Family move to the Bay Area from Boston - Los Altos school reviews (San Francisco: best town)

[bostonian99]

We are moving to the Bay Area later this summer and are looking for some recommendations for elementary schools in the area. We are used to the quality of education in Massachusetts which I get we are not going to get in the Bay Area. Based on our research and diversity needs we have narrowed it down to the Los Altos school district. The ratings and the scores look great but we would like to understand more about experiences that people have had or heard about.

We would like to avoid schools where kids only come from an extremely rich household or if there is not enough diversity like the Cupertino district.

Also - open to other schooling district and recommendations. Are there any good private schools to consider?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

[Chuck5000]

Quick tip is if you don't get good responses here, try reposting in the San Francisco-Oakland forum, because it's much more active and has plenty of people who at least know others in Los Altos even if they don't live there.

If you can afford to live in Los Altos, and are aware of real estate costs, home sizing, restrictions on expanding homes, etc, then you will be OK, it's a great town. Some think it's the very best town in the area.

However, wanting to have economic diversity in your schools is going to be a problem in most top-tier places here. Nevertheless, I wouldn't let that stop me from living in Los Altos if I could. I'm sure there are plenty of non-rich children, probably either incumbents or renters, but the culture of wealth, entitlement, materialism, etc, is fairly oppressive in all of the high-end cities in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties if one is sensitive to that. I am, it's even worse in Palo Alto. But I'll be priced out of PA soon as we need to move up, so no matter

[bostonian99]

Thanks for the response. I will try posting on the other forum too.

[jk88cal]

Los Altos -> LA
Mountain View -> MV
Cupertino -> CU

I live near LA. I have friends and coworkers that live there. Although I don't have direct experience with LA schools, I know a bit about it.

Elementary school is very good. You have much more balanced population than CU. It is not crazy like CU, but it's not cakewalk either. Parents are professionals and they expect their kids to do well in school and go to college. It's what you do with your kids that matters.

High school is a bit mixed. LA and MV share hs district. NW part of LA and MV goes to LA hs. SE part of LA and MV goes to MV hs. So both hs have mixed high and lower scoring demographics. As result, both hs scores a dragged down a bit. Both hs are still very good.

LA homes have large lots, by Bay Area standards. Most are > 10k sq ft. As result, prices are up there. Median prices are $2.5M to $3M. This is more expensive than CU. I don't know what is your definition of extremely rich. LA households have higher income than CU, probably around 50% more. You can look up the data on this website or Wikipedia.

LA residential streets do not have sidewalk. So if you have kids, use stroller, or like to go walking/jogging, it can be awkward.

LA has a small but nice downtown.

[silverkris]

Originally Posted by jk88cal

Los Altos -> LA
Mountain View -> MV
Cupertino -> CU

I live near LA. I have friends and coworkers that live there. Although I don't have direct experience with LA schools, I know a bit about it.

Elementary school is very good. You have much more balanced population than CU. It is not crazy like CU, but it's not cakewalk either. Parents are professionals and they expect their kids to do well in school and go to college. It's what you do with your kids that matters.

High school is a bit mixed. LA and MV share hs district. NW part of LA and MV goes to LA hs. SE part of LA and MV goes to MV hs. So both hs have mixed high and lower scoring demographics. As result, both hs scores a dragged down a bit. Both hs are still very good.

LA homes have large lots, by Bay Area standards. Most are > 10k sq ft. As result, prices are up there. Median prices are $2.5M to $3M. This is more expensive than CU. I don't know what is your definition of extremely rich. LA households have higher income than CU, probably around 50% more. You can look up the data on this website or Wikipedia.

LA residential streets do not have sidewalk. So if you have kids, use stroller, or like to go walking/jogging, it can be awkward.

LA has a small but nice downtown.

I'd concur with the above.

MVLA high school district (includes both Mt. View and Los Altos High Schools) is very good. They have the highest paid teachers in the area, so they have the resources. Atmosphere or environment isn't as crazy or cutthroat as the Palo Alto high schools or Cupertino area ones (Monta Vista and Lynbrook) but you can get what you need in terms of AP courses and support. Which might actually be a good thing or better than going to say, Gunn or Paly High.

[SportyandMisty]

Many people opt for private school. There are several very good ones around, including:

https://www.harker.org/ which is K-12, and their program for young kids includes before-school and after-school care and organized programs. It is pricey.

[bostonian99]

Thank you all for the responses. Appreciate it, extremely helpful.