Moving to Bay area + Elementary schools in Fremont, Pleasanton, Dublin, San Ramon (Oakland: low income, apartment complex)

[Alraun]

Hello everyone!

We are planning to move to Bay area, I guess, this spring. We are family of 4, have 2 kids - 7 years old and 3 months old.
So the main concern for us now is to seelct school for our elder son. Thus to select where to rent in Bay area. My husband's job will be located at the very tip of Dumbarton Bridge from Palo Alto side. However as Palo Alto seems to be one of most expensive towns to live we consider renting in one of the following: Fremont (because it's a rather short connection to work), San Ramon (seems to be a great school district) or Pleasanton/Dublin (also good schools).

The questions are below. Please, bear in mind that we are totally unfamiliar with US school system, so some of the questions can be rather obvious for you (but not for us)!!

Questions:
1. Does it seem realistic to rent decent 2-bedroom apartment in either of these towns for, say, $2300? I check rent.com and craigslist, there are properties in this price category, however i cannot judge whether they are good or just some cheapest and trashiest?
2. How can we determine to which school the particular apartment complex/house belongs to? Can't find any resource on web showing connection of property address and school.
3. Do i understand correct that each property address is linked to particuar elementary school?
4. School year starts in September, right? When we should enrollment process to desired school the latest? Isn't spring time (April-May) too late?
5. My son is not english-speaking at the moment? Should i search for some, don't know, school supporting foreign students in learning language? HOw the schooling process is organized for such kids?
6. I guess that classes in elementary schoool last from 8-9 am till 12-13 pm, right? what kids usually do after classes (if not going home right after)? Are there some after class daycare programs at schools? Is it payable or free of charge in public schools?

thanks beforehand for answers!

[ccm123]

Commuting from Pleasanton/Dublin and San Ramon to PA will be a long commute with heavy traffiic, and I would not recommend it. Your budget should be able to allow you to rent a small apartment in one of these areas. If you increase your budget, you definitely will find something nicer and larger. Personally, I would recommend finding something closer to Palo Alto.

Usually, the better the school district, the higher the rentals will be, as they will be in higher demand. You would need to check with the local school district to see if the property is zoned to a specific school, I don't think there is a website that specifies this information.

[ilkhd2]

1. Dublin and Pleasonton are cheaper than Fremont, so in those yes. In Fremont most probably also. And I'd say some places have complerx demographics (Fremont I'd say is more complex in this sense than Dublin) and you have to see yourself particular apartment complex to make a judgement.
2. greatschools.org, "school district boundary tool". Also, some school districts have tool on their websites.
3. Yes.

Commute from Fremont might be actually shorter than from Palo Alto itself, bacause of traffic patterns. And you can ride a bus and save on gas.

[bmw335xi]

I moved around a lot growing up and always found greatschools.org to be very helpful and accurate

[twins4lynn]

Fremont Elementary School District school locator based upon home address - SchoolWorks,Inc. - School Locator

Dublin Elementary School District school locator based upon home address - http://locator.decisioninsite.com/?StudyID=89653

[Alraun]

Originally Posted by ccm123

Commuting from Pleasanton/Dublin and San Ramon to PA will be a long commute with heavy traffiic, and I would not recommend it.

How long you think it can take? Googlemaps say smth around 30 to 40 min.what is realistic approximation?

[Alraun]

Originally Posted by twins4lynn

Fremont Elementary School District school locator based upon home address - SchoolWorks,Inc. - School Locator

Dublin Elementary School District school locator based upon home address - http://locator.decisioninsite.com/?StudyID=89653

Thanks a lot! That's what I was looking for

[ccm123]

Depends on time of day and traffic. 580 is heavy going west in the morning and then you would have to contend with traffic on the Dumbarton Bridge toll plaza entrance, which is a bottleneck. I would say an hour at a minimum to 90 minutes, one way, during traffic hours.

Originally Posted by Alraun

How long you think it can take? Googlemaps say smth around 30 to 40 min.what is realistic approximation?

[CousinMaynard]

There is a decent sized russian population in the town of Castro Valley, which might make you feel a little more at home. It's not as good for your commute as fremont but better than any of the tri-valley towns you mentioned.

I did my entire schooling in the Castro Valley Unified School District, it was average back then but now with the large influx of asians it's improved greatly.

the reason for russians being in that part of the east bay is interesting. The town got federal funding for a Bart station to be built there, and part of the deal to receive that funding is that low income housing be built there. The city council could have easily found people in other parts of alameda county to fill the low income housing but they were afraid of the demographic change that would brought, so they went up to sacramento and recruited russian immigrants to move there.

[jade408]

mod cut
There is definitely a mini Russian community around here, in the east bay and other parts. Lots of Ukrainians, and I know a few Russian Jews as well. My neighborhood has an Eastern European market with tons of Russian and Polish treats. One thing about the inner east bay (Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda) is that people have diverse friends, especially those under about 50.

San Leandro and San Lorenzo are a little weird, they have a history of racism and were the sundown towns, but that all started changing in about 1970.