Relocating to Pittsburgh! (Avon, Richland, Seneca: real estate, transfer, school districts)

[PittsburghviaRome]

Hello all - my family and I are relocating to the Pittsburgh area. For the last 5 years, we have been living in Rome, Italy on an assignment for my husband's job and we are being transferred this summer Pittsburgh. We have LOVED our time overseas, but are excited to be moving back to the US and especially to being closer to our families (we both grew up in NJ). But.....aside from our online research - we know NOTHING about Pittsburgh (except for what seems to be the undisputed fact that it's very cloudy???). We are, however, very excited to get to know our new city and all it has to offer.

We have 2 boys (ages 9 & 11) and our #1 consideration when choosing where to live will be school districts so just based on some preliminary research and advice from my husbands future co-workers in the area, we have been looking outside the city proper in the North Hills area centering on the NA school district but are very open to suggestions.

The only thing that concerns me is that the schools district seems to be HUGE! My kids are used to a small private school here in Rome where each grade only has about 40-50 kids. I'm worried this will be a huge adjustment along with the culture shock of having never attended school in the US (aside from pre-school which they don't really remember).

Any advice for someone who has ZERO Pittsburgh knowlegde? (Sorry - I know it's a very vague question, but it's overwhelming to move to a place you've never set eyes on!)

Thanks in advance!

[SteelCityRising]

Hello! Welcome in advance to Greater Pittsburgh!

I'm a childless gay male who lives near Downtown, so I'm not going to be able to help you all that much.

I will say member Knepper3 is very helpful and lives in Kilbuck Township, which is part of the Avonworth School District. Each class/grade has about 100 pupils, so it's a more manageably-sized school district when compared to the much larger school districts in the North Hills like North Allegheny, Pine-Richland, or Seneca Valley. I think Avonworth School District would be a good fit for your family. Also look into Hampton School District, which is also well-regarded and serves a smaller population base.

Yes, our city is VERY cloudy. It is what it is.

Please think of more specific inquiries, and we will do our best to help!

[chessimprov]

Pennsylvania also has cyber school you can consider as an option or as one before you have your kids enter a regular school. It gives you more time to look around and the kids could still get an education remotely. For real young kids that aren't quite middle school age/maturity, you'd need to be with them at the computer most likely.

[jea6321]

SCR gives some good suggestions. Avonworth, Hampton and Quaker Valley would be my first few suggestions if looking for a smaller to mid size district. All are ranked well and much smaller than NA. I personally went to avonworth from grades 6-12 and although it was a quite a while ago, I have friends with kids in the district currently and all seem to love it.

welcome to Pittsburgh. Take some vitamin D during the winter and try to get outside any sunny days you can.

[PittsburghviaRome]

Originally Posted by chessimprov

Pennsylvania also has cyber school you can consider as an option or as one before you have your kids enter a regular school. It gives you more time to look around and the kids could still get an education remotely. For real young kids that aren't quite middle school age/maturity, you'd need to be with them at the computer most likely.

That's so interesting and great to know! That could definitely be useful as I was really worried about having to pick a SD before even arriving and being stuck with it. Thank you!

[PittsburghviaRome]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Hello! Welcome in advance to Greater Pittsburgh!

I'm a childless gay male who lives near Downtown, so I'm not going to be able to help you all that much.

I will say member Knepper3 is very helpful and lives in Kilbuck Township, which is part of the Avonworth School District. Each class/grade has about 100 pupils, so it's a more manageably-sized school district when compared to the much larger school districts in the North Hills like North Allegheny, Pine-Richland, or Seneca Valley. I think Avonworth School District would be a good fit for your family. Also look into Hampton School District, which is also well-regarded and serves a smaller population base.

Yes, our city is VERY cloudy. It is what it is.

Please think of more specific inquiries, and we will do our best to help!

Thank you so much for the warm welcome! We're looking forward to getting there and getting settled! Is Avonworth north or south of the city? Sorry, I'm trying to get my bearings but, like I said - I'm starting from zero!

[PittsburghviaRome]

Originally Posted by jea6321

SCR gives some good suggestions. Avonworth, Hampton and Quaker Valley would be my first few suggestions if looking for a smaller to mid size district. All are ranked well and much smaller than NA. I personally went to avonworth from grades 6-12 and although it was a quite a while ago, I have friends with kids in the district currently and all seem to love it.

welcome to Pittsburgh. Take some vitamin D during the winter and try to get outside any sunny days you can.

Thanks so much! Actually, the real estate agent we've started discussions with mentioned both Hampton and Quaker Valley as well.
Good idea on the Vitamin D! It's so sunny all the time in Rome, it's not something I've had to think about for a long time!

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by PittsburghviaRome

Thank you so much for the warm welcome! We're looking forward to getting there and getting settled! Is Avonworth north or south of the city? Sorry, I'm trying to get my bearings but, like I said - I'm starting from zero!

Avonworth School District is almost directly northwest of Downtown Pittsburgh and sits along the State Route 65/Ohio River Boulevard corridor whereas school districts like North Allegheny and Pine-Richland are directly north of of Downtown Pittsburgh and sit right along the I-279 highway corridor.

I really think Avonworth and Hampton are worth considering if you want above-average-ranked public school districts with reasonable class sizes. Quaker Valley, too, although housing tends to be more expensive there.

[PittsburghviaRome]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Avonworth School District is almost directly northwest of Downtown Pittsburgh and sits along the State Route 65/Ohio River Boulevard corridor whereas school districts like North Allegheny and Pine-Richland are directly north of of Downtown Pittsburgh and sit right along the I-279 highway corridor.

I really think Avonworth and Hampton are worth considering if you want above-average-ranked public school districts with reasonable class sizes. Quaker Valley, too, although housing tends to be more expensive there.

Great - thank you so much! I'll definitely discuss these with our agent.

[Knepper3]

Ditto on the SD everyone has mentioned, we are in Avonworth and while it has grown over the past 12 years it is still pretty small compared to many others. When my kids graduated 6 years ago it was maybe 90 kids in the grade and the younger grades had maybe 120-130 kids. I'm not sure the sizes now but likely not too much different.