Ambridge School District (Upper St. Clair, Aliquippa, Beaver Falls: middle-class, renting, credit)

[heartchya]

I live in Economy which is part of the Ambridge School District. My daughter still has 2 years until kindergarten. I knew moving here that I may have to send her to private school. I am looking for some honest info on Ambridge though. From what I know Economy Elementary is actually quite good but after that I have only heard bad things. I went to Northgate High School which isn't great either but it wasn't dangerous. We had some trouble makers but the kids who were motivated did well and went to college.

I guess I am just looking to see if Ambridge is as bad as I have heard. Is it dangerous?

What private schools in the area would you recommend? I know there are some in Cranberry. I know some have wait lists so I figure I should start at least researching my options now.

Thanks in advance!

[lifepgh2op]

Originally Posted by heartchya

I live in Economy which is part of the Ambridge School District. My daughter still has 2 years until kindergarten. I knew moving here that I may have to send her to private school. I am looking for some honest info on Ambridge though. From what I know Economy Elementary is actually quite good but after that I have only heard bad things. I went to Northgate High School which isn't great either but it wasn't dangerous. We had some trouble makers but the kids who were motivated did well and went to college.

I guess I am just looking to see if Ambridge is as bad as I have heard. Is it dangerous?

What private schools in the area would you recommend? I know there are some in Cranberry. I know some have wait lists so I figure I should start at least researching my options now.

Thanks in advance!

Nobody else answered so I will try...I'm not really that familiar with Ambridge Schools (as in, I don't know anyone personally that went there). I do know 2 acquaintances that teach there, and as far as I know it's a pretty decent school district. It's obviously not high-ranking like the North Allegheny and Upper St. Clair-caliber, but I wouldn't say it's a BAD school district. I'd say out of Beaver County, Beaver Area, Hopewell, and Ambridge would be my top 3 choices to send my kids if I lived out there. They seem to be strong middle-class areas. There can and will be troublemakers in any school district, even the best ones. It's what you do at home with your kid and what your kid does with the knowledge at school that makes the education better.

Check out their website ( Ambridge Area School District ) to see if they have what you're looking for curriculum-wise or extra-curricular wise. I think I read last year that they were having some issues with Corbett's budget and had to furlough some teachers (librarians come to mind) and maybe some programs, as well. I don't know if that was the final decision, though. Ambridge also has a fairly new high school (and maybe other buildings?). I believe their high school is something like only 3 years old, so that's pretty nice, as well.

Sorry, I couldn't be more help. That's really all I know. Do we have any Beaver County residents that can chime in?

[South Range Family]

Originally Posted by lifepgh2op

I'd say out of Beaver County, Beaver Area, Hopewell, and Ambridge would be my top 3 choices to send my kids if I lived out there.

I moved my kids away from Beaver County Schools. Ambridge would be my 3rd to last choice with Aliquippa, and Beaver Falls not even being options.

Chippewa, and Beaver would be my first 2 choices.

[Copanut]

Run away!

[lifepgh2op]

Originally Posted by South Range Family

I moved my kids away from Beaver County Schools.

Really? They're that bad? I've never heard that before. What's the problem(s)?

[greg42]

The buildings are new, and boy do we pay for that. How that actually improves the schools, I don't know.

As you may remember I live in Economy, but I don't have any children. All I can say is that I see some of my neighbors and nearby residents, of varying economic background it seems (although in this vicinity all but a couple are white I think, FWIW), appearing to send their kids off to the public schools, even middle and high school. Although, I can't for 100% say that for every kid I see because I know in some cases these could be kids bused to other private/parochial schools. But there are plenty of families with school-aged kids around. I know my neighbor's kid graduated near top of class from Ambridge High a few years after I moved here. Seems to do okay.

Beaver Area is the one that actually seems to rate highly in the county though. Ambridge Area would be well down the list on a district-wide basis. But as you know, having attended Northgate, to a certain degree things are what you make of them. To my knowledge it is not dangerous at at the middle or high school, just a middling to below average performer for the area. To be clear, though, I don't necessarily follow the school news that much. I do believe I see enough Beaver County news that I would know about any truly significant events that made the news, but those don't paint the entire picture at all. It could have any manner of undercurrent stuff that doesn't make the news, but then so does a giant good school like North Allegheny, from what I understand.

