Help Picking a Pittsburgh Neighborhood (Penn Hills, Plum: middle-class, renting, chapel)

[loverinthecold]

Originally Posted by guy2073

The schools in that area are ranked lowest in the state. I would expect to homeschool of private school if i lived there.

Private school is not an option, so I'll look elsewhere. Thanks!

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by loverinthecold

What's the Wilkinsburg neighborhood like?

I was just skimming Zillow and something like this would be exactly what we're looking for given it's a decent neighborhood.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2...11341459_zpid/

As others have said, Wilkinsburg's public schools are horrendous. I mean, I'm someone who lives in the city and sends by kids to public school, and even I wouldn't enroll my kids in public school if I lived there. Property taxes are also among the highest, if not the absolute highest, in the state, though as a renter that wouldn't matter for you.

That particular block is transitional between the mostly white/middle class Greater Park place and the mostly black Peebles Square area. I don't think it's a particularly high-crime area for Wilkinsburg, but it's not a rapidly gentrifying area either.

You could rent a four-bedroom townhouse in Squirrel Hill for less than that, so I'm not sure why you'd consider that particular area.

[loverinthecold]

Originally Posted by eschaton

As others have said, Wilkinsburg's public schools are horrendous. I mean, I'm someone who lives in the city and sends by kids to public school, and even I wouldn't enroll my kids in public school if I lived there. Property taxes are also among the highest, if not the absolute highest, in the state, though as a renter that wouldn't matter for you.

That particular block is transitional between the mostly white/middle class Greater Park place and the mostly black Peebles Square area. I don't think it's a particularly high-crime area for Wilkinsburg, but it's not a rapidly gentrifying area either.

You could rent a four-bedroom townhouse in Squirrel Hill for less than that, so I'm not sure why you'd consider that particular area.

I'm not necessarily considering it, it just popped up and looked nice and I wondered about the neighborhood. Is Squirrel Hill considered the cream of the crop within a 30 minute commute for public schools?

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by loverinthecold

Is Squirrel Hill considered the cream of the crop within a 30 minute commute for public schools?

Colfax K-8 is the best neighborhood elementary school in the city of Pittsburgh. In terms of aggregate test scores, it's probably still a bit lower than Fox Chapel area, but this is entirely attributable to a non-trivial percentage of black students (22%) where it would be something like 1% in the top suburbs. Although gaps in black/white achievement at Colfax are much lower than the average (nationally, statewide, in the district, etc) they still exist to some degree, which makes it score a bit lower in aggregate. I'm outside of the Colfax feeder (my children attend magnet schools) but I'd have zero concerns sending my kids to the neighborhood school if I lived in Squirrel Hill.

Be aware though that the far southern portions of the neighborhood don't go to Colfax, but instead attend Minadeo - which is still above-average for a city school, but doesn't have as stellar of a reputation. On the other hand, all of Shadyside and Point Breeze west of Fifth Avenue also go to Colfax, meaning if you find a rental you like in those areas you could consider it.

There are no "good" public schools to the immediate east of Pittsburgh, only mediocre to bad ones (to the point that city schools are preferred over say Wilkinsburg SD or Woodland Hills SD). Many of what are traditionally considered the top suburban school districts (Fox Chapel, Upper Saint Clair, Quaker Valley, etc) are well outside a 30-minute commute range for East Liberty. This means the only "top suburban" area that really meets your qualifications is Fox Chapel SD.

[guy2073]

Originally Posted by loverinthecold

I'm not necessarily considering it, it just popped up and looked nice and I wondered about the neighborhood. Is Squirrel Hill considered the cream of the crop within a 30 minute commute for public schools?

I would say squirrel hill or shady side for city and fox chapel school district for other areas.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by guy2073

I would say squirrel hill or shady side for city and fox chapel school district for other areas.

One last thing which might tilt the OP to the city - there are only 10 rentals within his price range in Fox Chapel Area School District, versus over two dozen in Squirrel Hill alone (including Shadyside makes it over 30).

