Heading to San Diego (homes, schools, universities)

[aewan68]

Originally Posted by expatCA

A friend of mine was a teacher and she taught English as a Second Language in OC schools due to all the children from illegal families, and just retired a couple of years ago. I am sure SD has the same problem. This means check out schools very carefully to make sure how they perform.

I hear that a lot here from people I work with, saying they won't live in a certain area because it's too "Hispanic" for their kids with respect to school. I guess since I moved here from South Florida I don't get it, because day in and day out I heard Spanish more there at work or in public than up to this point, I ever heard here in the 2 years I have been here.

Of course it's not uncommon to see jobs in Miami that say bilingual, must speak Spanish.

[moved]

Companies want bilingual here, too. They want young, bilingual college graduates, pay minimum wage, and they get them. The bilingual kids that just graduate from college that don't have jobs lined up, take those jobs, and stay until they find something better.

When I worked for www.sandi.net, they would hire the bilingual kids of the bilingual employees, and just give them a job. They didn't test them, and bypass everyone on the list for those jobs was bypassed.

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by aewan68

I hear that a lot here from people I work with, saying they won't live in a certain area because it's too "Hispanic" for their kids with respect to school. I guess since I moved here from South Florida I don't get it, because day in and day out I heard Spanish more there at work or in public than up to this point, I ever heard here in the 2 years I have been here.

Of course it's not uncommon to see jobs in Miami that say bilingual, must speak Spanish.

Being in a "Hispanic" neighborhood is not an issue, beyond if it is one where the first generation is illegal so that the kids were raised speaking Spanish and now need to learn English. This impacts the schools as ESL teachers cost more and it impacts the way things are taught in the classroom.

Now being Bilingual in Miami or CA is a good thing for many jobs. Doesn't help the English only speaking students though. Just one of the things to consider when moving to SD.

[wally99]

Late to the discussion, and relevant perhaps for someone in a similar boat. With the salaries listed, I would think University City would be a great neighborhood. Good schools, within 20 minutes by car to pretty much everything...

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Originally Posted by expatCA

Being in a "Hispanic" neighborhood is not an issue, beyond if it is one where the first generation is illegal so that the kids were raised speaking Spanish and now need to learn English. This impacts the schools as ESL teachers cost more and it impacts the way things are taught in the classroom.

Now being Bilingual in Miami or CA is a good thing for many jobs. Doesn't help the English only speaking students though. Just one of the things to consider when moving to SD.

This is where higher education is important. The mcjobs here, especially phone jobs will go to bilingual.

[supercad55]

East Chula Vista is great if you're a family that wants to go to parks, good schools and live quietly. With a family of 4 you can't just get up and go to the beach or downtown activities from ECV. My wife and i have a toddler and another on the way, we live in South Park and love the diversity, area, and close proximity to everything. We're in the same situation just bought a townhome last year but with another adult coming to stay and 2 kids were looking to move in 2 years. South park is a small community with homes and more parking than other areas and you can walk everywhere. Take the street to downtown, north park, hillcrest and coronado island is 10 min away. Golden Hill which is right next to SP is a good area and more affordable and grant hill is closer to Downtown up and coming area nice views of Downtown in all 3. There's a 3bdrm home on a sloped hill next to a pizza hut in grant hill golden hill area market and 30th I think for less than 450k, looks good area is decent but as I said up and coming.

[RosieSD]

Originally Posted by expatCA

A friend of mine was a teacher and she taught English as a Second Language in OC schools due to all the children from illegal families, and just retired a couple of years ago. I am sure SD has the same problem. This means check out schools very carefully to make sure how they perform.

Just curious, but how did your teacher friend know that ALL of the students she taught were from "illegal families"? Under Federal guidelines, schools and teachers aren't allowed to ask about a student or parents' citizenship.

Also, there are plenty of families who speak a language other than English at home besides Spanish. Just in my local area, I know families who speak Vietnamese, Chinese, Arabic, Russian, and French at home, and many of their children get ESL support at school too.