I originally didn't respond because most if not all of the little I know I have said before, and I know I've replied to you before. But this is at least as useful as some of the other responses. I'm not sure we have any readers who have any more specific information about this.

[heartchya]

Thanks for the responses. I have tried searching old threads but am not really getting a lot of info on the school district. I do hold the belief that parenting has a lot to do with how a kid does in school. Not ALWAYS and there are exceptions but most of the time. I went to what most would consider a sub par school yet my friends from that school have turned out to be teachers, pharmacist, and a chemical engineer.

I did have a friend who went to Beaver Area. We went there for competitions as well and I was impressed by it.

I am leaning towards Economy for elementary school. I guess what I need to do is drive through Ambridge at some point. I have yet to actually go there so I have no idea what it or the people are like. I really like Economy and where my house is but I am guessing based on some threads here that Ambridge is not quite the same as Economy.

[greg42]

Ambridge is a town that never fully recovered after the 1970s bust era, seems to me. That said, it's not nearly to the level of Aliquippa across the river, or Beaver Falls. Those places were larger to begin with and crashed harder.

With a renewed interest in towns centers instead of suburban sprawl, one could almost thing Ambridge could come back a bit. But one thing it doesn't have is a huge tax advantage. Taxes here, particularly in this district, are not significantly lower than across the border (at least not anymore after they built all these damn buildings!) It does still have some price advantage though. Eh. Who knows?

It's certainly not the same as Economy; Economy is mainly a rural area! Ambridge is a moderate sized town, and I'm sure the average income is notably lower. Baden is also in the district; this is a little town, not much to it. And you also have Harmony Township, the immediate suburb of Ambridge. This was actually filled in earlier with people who in the day probably worked in Ambridge. Economy is a mixed bag. Much remains quite rural, but then some is filled in with tract housing from various eras. Next to Harmony there is some that goes back to the 50s or thereabouts (I looked at a couple there; good thing I didn't buy, very inconvenient really). Near Conway there are some more like that, plus some more Ryan from the 70s and 80s. And you have current Maronda crap, a current 50+ villa community, some McMansion areas, it goes all over the place when you get up here closer to the Cranberry area. Not really sure why they were building up here in the 80s, really. Not exactly clear who that was for. And you have of course the one big shopping center on Rt 65, mostly dead, although someday soon they will build a Walmart behind it which could reinvigorate it. Funny: you can't, to my knowledge, get to the shopping center without going out of Economy and back into it. Have to go through Baden or Conway (or some other way onto Rt 65) first.

[Uptown kid]

I would assume the school distrct is not too bad but not that good. Ambridge's bad bad parts are slightly worse than Beaver Falls IMHO, but not close to 'Quipp. Crestview Village has a decent amount of gang/drug activity but is know where near most public housing/group section facilities in the city proper... For the most part residence say the area is declining since these days: its not uncommon for people with resolve issues with gun play or some other intense form of assult, drug dealers turn day time bus stops into night time "corners", and "there are alot of disadvantaged youth"~according to the older residents of a local barber shop out that way... I'd put it/rank it in the same category as the bad parts of Swissvale/North Braddock/Braddock & Rankin, the bad parts of McKees Rocks, or Carrick/Mt. Oliver in the city.

[IcedCoffee]

I live in the Freedom Area school district, and I've heard mostly good things about it. I think it ranks fairly well despite all of the poverty in the district. We don't have kids (yet) and are still undecided if we will send them there when we do have them. Depends how the next 10 years shakes out, with all the talk of districts merging in Beaver County.

My co-worker sends her daughter to Ambridge and overall is happy with the district. Her daughter has earned a lot of AP credits there that will count as college credits. I've met plenty of solidly middle class families that send their kids to Ambridge. I too have heard good things about Economy elementary.