Child with Special Needs, looking for an excellent school district! (St. Paul: home, neighborhoods)

[Ajkleiner1]

Hi everyone!
We are thinking about making a move from Iowa to Minnesota with our family of 6, but not sure on towns. We have a child with special needs so having a great school district is a must!!! We also would like a place that has a lot to offer for kids activities, and a smaller community would be great. We currently live in a very real area so we would like to stay away from the suburbs of the cities. Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated! Thanks!!

[golfgal]

What will you be doing for jobs?

[MichaelItman]

Depends on where you are working, as golfgal hinted at. But there are some great suburbs where you can get a good home for the money, plus wonderful schools for your children, including schools where children with special needs can get the services they need. I'd recommend looking at St. Louis Park, Hopkins, Minnetonka, Wayzata, Eden Prairie, and Maple Grove if you're looking on the West Side of the Twin Cities, but if you want to be closer to St. Paul, there are great areas over there as well - Mendota Heights, St. Paul (many neighborhoods have great schools), Eagan, etc.

Hope that's helpful! And welcome (soon) to Minnesota!

Michael

[Anneee]

I also have a special needs child and have lived in many areas of the Twin Cities. In my opinion, Burnsville and Woodbury have the best programs and teachers for kids with disabilities.

These are small enough districts that your child will get an individualized program, whereas, in some of the larger districts (like Bloomington), they'll often get labeled and placed in the (fill in the blank) program. When our family first moved to the Twin Cities, about 20 years ago, we chose to live in a series of large, well-funded cities, thinking they would have more to offer our child. But it seems that the kids get lost in the bureaucracy, so now I'd recommend a medium-size district.

Best of luck to you!

[shotz90s]

Fergus Falls has a great program for special needs children from what I remember. It is rural but a large enough town (13,000 pop) to have a small mall, Target and WalMart. Plus being only 60 miles from Fargo/Moorhead is a plus.