Kate Sessions Park Area (South LJ/North PB) (San Diego, Soledad: 2013, renting)

[sxb317]

Hi, we are new to SD and renting for a year while looking for a neighborhood to settle in. We've recently been spending some time taking our kids to the Kate Sessions park in north/east Pacific Beach and really love the area. I was wondering if anyone who lives or have lived there can speak to whether they like it, how family friendly it is, how are schools, what type things do you do in the neighborhood, etc. It seems like north of the park feed into LJ schools and south of it PB. Also is the marine layer phenomenon present this far inland? We will be looking for a small house (~1500 sqft) around $700K price range if that helps give some perspective in comparison to surrounding areas. Thank you for your help.

[DaCounselor]

As far as public schools go, the only decent school in PB is Sessions Elementary. The problem is at the middle school and high school level where the schools are weak. You may be able to opt in to the public middle and high schools in La Jolla, but I wouldn't count on it and in any event they are not really great schools anyway. Everyone I know who is raising kids in LJ is sending their kids to private school. Everyone else has moved to North County to take advantage of great public schools. No one I know has moved to PB for the schools.

I lived in MB/PB for 15 years. Looking back at myself and my crowd during those days, well let's just say I would not want to raise my kids in the neighborhood where the old me lived.
Lots of good times and debauchery, and not exactly an area that screams family friendly, at least to me. Plenty of crime. Probably the highest concentration of liquor licenses and drunken shenanigans in all San Diego County, although downtown may be a strong contender now.

[cruitr]

The area around Kate Sessions park is a nice family neighborhood. I live near the area and take my dogs to the park on a regular basis.

However, you probably won't find any decent single-family homes for $700k near the park right now. Also, the Soledad Mtn area is like a magnet for the marine layer. We haven't seen much sun the entire weekend.

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by DaCounselor

As far as public schools go, the only decent school in PB is Sessions Elementary. The problem is at the middle school and high school level where the schools are weak. You may be able to opt in to the public middle and high schools in La Jolla, but I wouldn't count on it and in any event they are not really great schools anyway. Everyone I know who is raising kids in LJ is sending their kids to private school. Everyone else has moved to North County to take advantage of great public schools. No one I know has moved to PB for the schools.

I lived in MB/PB for 15 years. Looking back at myself and my crowd during those days, well let's just say I would not want to raise my kids in the neighborhood where the old me lived.
Lots of good times and debauchery, and not exactly an area that screams family friendly, at least to me. Plenty of crime. Probably the highest concentration of liquor licenses and drunken shenanigans in all San Diego County, although downtown may be a strong contender now.

Spot on target. We were originally going to buy a house in La Jolla but we weren't impressed with the schools there and I didn't really want to send my kids to private schools. We have several friends that send their kids to schools in La Jolla and none seem too impressed.

As well, you can read on a number of forums and hear essentially the same thing from several people that send their kids to public schools in La Jolla.

[bloom]

Really, I though LJ High School (and Torrey Pines HS) was generally a high performer?

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by bloom

Really, I though LJ High School (and Torrey Pines HS) was generally a high performer?

Torrey Pines High School from what I've heard is EXCELLENT. But it's not in La Jolla. It's part of the San Dieguito Union School District and is located in Carmel Valley.

I think the LJ High School is decent. I don't personally know any friends that send their kids there. The ones we know have middle school aged kids and don't seem too thrilled with the school there. But absolutely I'm not trying to paint a picture of La Jolla schools being bad. I'm just going on what people we know have commented. For San Diego Unified I'm sure most parents would be THRILLED compared to many schools in San Diego Unified!

On the other hand, people we know that are in the PUSD or San Dieguito rave about the schools there.

API Numbers: http://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/Acnt2...t=37,SAN,DIEGO

Bloom - there was a recent post about this on another board. You can read one of the comments from another poster that lives in La Jolla about his experiences sending his kids to school there:

http://piggington.com/which_public_s...ey_or_la_jolla (Look for the one by XBoxBoy).

