and most are in the middle. Great library, lots of sports for the kids, more relaxed and laid back than uptight Longmeadow. The school system is probably fine. The town rotary in the center is a local joke--but you learn how to navigate it and you're all set.

You might also consider Wilbraham, which is out past EL and more rural and more isolated but very beautiful or even over the CT border, there are Suffield and Somers.

[missionhill]

Originally Posted by cupola_

What makes it so good? Is it just the numbers?

I would say it's the same thing that makes Lexington, Winchester, Wellesley, Newton and other wealthy suburban towns good. The Longmeadow schools serve high-earning professional families and get good results. Most Pioneer Valley towns are mixes of middle and working class people. Schools are fine but don't get the stellar results you get with a predominantly affluent school district like Longmeadow.

[mdovell]

Smith barely noticible? I go there for the great botanical garden. I went there and the day after covid shut it down. It's a nice area if you haven't been. The other thing about northampton that some might not get is there are more areas than just the downtown. Florence is nice and Look Park is often underlooked (no pun intended)

[missionhill]

Originally Posted by mdovell

Smith barely noticible? I go there for the great botanical garden. I went there and the day after covid shut it down. It's a nice area if you haven't been. The other thing about northampton that some might not get is there are more areas than just the downtown. Florence is nice and Look Park is often underlooked (no pun intended)

Smith College is a major part of Northampton, no doubt. But the town is not just Smith. Back in the '60s the Smith presence was felt on Green Street, a row of shops and hangouts alongside the campus near the Forbes library. Downtown Northampton, from the Edwards Church to the railroad tracks, was like a lot of other downtowns back then with regular stores that would soon disappear and reappear in more corporate form in shopping malls. Downtown Northampton and Downtown Holyoke were really quite similar, clothing and shoe stores, furniture (McAuslin Wakelin), banks (not just BOA branches like today but the main office of Holyoke National Bank or Northampton Institution for Savings), city hall. When the floor fell out of the downtown retail scene in the '70s, some entrepreneurs re-engineered Northampton's to be a mini Cambridge / Berkeley out there in the Pioneer Valley farmlands. The concept worked there but was not transferable to Holyoke or larger cities like Springfield and Hartford. So it's fair to say that Smith being adjacent to downtown Northampton has something to do with making Northampton into NoHo. But also true that this is not a college scene; it's not like Amherst or Hanover NH. It's a big, varied scene with lots of people who live round and about who aren't college students. So dismissing Northampton as "pretty much Smith" is pretty much wrong.

I wish Look Park had rebuilt its beautiful swimming pool. In a wealthy city like Northampton you'd think the money could be found. Still a great city park.

[mdovell]

In terms of the population base it is still mostly smith students. If you shut down smith you pretty much shut down the pedestrian traffic of the downtown. Some of the arts were priced out and went to other areas like Easthampton (east works), holyoke (gateway city arts), greenfield (root celler). Springfields academia is much further away from the downtown and hartford...well the west harford uconn campus closed long ago. Even before covid parts of northampton were empty. Some might blame the entertainment consolidation with iron horse.

https://www.gazettenet.com/Vacancies...ntown-28206611

https://theshoestring.org/2019/09/08...y-storefronts/

Hampshire council on governments dissolved, La Fiorintina closed (springfield and east longmeadow still open), Silverscapes design closed, Faces closed, artisan gallery. Yeah some had other things replace them but it's not the same thing. I'd go to Fiorintina late for coffee and ice cream years ago. There's no parking issue in the area but the panhandling doesn't help.

[tovarisch]

Those of us who are real people in Northampton rarely go to Smith or to downtown; life in Florence is great (Leeds, too, and the surrounding towns) and the schools have been good. We'll see what happens to the retail-based economy when the pandemic is over, but, on balance, it's been an excellent place to live.