I guess I don't have a problem with families speaking whatever they want in their homes. My own father spoke German at home and didn't learn English until he started elementary school. Based on the stories he told us, it certainly would have been easier for him if he had teachers who were trained to teach students who were not native English speakers. (My Dad didn't grow up in California, by the way, but Pennsylvania).

ESL teachers aren't always overburdened and unhappy. For instance, I chose a dual immersion program (English-Spanish) for my son when he was in elementary school. The teachers were some of the best in the district and my son thrived in the program. He went on to attend great universities for college and graduate school and now is doing well career-wise, so being in a classroom with so many students who spoke another language at home certainly didn't hurt him.
If anything, he really benefited.

I can't tell you whether any of the kids in the program were undocumented; all I cared about was that my son had friends who were good kids, and he did.

[RosieSD]

Originally Posted by supercad55

East Chula Vista is great if you're a family that wants to go to parks, good schools and live quietly. With a family of 4 you can't just get up and go to the beach or downtown activities from ECV. My wife and i have a toddler and another on the way, we live in South Park and love the diversity, area, and close proximity to everything.

First, congratulations on the new baby!


I think it all boils down to what you envision for your family. Do you want a master planned suburban community with great neighborhood schools like ECV or a more urban neighborhood that has easier access to urban amenities but where you may have to transport your kids to charter schools or private schools. Or, maybe you're like us, and want to bring your kids up in a more semi-rural area (although even from East County we got up and went -- and still do -- to the beach and downtown all the time ).

Luckily, there are no right or wrong answers. Each family has its own priorities and desires. That's one of the great things about San Diego County -- there is a choice that fits just about every family.

Congrats again on your new baby!

[supercad55]

Thanks and I agree it all depends on what you want as a family. We currently go to the beach at least 3x a week and if it was up to me 5 days a week. It's free and I love the calmness of it all. We lived in the country near Sanford North Carolina and loved our 2 hour drives to myrtle beach but at this point I do not like driving more than 20m to get anywhere so for us if we do move it's either a fixer upper in Grant Hill/ or Hope for a 3 bedroom townhome in our price range in SP, GH, NP. We moved to San Diego in 15 from Sanford,NC very rural military city and 1hr and 30m to Myrtle Beach. We liked the drive to myrtle and the Cheap cost of living but it was too hot. Moved to SD without kids, now we have 2.

[Hypo15]

Originally Posted by RosieSD

Just curious, but how did your teacher friend know that ALL of the students she taught were from "illegal families"? Under Federal guidelines, schools and teachers aren't allowed to ask about a student or parents' citizenship.

Also, there are plenty of families who speak a language other than English at home besides Spanish. Just in my local area, I know families who speak Vietnamese, Chinese, Arabic, Russian, and French at home, and many of their children get ESL support at school too.

I guess I don't have a problem with families speaking whatever they want in their homes. My own father spoke German at home and didn't learn English until he started elementary school. Based on the stories he told us, it certainly would have been easier for him if he had teachers who were trained to teach students who were not native English speakers. (My Dad didn't grow up in California, by the way, but Pennsylvania).

ESL teachers aren't always overburdened and unhappy. For instance, I chose a dual immersion program (English-Spanish) for my son when he was in elementary school. The teachers were some of the best in the district and my son thrived in the program. He went on to attend great universities for college and graduate school and now is doing well career-wise, so being in a classroom with so many students who spoke another language at home certainly didn't hurt him.
If anything, he really benefited.

I can't tell you whether any of the kids in the program were undocumented; all I cared about was that my son had friends who were good kids, and he did.

Thank you for this, Rosie. I grew up in RSD with kids from all linguistic backgrounds, and many of these kids went on to be among the highest performing, with the English-only speakers doing just fine themselves. And BTW, even if a kid doesn’t speak English when they enroll in the school, they may have superior skills in other areas such as math, science and ahem, geography, to bring up the average.