What's the deal with South Fayette? (Pittsburgh, Bethel Park: new home, neighborhoods, top school) - Pennsylvania (PA) - City-Data Forum

TravelSheila · 08-24-2010, 06:16 AM

We're relocating to the Pittsburgh area (commuting to central business district) and are searching for homes in reputable school districts.

I see that South Fayette SD has a good rep, however the website has a number of non-usable links and a lot of old data dating back to 2006-07-08. For example, the copyright of their website is '07 and the High School Honors form refers to a deadline in 2008. I'm not sure what to think of the broken links, outdated website, etc. but it concerns me.

Secondly to that, what's the commute like from Bridgeville to the central bus. dist., for example?

Thanks!

rugerjitsu · 08-24-2010, 06:21 AM

not sure what's going on with the website, haven't been on it, but i just moved to Bridgeville a few months ago...relocated from Texas.

the Central Business District is Downtown Pittsburgh, correct? if that's the case, you're going to have a bit of a fit commuting through the fort pitt tunnell traffic. thankfully, i don't have to travel that way in the mornings, but i'm just aware of it...hopefully, you'll get someone who commutes that route, and can give you some better insight on how bad the traffic actually is.

Burghgirl17 · 08-24-2010, 07:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rugerjitsu

not sure what's going on with the website, haven't been on it, but i just moved to Bridgeville a few months ago...relocated from Texas.

the Central Business District is Downtown Pittsburgh, correct? if that's the case, you're going to have a bit of a fit commuting through the fort pitt tunnell traffic. thankfully, i don't have to travel that way in the mornings, but i'm just aware of it...hopefully, you'll get someone who commutes that route, and can give you some better insight on how bad the traffic actually is.

I have a hard time caring too much about some outdated portions of a website. Not sure why it concerns you so much. There's a heck of a lot more to a school district than a website. Other portions are very up to date.

My husband and I commute downtown together. We leave our house a few minutes before 7, drop my daughter off at my mom's (a few miles away from us, in South Fayette) and I am usually in my office (i.e. parked at the garage and walked to my office) by 7:45-7:50. Occasionally it will be worse, but that's not too often.

I was born and raised in SF and live there now as an adult. SF has grown by leaps and bounds and is now a fantastic school district. There are a ton of great neighborhoods for families and housing at all price points. The proximity to I-79 can't be beat, and is something many of the southern suburbs can't offer.

If you have any other questions, please let me know.

TravelSheila · 08-24-2010, 09:29 AM

Thanks to you both!

I sincerely didn't mean to offend with the website remark. Just an observation from an outsider trying to get info on a new hometown! We've moved a lot. When checking out an unknown city, since I have school aged kids, the housing online and the school websites are my first introduction. I imagine many new families like ourselves get our first intro via website these days.

I agree that there's much more to a school than its website, but the SFSD one is really outdated in a lot of places with old information and links that go nowhere. I see that they're highly ranked in the state of Pa so they're obviously doing a great job in educating the kids, which is definitely the most important thing. Perhaps it's more of a marketing issue in how they present themselves online.

The district still remains on my list! We're looking both north and south of the city, so we have a lot of ground to cover.

What's the shopping like in the area?

rugerjitsu · 08-24-2010, 11:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TravelSheila

Thanks to you both!

I sincerely didn't mean to offend with the website remark. Just an observation from an outsider trying to get info on a new hometown! We've moved a lot. When checking out an unknown city, since I have school aged kids, the housing online and the school websites are my first introduction. I imagine many new families like ourselves get our first intro via website these days.

I agree that there's much more to a school than its website, but the SFSD one is really outdated in a lot of places with old information and links that go nowhere. I see that they're highly ranked in the state of Pa so they're obviously doing a great job in educating the kids, which is definitely the most important thing. Perhaps it's more of a marketing issue in how they present themselves online.

The district still remains on my list! We're looking both north and south of the city, so we have a lot of ground to cover.

What's the shopping like in the area?

my wife loves the shopping in the area! haha! no seriously, there's the Robinson Towncenter Mall about 10 minutes away, then in Bridgeville, there's a nice little Main Street, with some mom and pop shops...

also, check out the Tanger Outlets...again, maybe 10-15 minutes away.

you basically have everything within 10-20 minutes...

Love2Golf09 · 08-24-2010, 11:47 AM

I wouldn't worry too much about what the township or school district's websites look like. A lot of the best places look pretty bad. Peters Twp's website looks like garbage. Plum, Cranberry, and Bethel Park have nice ones, I think. One think to consider is that your commute to downtown will be a lot easier from the North Hills. If you're close to 79, then the south hills wouldn't be terrible...but stay away from any place close to Rt51. That's a disaster for commuting. Rt. 28 isn't anything great either. The Parkway West isn't terrible most days. I'd take it over the Parkway East for sure. Have you checked outside of Allegheny County? Most likely your taxes would be a lot less there and you can still find some good schools and a decent commute. Murrysville is in a good school district, but it seems to me that the commute would be rough. Cranberry Twp has a good school district, Seneca Valley, and the commute isn't that bad at all. Good luck.

TravelSheila · 08-26-2010, 09:09 AM

In case any other newcomers like me are looking for info on the school district, here's a nice article on it: School bells ring for 2,481 in South Fayette

... and here's another: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10238/1082720-55.stm

greg42 · 08-26-2010, 09:48 AM

Will you be commuting together to downtown, or just one of you? There's no help for carpooling from that direction, really, so if you're both commuting and driving together is an option, you may want to look at something that uses I-279 as your commute. The HOV helps out a bit. Reputable school districts up that way too, though often they are larger than South Fayette I believe.

I don't really know what the drive would be like, as in how long it actually takes to get through the backup. I think you could be pushing an hour on the way in though, certainly 45 minutes anyway. That gives you a pretty wide range. Depending upon housing choices and price range, how far down a given list of top school districts you don't mind going (or if you are okay with really large student population, like N. Allegheny), etc. you can probably get a closer commute, easier, out to the north, and still be just as convenient for shopping, etc.

robrobrob · 08-27-2010, 09:04 AM

I have a friend who lives in South Fayette and he said his commute home was much, much worse than going to work.

Burghgirl17 · 08-27-2010, 09:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by robrobrob

I have a friend who lives in South Fayette and he said his commute home was much, much worse than going to work.

For me personally, it is about the same as my morning. I go from door-to- my parents' door (which includes walking to my parking garage, getting out of the garage, etc.) in 45 minutes. Shave off 5 minutes if I were going straight to my house (which is closer to 79 than my parents')