Private School in the Ramsey area? (Minneapolis, Coon Rapids: for sale, house, neighborhood)

[hammy5]

Well, we had fliped and flopped about whether to send our son to public or private. We finally decided public but not our district. Anoka-Hennepin. So we put our house up for sale and it is not selling. So now we are back to thinking we might have to stay here and go the private route. Does anyone have child in any private schools in this area? Can you tell me about it? Do you like it?

Kristine

[Lereca]

Kind of snobbish.

[hammy5]

Originally Posted by Lereca

Kind of snobbish.

Excuse me, but how exactly is that snobbish? I am asking for reviews on schools.

Kristine

[golfgal]

What about open enrollment in a neighboring district-Maple Grove maybe? You are too late to do that for the upcoming year but you could start the application process for next year.

[Camden Northsider]

Just curious, but why don't you like the Anoka-Hennepin public schools? I don't have any firsthand knowledge but had heard they they are pretty good - someone else on here posted this website a while back, and I think it's pretty new, but there are some public school reviews for Anoka Hennepin on here.

And I'm not sure how helpful it is in terms of "reviews", but have you checked out this website? (private school review - Anoka County)

[Cruz Azul Guy]

I went through Anoka-Hennepin schools. There are a couple of private Catholic Schools nearby, both of which I attended. St. Stephens K-8 in Anoka and Epiphany K-8 in Coon Rapids. I liked both of them quite a bit.

[hammy5]

Originally Posted by Camden Northsider

Just curious, but why don't you like the Anoka-Hennepin public schools? I don't have any firsthand knowledge but had heard they they are pretty good - someone else on here posted this website a while back, and I think it's pretty new, but there are some public school reviews for Anoka Hennepin on here.

And I'm not sure how helpful it is in terms of "reviews", but have you checked out this website? (private school review - Anoka County)

I don't really want to get into the particulars because I don't want to offend anyone. It is just not the right fit for my family. That is all.

Originally Posted by Slig

I went through Anoka-Hennepin schools. There are a couple of private Catholic Schools nearby, both of which I attended. St. Stephens K-8 in Anoka and Epiphany K-8 in Coon Rapids. I liked both of them quite a bit.

Thanks so much for your first hand experience of both of those schools. Those are the two we are looking into.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by hammy5

Excuse me, but how exactly is that snobbish? I am asking for reviews on schools.

Unlike some metro areas (e.g., Atlanta), private schools are rather an exception in the Twin Cities.

The public school systems in the metro area are so good, in general, that there really isn't a need for them from an academic standpoint.

I can certainly see how it could be seen as snobbish in the Twin Cities. Why toss your money away on something that will provide relatively little value? Most people don't have that kind of cash to toss away...

[dotdash]

Can you expand on "private schools are the exception"? Even for those living in Minneapolis itself (as opposed to Edina, etc.)?

My family might be moving from NJ for my husband's medical residency, and we'd like to live in Mpls proper (proximity to hospital). Out here, living in an inner city would more probably than not mean sending a child to private school. Is that not true of Mpls? I've been looking at the proficiency scores of some of the high schools in Mpls and they look pretty bad. Am I wrong?

[Minnehahapolitan]

The idea to remember with the MPS is that things can vary so much from school to school. In suburban areas, there is less class stratification within a district so that most schools end up with approximately the same demographics. In Mpls. proper you have very wealthy living in areas like Kenwood, Lowry Hill, Linden Hills and Calhoun-Isles. These areas are served by good schools. You also have very poor areas such as Phillips and Near North. They obviously are not going to have the same reputation in terms of their neighborhood schools.