Salem vs Corvallis (Keizer, Dallas, Monmouth: school district, pros and cons, living in)

[manyquestions2]

Trying to figure out where would be best to live. Husband got a job in Corvallis; I got a job in Salem. We have 2 kids one in elementary school and the other beginning middle school. One of the kids has special needs so really need to be in a school district that is inclusive, also would like to be in school district where there is some cultural diversity- icing on the cake would be a dual language immersion program. What would be the pros and cons of both areas? Where would be good areas to look considering that one of us will have to commute? thanks in advance.

[leastprime]

The Central school district (Indpendence-Monmouth), Dallas schools, and the Sal-Keiz Districts have large population of Latinos and thus a spanish language program. I imagine Corvallis has a strong program too. Living in West Salem or any of the cities between to Corvallis would probably do.

[Silverfall]

Salem has dual immersion programs at Harritt out in West Salem and at Grant Elementary which is in the downtown core. Parrish is the dual immersion middle school which is around the central downtown core.

So the challenge that I see for you is that those schools make commuting a bit longer for your husband. Most people with split commutes live in south Salem as it makes highway access to Corvallis easier. You could live out west for Harritt and take 99 down into Corvallis, but it becomes a bit longer commute.

As far as special needs goes it depends on what that means. Salem-Keizer has 4 different types of special ed classrooms that are in the schools. Then they have LRC (Learning Resource Centers) which are pullout classrooms for kids that struggle with something, like reading, for example. So those kids are mainstreamed most of the day and just go to the LRC for what they struggle in. Then they have mainstreamed kids that have 1-1 aides, and then they have mainstreamed kids that don't have aides, but have 504 or IEP's.

So there is a huge range, but they don't mainstream all of the kids in SK. South Salem High has a Unified program and Sprague's will start next fall. That pairs regular students with the special needs students in PE classes playing basketball, sports, etc while working with them on life skills, etc.

I'm not a part of Corvalls SD so I don't know what they offer in regard to immersion or special needs services.