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Hi Guys,
We are looking to buy a Home in central NJ, we looked 2 a couple of homes in Franklin Twp, Somerset, 08873.
We are wondering how the school system is in Franklin Twp.
Our Realtor told us the schools system, are O.K. and need improvement.
We are planning to have kids soon.
We also visited this website (http://education.state.nj.us/rc/rc05/menu/15-1590.html (broken link)) and it states some school sin Franklin Twp are good and some NOT.
Franklin Township's school district is marginal at best- especially when compared to some of the surrounding areas like Bridgewater. They recently built some new schools and added on to others, but it doesn't seem to have helped much.
The school system itself isn't new- they just built some new schools to replace/upgrade some old facilities.
I don't have cold, hard facts on the schools, as I've never had kids in them. In general though, they don't seem to rate too highly compared to surrounding area. You'll often here "Franklin Township is OK, but the schools suck"- but you've got to consider the source of the info and dig more for the "why". Unfortunately, I can't give that to you.
Since I live near Franklin Twp I can tell you a little about Franklin. It has some of the most beautiful rural homesites bordering the Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park. Areas known as Griggstown, Weston are in Franklin Twp. Franklin also has a very populated area bordering New Brunswick which has the usual urban problems. Franklin also has a very large minority population so depending on what you are looking for in Franklin it may or may not suit your needs.
. I think most will agree the more wealth in a town the better the school system. Almost every town in NJ has a not so good, good, better, and wealthy section, where the people with money live. Edison is like this, Piscataway is like this, Franklin Twp. is like this. South Plainfield does not have a section where the wealthy live. If they do they do a good job hiding it.
I would not live in any town that has the name Plainfield in it.
Try looking in these towns for affordable homes and are in good locations with good schools.
Middlesex Boro in Middlesex Co.
Green Brook in Somerset Co.
South Plainfield has really bad school systems and really bad traffic, if you dont plan on having kids you might want to live there but i would not suggest any of the Plainfields
Its too bad that you won't be living in FT. I've lived here for 10 years after living in West Windsor. The elementary schools are great. The high school as compared to other schools in Somerset County doens't look great on paper but compared to other schools on the same socioeconomic level, does pretty well. It is a very diverse community not only people wise but housing as well. There are apts, townhouses at least 4 adult communities, older homes and lots of newer homes including million dollar homes and many of those families send their kids to FT schools including the high school The diversity of the school-age kids was a plus for us. WE liked living in WWindsor but had to move to be closer to my husbands job. We chose FT because of its diversity and the school. Now, my kids will be graduating this year and really had a great experience both are active in team sports, activies and will go to Georgetown and Penn this fall. There have been well-published accounts of incidents at the high school, which is really a shame, a few bad kids ruin it for the rest of them. not one of my kids nor their friends was ever truly affected by it, only indirectly with many people calling the high school, bad....what I love is that my kids have friends and date kids of every race and have had the unique opportunity to get to know people from many places and economic backgrounds. While there was some white flight from the high school, many have come back due to the beautiful new high school and the educational and extra-curricular opportunities provided, they apparently didn't get in their catholic schools. Kids at FHS have been accepted to Ivy League colleges. But I might suggest that the elem schools are excellent and many are/were blue ribbon. What many families do here is send their kids to private/catholic school when they get to Jr-hi, Hi school just so they can stay in the area. FT is really a great place to live. I can understand your worries about the school system but if you love the house and the area you live in, think about it...talk to the neighbors around that house (that's what we did when we moved here) and make a well-informed decision. Besides Bridgewater which can be pricey, there's few places left in ths part of NJ where there's still farmland and green spaces right next to your home...
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