[bloom]

Thanks. I guess your knowledge does not extend to SDHS and Pt. Loma HS given your current locale. As I would be curious of your take on perhaps not the traditional high-achieving suburban typical schools like Torrey Pines HS. What area of the country were you raised again yourself?

[earlyretirement]

You're totally correct bloom. I have no knowledge of Pt. Loma or SDHS. We do have several friends that live over in Point Loma and they pretty much say the same thing as some of our friends in La Jolla. They tell us right now their kids are fine in Elementary School but that when it comes to Middle School they will have to make some "tough decisions". But they have a few more years before they have to deal with that.

I am originally from Chicago and raised in the Midwest. Big 10 University then moved to Dallas after college.

[sxb317]

This is all very interesting. My perception was that La Jolla had excellent schools, esp elementary, but I'm admittedly very uninformed about middle schools. We just want a neighborhood with good schools that still has some diversity and not as sterile as Carmel Valley. Not meaning offense to people who live there, we really love how family oriented it is and all the parks, schools are so nice but it all seems like Stepford-ish. It looks like we may end up there after all though given the alternatives.

Also another question, I heard some of the better elementary schools do not have enough spots for kindergarten and are turning people away. This seems little scary given we are planning on buying/renting a place based on the neighborhood school. Do anyone know this is the case for LJ elementary schools?

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by sxb317

This is all very interesting. My perception was that La Jolla had excellent schools, esp elementary, but I'm admittedly very uninformed about middle schools. We just want a neighborhood with good schools that still has some diversity and not as sterile as Carmel Valley. Not meaning offense to people who live there, we really love how family oriented it is and all the parks, schools are so nice but it all seems like Stepford-ish. It looks like we may end up there after all though given the alternatives.

Also another question, I heard some of the better elementary schools do not have enough spots for kindergarten and are turning people away. This seems little scary given we are planning on buying/renting a place based on the neighborhood school. Do anyone know this is the case for LJ elementary schools?

sxb,

I do think the elementary schools are pretty good in La Jolla compared to some other schools but we've heard quite a few comments like XBoxBoy on that other website. Pretty much the same kind of stuff.

I admit that parts of Carmel Valley can look sterile but I think for many families with young kids it ultimately comes down to how family oriented it is for raising a family and of course the schools. I wouldn't assume you can find a lot of options up there either with your budget. $700's honestly doesn't buy too much in Carmel Valley SFH-wise there. If you can even find anything on the market. The inventory is very tight here too.

As far as the Kindergarten that is absolutely true with some of the schools. There has been such an explosion in the past year or two with young families moving into the area that some of these schools won't have rooms for all the kids that are assigned to that particular school. Obviously you will still be guaranteed a school within the school district but you might not necessarily get the one you want, even if you happen to live across the street from it!

Case in point, our daughter will start Kindergarten at Willow Grove Elementary this year which is one of the better Elementary schools in the area. Well, many parents didn't get in and they will go to a lottery system this fall. Parents won't even find out if their kid got in there up to a week or two before the school season starts.

Fortunately our daughter got in already. I would be REALLY angry if I was paying all this money to live where I do and paying Mello Roos taxes and they told me that I had to go to a school further away. But you have to expect that possibility. Many parents mistakenly believe that they are guaranteed a spot once they buy a house in that area when that might not be true.

Typically in all of these schools they have a 2 day registration period before the school year ends to register for Kindergarten for the upcoming Fall school season. If you don't register in those initial 2 days, typically you have last priority and might not get in.

The good thing if you do end up getting in for one of your kids, is most schools typically give priority to siblings so if you have another sibling already going to school there, you are just about guaranteed a spot for your younger kids. For example, our other son will also go to Willow Grove for pre-school this Fall but that doesn't guarantee him a spot once he is done. What does help guarantee him a spot is that his sister will already be going to Willow Grove which essentially guarantees him a spot.

It's good to see how all of this works in the system. It's been interesting watching all these rules and priorities and how things work.