Seeking advice on location (Redwood City, Cupertino: apartment complex, home, to buy)

[jbpassing]

Hi people,

I'm moving to Bay Area from Europe within a month. The office where I'll work is near the "platinum triangle" area (south of Moffet field, bound by 237,85,101).
Did a detailed search for housing based on schools quality (I have two kids, 5 and 11), but seems like the only feedback I can get about schools is average tests score, which seems to be not enough to me. As I never rented before, and am not familiar with local peculiarities, I decided to turn to collective wizdom of the forum

The requirements are (most important goes first):
- Decent schools - as in - not exclusively focused on academic achievements, with good deal of attention to any child as the personality. I do not want anyone to 'pump' my kids like RPG characters based on test scores only. Smaller classes (no more than 20 kids per class). This probably means I'm looking into private schools too.
- Multi-culture mixed environment at school/in neighbourhood. I liked Cupertino in general, but I do not want my son to be the only white kid in the class. Based on current statistics, that's the problem with CUSD. Neither I want the school to be "white" exclusively - my kids never contacted any races/cultures but their own, so, the idea is - the earlier they start to, the less problems they'll have in the future.
- House/appartment has to be quiet (as in - I do not want to hear my neighbours flushing toilet). Stayed in apartment complex in MV for 2 months, it was horrible. Not that people were noisy, but the lack of noise insulation was simply killing me. Considering the kids are rather used to being loud at home, I do not want to create problems for my neighbours too... Airport/railway noise from outside is ok. Ideally - single-family home or duplex with private yard and no common walls with neighbours.
- The commute should take no more than an hour one-way. I can tolerate more if I find a dream home/location.
- Climate is not that important (cold/heat is ok), we will eagerly get rather high into the mountains.
- Parks/woods/lakes/trails proximity and air quality have HUGE preference over nightlife/shopping/eating out.

Budget is up to $2K5 for 2 or 3-bedroom (unless I have to pay for private school).

Thank you!

[gone down south]

$2k5 = $2500 per month?

[jbpassing]

Yep. Sorry for unclear abbreviation.

[gone down south]

No worries - for a second I thought you were looking to buy a $250,000 house!

[Heidi60]

Just driving by the schools, I see few white kids. Suggest a search for private schools.

[sonarrat]

One thing you could try to do is a charter school, like Summit Prep in Redwood City. Public schools are getting their budgets cut like crazy, but charter schools have been able to avoid it. Even if you can't get in to the charter school, Sequoia High is a very strong school, much more than its API score would lead you to believe. There are some slummy parts of RWC, but all in all it's a pretty nice place.

[sandy7]

welcome back to the valley. I'll just address the noise insulation part. Not long back I moved to a stand-alone cottage type apartment in a large complex in sunnyvale. No one upstairs to worry about.

Fat chance of someone moving out of a cottage type apartment but worth a try contacting apartment managers to see if they have one like that.