vista ? Good!! Bad!! to raise teenage boys

[VistaDude]

Originally Posted by Lolly

You might want to check out http://reportcard.cde.state.co.us/reportcard/pdf/2005_0490_1130_H.pdf (broken link). It has some pretty good information about Rancho Buena Vista.

Actually, while that is a nice looking report, it's for a school in Colorado called Buena Vista. I would highly doubt that our RBV High would rate that well in a state report card.

I remember checking on RBV's statistics when we bought a house near by and I was shocked to learn that that, whil it was built to accomodate something like 1400 students, it now houses well over 3000. The school has many temporary "mobile home" classrooms to make up the deficite. Don't worry, though. The school just renovated and expanded the football stadium.

A big problem with the schools in Vista has to do with the high...shhh...illegal alien student population that cannot speak or write English at all or very well. You can imagine what a challenge that adds to the teachers' task of reaching today's kids. You can see from the data provided hear at City-Data.com that Vista has a "Substantially Higher" than State Average foreign born (read Mexican) population. This non-English speaking and very low economic standing group cannot spend the time with their kids on their educational needs and so they suffer. And their remedial needs take away valuable - and already limited - teacher time from the kids of families with legal resident status.

You may not want to believe this, but it's the reality. Welcome to Southern California, "From NY".

[DonewithCali]

Well the best zip code in Vista would be 92081 which would be the Shadowridge area. Best schools in Vista. Vista is an extreme mix of good and bad, so location is everything. All the people I know that live in the hills, which is beatiful country living, home school their kids because that is the older part of Vista and schools are not so great. The newer area, Shadowridge has houses closer togehter, less land, more gates, but way better schools. It is the "soccer mom" community.

[LivingLikeAGradStudent]

We looked at Shadowridge but passed because it seemed a little too 10-years-ago-manufactured for our tastes. I wouldn't live in northern Vista; I only use it as a place to test myself on my bike.

[BENZBOY15]

Vista schools are not good. You might want to see if your budget allows you to buy in the Encinitas area (The San Dieguito HS district is very good: I attend San Dieguito Academy and it was ranked as one of the top schools in the county, and we were #130ish in the country.) However, watch out for drugs as it seems that everyone smokes pot and drinks and sometimes uses harder drugs (cocaine, Ectasy and prescription pill abuse) while still managing to get good grades and good scores. It's a great school otherwise!

Also, Carlsbad has some good schools: better than Vista, but worse than Encinitas (although some of the newer and richer areas of Carlsbad I've heard have very good schools.)

Also, you get the better coastal climate.

Good luck!

BTW, what's your price range and what are you looking for? I have an addiction to looking at real estate and will be more than happy to find some properties for you.

[Kaligirl]

Hi All,
Just wanted to give you a link I think may be helpful. http://www.greatschools.net/
I hope it is okay to post this link, as I find it a useful site for checking out the schools/districts and keeping up with current information.

Also, something to consider when looking at the test scores and stats, be sure to review API Results by "Subgroup". Different schools have different demographics and therefore the overall rating may not be truly reflective of the subgroup your child would fall into (i.e. english as a second language students many not generally score as well on their testing and can skew the overall rating). So when you are trying to compare and determine "the best schools", be careful not to generalize but dig a bit deeper.
Good luck to you all.
Kali

[northcountystooge]

Be skeptical of advice from people who write off entire school districts as bad. You have to wonder if they have any connection to said district, or just read a few headlines in the paper about something negative. Or put 100 percent stock into a state test score. A lot of times, they'll be yammering about "those people." Of course, if your kid doesn't perform as well as he could have, you can blame someone else's presence on campus for that 2.0 GPA.

When I went to RBV (early '90s) my AP classes didn't have English-language learners in them. I doubt they do now. Students who possess some degree of initiative can learn pretty much anywhere. You can't throw a lazy kid into the San Dieguito district and expect teachers to do all the work to turn the kid into an Ivy league candidate.

I think at least parts of the Foothill/Monte Vista area might be in RBV's district. I don't know about Alta Vista, but I agree that these areas are the most charming in Vista, if not as ****-and-span as Shadowridge. Do a little more homework on Vista High before deciding you gotta spend $100,000+ more on a house to get into Carlsbad or San Dieguito.

[northcountystooge]

Most of Shadowridge is older than 10 years, too. Development of Shadowridge started around 1985. I fear the area, at least portions of it, isn't going to age well. Charmless tract houses usually don't gain charm later, right?