family friendly suburbs with excellent schools

[gyrlonfilm]

Originally Posted by observer53

Broadway Road runs east-west. What do you mean by "west of Broadway Rd"?

I meant to write west of the I-10. Thanks for the heads up for what i wrote.

[lclark7151]

Originally Posted by gyrlonfilm

Hello!

I currently teach in the Tempe Elementary School District. Avoid South Phoenix and areas west of Broadway Rd including schools that border that area. South Phoenix riff raff get bused in to the bordering schools and affect test scores and the school environment. Take it from me first hand, I am leaving the district because of weak leadership in the school i am currently in.

Good luck, I have lived in the valley for almost 10 years from Ohio, and I love the weather!

So, when you say the Tempe Elementary School District- that is not necessarily the Kyrene district?
I've been focusing my research on Kyrene and Chandler Unified Districts. Any thoughts as a teacher on those districts?

While I am interested in Scottsdale, I'm worried the commute to South Tempe for work might be a little far.

Thank you for your input!

[lclark7151]

Originally Posted by KurtAZ

Good Morning lclark7151

Gilbert/Scottsdale/Chandler/S Tempe would all be good choices and with your budget you can afford any of those places. CUSD, Kyrene, Gilbert and Scottsdale school districts are all very good as far as the state's public education systems go. That is not saying much as education is not really a top priority of our politicians but, as with most schools, it is all about how much you value their education and are active/supporting your kids goals. We also have an extensive charter school and Traditional Academy system that you can look into. We love the schools in South Chandler...it is getting a bit crowded and normally I would say to look at Tarwater for elementary but over the past few years they are diverting most of their funds to their Mandarin Immersion program. So...Jacobson, Fulton, Hancock, Basha...all good elementary schools and feed into Bogle Jr High and Hamilton High. Hamilton is #1158 on the list of Best High Schools in the nation so even by most people's standards, it is pretty good.

For the Soccer...look in to Legacy, that may be a fit for the 10 year old and something for the 6 year old to work into. They aren't the only ones in town but from what I understand they are pretty good. If not there are a lot of other SCs around: AYSA

Good luck on the move.

Thank you for the advice-- I've been focusing my search on Chandler Unified District.

[lclark7151]

Originally Posted by grad_student200

I lived in Florida for over 13 years and recently returned to my home state. My cousins played a lot of soccer at Marcos De Niza HS. The area is "South" Tempe near Baseline south of US 60 and east of I-10. That is a very nice area. It is near Kiwanis Park - a large city park with athletic fields and jogging courses, rec center, etc. The area is not excessively expensive. I live in Metro Miami, FL for a year and Tempe is not that costly. But it definitely has become "upper" middle class in cost. The primary newspaper here is the Arizona Republic. It had a story on the "Top 10 kid parks" and listed Kiwanis Park in Tempe.
10 great kids parks in Arizona

https://www.schooldigger.com/go/AZ/schoolrank.aspx

The less expensive areas are in Chandler, Gilbert, and Mesa - generally the further east the lower the median cost. It is not hard to commute from Chandler or Gilbert to Tempe. The 101/202 system has really good efficiency with US 60. There are many schools in the area that are of high quality. ASU is also close by if you ever decide to return to college to do a career change or enhancement. They have many online programs.

There are many people from the "SEC/ACC" region who move to Arizona. Phoenix now has many branches of 'Chick-fil-A' headquartered in Atlanta. The SEC schools travel here for the football bowl games or basketball, baseball, or softball. Soccer has grown tremendously in Phoenix. I watched a lot of FSU soccer games when I was in Tallahassee. Their goalie was from Cave Creek, AZ. Phoenix is generally moderate. It is not "liberal" like San Francisco, CA. It is not ultra-conservative like a small southern town (Marianna, FL, LaGrange, GA) or larger southern city (Birmingham, AL). There are plenty of religious people here. Arizona historically has a large presence of Catholics and Mormons. The Spanish colonists introduced Catholicism back in the 1500s. The Mormons came in the 1800s via Utah. But there are also many Protestants and other religions. The liberal citizens are also here. Many people move here from CA. ASU has people from all over the country and world. If you want to watch and SEC/ACC team play in AZ, just look up the ASU schedule. You will likely see a team from that region visit for game play. I saw the Tennessee softball team in the Airport. I know the Gators played ASU in basketball last season. I have graduate degrees from both colleges - UF and ASU (LOL).

I moved back to Scottsdale from Tallahassee, FL. I love being back. Everything "old" is "new" again. I was born in rural AZ and recall Phoenix in early childhood when there were no freeways. Now it's a lot easier to commute. The area has grown a lot in the past several decades. The film 'Used Cars' (1980) has a chase scene in outskirts of Phoenix that have since become populated. It was a hilarious Kurt Russell film. I recall driving by the set in early childhood with my parents in 1979 while they were filming it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWUXyw9rDmw

This clip has that FSU goalie from Phoenix in the ACC championship for soccer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFKDnEipkxY

Yes! Go ACC! Was a fun NCAA basketball tourney this year! (go Heels

Thanks for the advice. I've been focusing my search on the Kyrene (south Tempe) and Chandler school districts. Wondering if the commute from Scottsdale to South Tempe for my husband's work might be a little far?

[observer53]

Originally Posted by lclark7151

Thanks for the advice. I've been focusing my search on the Kyrene (south Tempe) and Chandler school districts. Wondering if the commute from Scottsdale to South Tempe for my husband's work might be a little far?

Your husband is working in Tempe, correct? If the work location is Tempe, that's where I'd live. Or Chandler. To go far enough north in Scottsdale to get better schools does make for a relatively long commute, though a somewhat reverse one (except for traffic headed to ASU in the morning)


And if someone didn't answer your earlier question. There are two elementary districts covering Tempe. Tempe Elementary, covering the schools north of Guadalupe Road, and Kyrene Elementary, which stretches from northwest Chandler across south Tempe and into the Ahwatukee and Foothills areas of Phoenix, across I-10. There are some very good schools in the Tempe district as well, but Kyrene gets better ratings across the board.


Tempe also has a really excellent parks and recreation department, with all sorts of classes, sports and activities for kids and adults. Free public transit for kids living in Tempe, so if you go to a ball game in downtown Phoenix, for instance, all you have to do is pay for is the grownups. Cards for kids are available through the transit office in downtown Tempe.

[goolsbyjazz]

Arizona is nice and growing, but are you sure you want to leave the coast??

[lclark7151]

Originally Posted by goolsbyjazz

Arizona is nice and growing, but are you sure you want to leave the coast??

To be honest- no- but good possible job opportunity