Advice about Redwood City Schools

[jimnor1713]

Originally Posted by kristinichka

Leapfelt-Thanks for your response. We have thoroughly researched schools in San Mateo since we currently live here and know a lot of people here, so I'm not too worried about this area. Also, we are limiting our search to the West of El Camino, so I don't think we will have school problems if we end up buying here in SM. That being said, I still can't understand why most schools in RWC are completely subpar. There are quite a few nicer areas that still have rotten schools. I remember talking to a woman at the park down there recently and she told me that pretty much all her neighbors send their kids to private school. If all those private school kids went to their local public schools, then those schools would probably perform significantly better, don't you think?? Sorry, enough on that for now. (o:

DMenscha-We are already working with an agent that we trust and who has been very patient with our indecisions as first-time buyers. I've actually worked in the RE industry in the past and certainly haven't ever met an agent that is willing to admit that prices could ever possibly fall in this area. Agents bank on you buying NOW and not in the future. So, if you ever meet a local agent who is willing to talk "future" bay area real estate market after all foreclosures hit and interest rates go up, then send me their contact info. (o: (I should also add that I think there will be less problems with foreclosures and short sales in this area due to the huge amount of money floating around. Besides larger than average incomes, everyone I know has their Mom and Dad willing to give them $100,000+ to buy a house. But don't get me started on that, it's a tangent for another day) In the meantime, the present time is thankfully and finally working for us to be house hunting.

Come on you know why the schools suck its because the very large illegal immigration an the kid do not want to learn.

You are 10 miles a way an you are asking this question?? stay in San Mateo renting no need to buy now.

If you want something the same only better Try San Bruno or SSF drive around forget sq ft location location location

[Moorea]

Exteacher and Highendclass are right about Redwood City schools! Until there is a complete change in the administration, nothing will improve. Oh...and being gifted in a Redwood City school is being average anywhere else! One incompetent principal is given year after year after year to "improve." Another VP actually still asks kids sent to his office "Um...now help me here....um why were you sent in?" No joke....forgets EVERYTHING and gets away with it!

[Judinewyorku]

Stay far away from Redwood City schools. Any wonder why charters are popping up like daisies? The leadership is the problem. No outside blood was recently hired so those in authority like the status quo. Mediocrity would be actually an improvement. Visit at recess or lunch. Look at the kids. Why do so many readily know gang signs? Why did one middle school change their school colors and get rid of the "red?"

[Matadora]

Originally Posted by Judinewyorku

Stay far away from Redwood City schools. Any wonder why charters are popping up like daisies? The leadership is the problem. No outside blood was recently hired so those in authority like the status quo. Mediocrity would be actually an improvement. Visit at recess or lunch. Look at the kids. Why do so many readily know gang signs? Why did one middle school change their school colors and get rid of the "red?"

Such a shame, but it's not only a problem in RWC...it's the entire US educational system experiencing the same issue.

We are rapidly heading for a disaster if we don't turn around pubic education in this country.

[Chuck5000]

Actually, public education is good almost everywhere in the US where there are above-average incomes. The problems are generally in the lower income areas (but not all of them). In the Bay Area, this is more true; you have places like RWC that should have better schools based on income statistics. Nevertheless, I bet RWC schools get better over time as inevitable change brings in new parents with better jobs.

Where I come from, New York state, there are quite a few solid public school districts in medium to lower income areas.

This whole "all of our public schools are so terrible" crisis talk is usually heard from people who want to privatize schools, which aside from those that serve wealthy people, has never proven to work.

[calicoastal]

Here has been the progression in some school districts. Illegal immigrant population rises dramatically in working class neighborhoods. They live with many people in one household, overloading the local neighborhood schools and driving down API scores. Instead of expanding the neighborhood schools or building new ones in these areas, politically correct types want them bused to the schools with the best API scores, despite studies that have shown this does not benefit anyone.

People living in those, generally nicer, neighborhoods don't want their kids exposed to gangs or have a dumbed-down ESL curriculum. And people in these areas are wealthier and can afford to send their kids to private school or move. They abandon the schools. The schools begin to be primarily a place for the poor. Property owners have no interest in passing bond measures for schools that don't benefit them. The school district is now in decline.

This is what has happened in Redwood City, now 70% free lunch. I know from several parents first hand. The best (aka high API scoring) school districts are those that are basically segregated by district boundaries, e.g. Piedmont, Palo Alto, Belmont-RWS, Burlingame, Lamorinda, and so on, who have excluded the poor minorities. It has put a heavy burden on the middle class, who now have to shell out extra money to live in a segregated school district, or pay for private school, if they want their kids to get a decent education.

San Mateo has a better chance than RWC to survive because the working class neighborhoods are fairly compact, and its school districts are combined with neighboring, more segregated, cities (Foster City for elementary, and FC plus Hillsborough for high school). RWC has to deal with North Fair Oaks, and wealthier Redwood Shores is part of the Belmont school district, not RWC.

[SFBayBoomer]

Originally Posted by jimnor1713

Come on you know why the schools suck its because the very large illegal immigration an the kid do not want to learn.

I don't think it is fair to say that the children who are here illegally or who are anchor babies for their parents to come here (and let's put a stop to that anchor baby nonsense) don't want to learn, because many of them do very much want to learn.

They may or may not care about learning, but it's a very individual thing, just as it is with the rest of the students, illegal and legal.

[DoggieMatic]

Originally Posted by SFBayBoomer

I don't think it is fair to say that the children who are here illegally or who are anchor babies for their parents to come here (and let's put a stop to that anchor baby nonsense) don't want to learn, because many of them do very much want to learn.

They may or may not care about learning, but it's a very individual thing, just as it is with the rest of the students, illegal and legal.

Yes, but unfortunately, the reality (based on my living in San Mateo County, including a barrio of Redwood City) is there are some 'cultural differences' that in general, do come into play regarding the dynamics of education. Such dynamics are not controlled by the individual student, regardless of their desire --or lack thereof-- to learn.

[fluffythewondercat]

Originally Posted by Judinewyorku

Stay far away from Redwood City schools. Any wonder why charters are popping up like daisies? The leadership is the problem. No outside blood was recently hired so those in authority like the status quo. Mediocrity would be actually an improvement. Visit at recess or lunch. Look at the kids. Why do so many readily know gang signs? Why did one middle school change their school colors and get rid of the "red?"

You're talking about Kennedy, right? Wow, I wondered about that. (I live nearby.) I thought I was losing my mind because the sign changed to green.

The things you learn on C-D.