[guy2073]

Originally Posted by eschaton

One last thing which might tilt the OP to the city - there are only 10 rentals within his price range in Fox Chapel Area School District, versus over two dozen in Squirrel Hill alone (including Shadyside makes it over 30).

There is a reason for that, it is a high demand area.

[Moby Hick]

I've done just fine in Squirrel Hill. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that everybody who has a bridge or a tunnel between their house and their office spends way too much of their life planning things around when the roads are busy and nearly all underestimate how much all the driving costs in terms of $ and hours.

[loverinthecold]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Colfax K-8 is the best neighborhood elementary school in the city of Pittsburgh. In terms of aggregate test scores, it's probably still a bit lower than Fox Chapel area, but this is entirely attributable to a non-trivial percentage of black students (22%) where it would be something like 1% in the top suburbs. Although gaps in black/white achievement at Colfax are much lower than the average (nationally, statewide, in the district, etc) they still exist to some degree, which makes it score a bit lower in aggregate. I'm outside of the Colfax feeder (my children attend magnet schools) but I'd have zero concerns sending my kids to the neighborhood school if I lived in Squirrel Hill.

Be aware though that the far southern portions of the neighborhood don't go to Colfax, but instead attend Minadeo - which is still above-average for a city school, but doesn't have as stellar of a reputation. On the other hand, all of Shadyside and Point Breeze west of Fifth Avenue also go to Colfax, meaning if you find a rental you like in those areas you could consider it.

There are no "good" public schools to the immediate east of Pittsburgh, only mediocre to bad ones (to the point that city schools are preferred over say Wilkinsburg SD or Woodland Hills SD). Many of what are traditionally considered the top suburban school districts (Fox Chapel, Upper Saint Clair, Quaker Valley, etc) are well outside a 30-minute commute range for East Liberty. This means the only "top suburban" area that really meets your qualifications is Fox Chapel SD.

Thanks for the info!

I'm a firm believer in public schools, so that's the route we intend to go.

I don't get too hung up on test scores or finding the absolute best or highest achieving schools.

What I do want is a public school that is safe, with little reputation for bullying, drugs, etc. And one where my girls will be happy and be able to find friends.

As odd as it sounds, the academic aspects of the school are less important than the safety and comfort.

[pittsburghaccuweather]

Originally Posted by fleetiebelle

And of those, you can immediately discount Scott, Greentree and Brentwood, because they'll be much more than a 30 minute commute to East Liberty during rush.

Most places are a 30 minute commute from East Liberty during rush hour. Green tree is 17 minutes, the farthest part of Scott is 25. We have a friend that works at Children’s Hospital. She makes it home in 40 minutes during rush hour to Whitehall and driving through Brentwood. If you haven’t driven it you don’t know.

Originally Posted by loverinthecold

Thanks for the info!

I'm a firm believer in public schools, so that's the route we intend to go.

I don't get too hung up on test scores or finding the absolute best or highest achieving schools.

What I do want is a public school that is safe, with little reputation for bullying, drugs, etc. And one where my girls will be happy and be able to find friends.

As odd as it sounds, the academic aspects of the school are less important than the safety and comfort.

Dormont, Carnegie are options as well. They are mediocre schools but safe. If you are looking to buy and have a decent budget Rosslyn Farms is a hidden gem. It is the same school district as Carnegie. Bellevue, benavon and emsworth would be good choices. They are around the Ross /west view area

I personally would avoid Wilkinsburg. I like Edgewood and Churchill, but Woodland Hills is just not a safe district anymore. Oakmont is probably the only eastern Allegheny suburb I’d touch with kids. Maybe north Versailles as well. East Allegheny school district isn’t so bad. The eastern Allegheny county suburbs have declined a lot and the school districts are low performing and not as safe as they were 10 to 15 years ago. I’d keep my search north, south or west of the golden triangle(downtown). That’s the problem of working in the east end part of town with a family. If you want decent and safe public schools your gonna to have a commute and live outside of the city north, west or south and use a parkway, route 65, route 28 or the liberty tunnel to get into the east end.