Relocating to Silicon Valley- need an area with good public schools (San Jose: crime rates, homes)

[californiamommyof2]

I'm in a bit of a predicament because I am relocating to silicon valley, from a small town. My oldest son is six, and is going into the third grade as he has skipped and is doing some schoolwork at a level far beyond the grade he skipped into. We are looking to move to an area that is as close to possible to the urban life (mainly looking at west and central San Jose and surrounding areas) but has an elementary school system that is decent. I run a business, and I want to spend as little as possible so I can invest back into my business. If anyone could answer my questions, I would be very grateful!

1. Is there a resource to find out the school districts that are good, or a number I could call? I haven't found anything online yet that seems to be very accurate yet.

2. I've heard about neighborhood schools vs schools that bus kids in, and I don't know much about it other than I want an area with a neighborhood school. Can anyone provide more info on this?

3. What are the normal temperatures in San Jose, and do most homes have air conditioning?

4. Are there any gifted charter schools, or schools that cater to science/math/programming, etc?

Thanks!!

[jk88cal]

1. Info on school district and schools. Check greatschools.org to quickly filter out the 9-10 schools. Then for more details on academic performance, you can look up API test scores:

Academic Performance Index (API) (CA Dept of Education)

API scores provides the academic test results for California standardized testing. There are arguments whether API is a good measure of schools' performance. I don't follow the details. This API data that is available and I do use this to judge schools. I believe California has now suspended API and is investigating other methods of standardized measure to be implemented in couple years.

Also, API score is also reported by demographics, so there is additional demographic composition of the school and each group's test scores.

2 and 4: I don't know anything about busing students in. There are charter schools in certain districts, and attendance is typically by lottery. Note that San Jose has more than 5 school districts. Then the adjacent cities (Cupertino, Sunnyvale, Campbell, etc) also have very complicated and confusing school district. These districts span across multiples cities; elementary/middle/high schools can be in different school districts with completely different boundaries. In your search, make sure you are looking at elementary, since that is what you are interested in.

These are the top primary school districts that I have heard about in the area: Los Altos Elementary, Saratoga Union, Cupertino Union, Los Gatos Union, Palo Alto Unified. So you can start with these. From their websites, you can get district and school boundary maps.

Note that there are potential issues of school being full, then you have to attend nearby school. If all schools in the district are good, then you don't have to worry. In general, the districts I mentioned above should be in that category.

3. I use A/C around 30-45 days each year.

[californiamommyof2]

Thank you so much for all your helpful information!!

[Wintermomma]

1. Have you checked greatschools.net? The reviews you have to take with a grain of salt, but it will give you some other useful information.

Sounds like you'd like Cupertino schools.

3. Most homes do not have A/C and though the days per year which rank miserable (over 90) to me are few, they are miserable without A/C. Definitely do not live in a two-story without A/C.
Average Weather for San Jose, CA - Temperature and Precipitation

(though it's been over 90 this week and I heard over 100 last weekend!) Cooler the further north you go, Mountain View seems to get a nice breeze.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

Where will your job be? This is really important, as commuting seriously sucks in SV. So people will want to be able to advise you on areas withing a decent commute of your job.

As far as temperature, you can find data online. I lived in Santa Clara, just north of San Jose, and there were times in the summer I was grateful for my air conditioning. Most places will have it. But, you'll have to ask. The old building I moved into, didn't have a/c for the first three years I lived there, then they finally added window units.

I'm afraid that the odds of you finding an "urban" area with great public schools might be bad. I can tell you that most areas in the south bay are not "urban-ish". Mountain View has a nice small downtown area, and I'd guess their schools are good, just because it's a wealthy town (and yes, schools are better where the money is, in CA). But, I've heard San Jose schools around the downtown area may not be so good. Willow Glen is nice, but again small town downtown type area - as far as San Jose is concerned.

Really, the whole south bay used to be orchards and farmlands, and became suburbia, with some feeble attempts at adding downtown areas. And most of the downtown areas that ever existed, were razed back when city planners thought that was a good idea.

For instance, Santa Clara is a very safe, very nice suburban town. There is an old town area with pretty Victorian homes, which is right next to north San Jose. This area includes Santa Clara University, which also has one of the California missions on campus. Gorgeous area that used to have a real downtown. But, that old downtown was razed and re-purposed so to speak, with strip malls in that area. But, that area does have a little farmer's market, and is a beautiful neighborhood to walk around in just to see the old Victorians, and to walk on the campus where the mission is - absolutely gorgeous grounds. And the police department is amazing - they actually show up within minutes. And the public schools are supposed to be good.

This is the extent of my knowledge. To get "urban" and "good public schools" I think you'd have to look outside the south bay area.

But, also keep in mind, that if you live in a suburb with good public schools, it's not hard to get to an exciting urban area in the Bay Area on weekends or evenings.

And from Santa Clara, or San Jose, you can be at the beach in Santa Cruz in 30 minutes. You can be in downtown San Jose in 10 minutes from the old town area of Santa Clara, which also has a Caltrain station. You can be in SF via Caltrain in a short period of time, too.

So, it may work best for you to live in a south bay suburbian, safe town with good schools, and travel a short distance for your urban experience.

[californiamommyof2]

Thanks so much for the wealth of information! We don't commute, and will likely open an office somewhere in SV, but we will be able to choose that location since it is our business.

We really want to be able to spend as little as possible so we can invest as much as possible back into our business, which makes the cupertino and santa clara areas a little difficult. But, small living quarters are okay if it means we can get our kids into good schools. Does anybody know about open enrollments or perhaps gifted schools? Like I mentioned, my oldest is six and going into the third grade so we want to stay away from schools with kids who are aggressive and more physical- he's very sensitive and studious and will be the shortest and youngest in his class.

I've been reading some disturbing news about crime in San Jose and surrounding areas. Is this something we need to worry about?

Thanks again for any help- it is so appreciated!

[mstnghu2]

Originally Posted by californiamommyof2

I've been reading some disturbing news about crime in San Jose and surrounding areas. Is this something we need to worry about?

Thanks again for any help- it is so appreciated!

The news media grossly exaggerates crime trends for higher TV ratings. As far as highly populated metro areas go, the entire South Bay is quite safe. The highest crime neighborhoods in the South Bay are going to be in San Jose itself, simply because it's by far the biggest city. The nice, safe areas vastly outnumber the bad areas though. Zip codes in SJ I'd avoid completely would be 95116, 95122, which are on the East Side. There are other bad pockets throughout town as well, so if you found specific places you're interested, I could tell you if it's in a good part of town or not.

[californiamommyof2]

That's very helpful! I am looking close to cupertino, santa clara, and anything in that general area- including west san jose. I think the areas with decent school districts will generally have lower crime rates. I looked up the statistics and compared to the bay area it seems like San Jose has lower crime rates per capita overall.

I'm also looking at the central San Jose area since we want to be closer to the fast paced busy environment of a city, but it seems like that area might be a little higher in crime.

[neutrino78x]

Wait, 95122 is actually downtown. I lived there for a year and loved it, very safe and exciting. It's more for young people though or at least those with a young person mentality. nit sure if it had good schools. Agree about east San Jose.

[Local123]

Also check out. 95124