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Old 05-04-2018, 08:56 PM
 
3 posts, read 3,340 times
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I am relocating to Seattle from the Midwest. I will have a kindergartener and will be renting. I am a single mom, 30 and will make right around 100k. Where can we live that is fun and hip but still has a lot of kids? Or that is a close commute to fun hip areas. I want a GREAT elementary school. I see the “best elementary” list is dominated by Bellevue and Lake Washington district (and Issaquah).
How do Seattle elementary schools right around downtown compare to Bellevue and Mercer? Also I hear Bellevue is very blue blood? I come from a town that has nicely mixed demographics and I am not sure I would feel great about living in a place that’s overly fancy. Would my child be judged for living in an apartment on the east side?
Anyone have any experience with this gifted and talented program the Seattle schools offer? Where you leave your home school to be part of a more intensive program? I was wondering how something like that might compare to Mercer schools etc.
thanks!!!
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Old 05-04-2018, 09:04 PM
 
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Ideally we want to be close to the “hip” parts of the city and the beautiful old Downtown parishes we’ll likely join. But have our cake and eat it too with a neighborhood feel where we live, full of kids.
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Old 05-04-2018, 09:26 PM
 
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,096 posts, read 80,136,113 times
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Look at Ballard and Magnolia, and West Seattle. There are actually some really good schools in Seattle. In the other district you mentioned on the Eastside they are all good, Seattle is a mix. Besides the usual research, I suggest going to PTA meeting and talking to parents. I also went to many school board meeting in several districts before settling in Sammamish back when we moved here. There is also your rental budget to consider, with homes and apartments going for more near the best school. You will also want to avoid being near a boundary, Seattle is constantly changing them.


https://www.king5.com/article/news/l.../281-504973268
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Old 05-04-2018, 10:55 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wwatts1 View Post
Also I hear Bellevue is very blue blood? I come from a town that has nicely mixed demographics and I am not sure I would feel great about living in a place that’s overly fancy. Would my child be judged for living in an apartment on the east side?
!
Plenty of people live in apartments on the east side. Bellevue is a mixed bag. The school district is minority majority, and many places in Bellevue are quite diverse. The more expensive parts of Bellevue are not as mixed. My daughter's friendship group looks like a true melting pot. Some of her friends live in huge, expensive houses. We live in a small apartment. It's never been an issue.
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Old 05-04-2018, 11:43 PM
 
Location: Was Midvalley Oregon; Now Eastside Seattle area
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JMO, You should expect all of Seattle and most of Eastside to be populated with high tech people. They demand high quality public education. You shouldn't have too much problem in finding a wide range of schools. Those schools that are lagging will change primarily because the surrounding neighborhood is changing...older SFhomes are replaced with townhouses and apartment complexes. Find an apartment with easy commute/near transit hub.
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Old 05-04-2018, 11:52 PM
 
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Bellevue is a big city, and has less white people than Seattle. But what an excellent school is is subject to debate. Often people simply judge a school by it's greatschools rating, which is derived from test scores. And often enough, schools that have wealthier parents have higher test scores. It doesn't really tell you how your child will do in that school.
When i think of the terms " fun and hip", I don't really think of Bellevue. Parts are much more interesting to me than others, but the downtown Bellevue area is a little " show offy".
On the seattle side, West Seattle might be your cup of tea, with the element of fun/hip, and some good schools.
But if it were me, i wouldn't pay a whole lot of attention to whether a school has a 7 rating or a 10. Maybe I'd avoid anything below a 6, but 10 just means the kids are generally economically from the same strata(rich kids), where a 7 school will have more of a mixture, maybe signifying the area is a little more fun and hip?
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Old 05-05-2018, 08:04 AM
 
Location: Seattle
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Hi Watts,

St John (Greenwood/Phinney) and St Catherine (Maple Leaf) are both excellent, open minded and welcoming parishes on the north side of Seattle. The neighborhoods are lovely, the schools are well rated. Walkability (cafes, coffee shops) and nearby parks are very good. These areas have a mix of single family homes and rental apartments. Your child wouldn't be judged here for living in a rental.
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Old 05-05-2018, 11:03 AM
 
Location: Mercer Island, WA
70 posts, read 84,205 times
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I know some will disagree but I believe that, in general, this region isn't judgmental in the way you're worried about. Short of sending your child to one of the elite private schools in the area, your child won't be judged for where he/she lives. My recommendation would be to tour the area to decide if you'd like to live in Seattle or on the "eastside" which is suburban.
Like most anywhere, the city is where you'll find hip, funky/lively ares and the eastside is, well.....suburban. Once you decide on where you want to live then start honing in on schools.
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Old 05-05-2018, 11:33 AM
 
Location: Seattle
1,880 posts, read 2,059,762 times
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Where will you be working? As a single-parent renter with a kindergartner, personally I'd be more concerned with how long you'd be commuting, and also about child care and after-school resources. At the K-6 level I don't think you'll find bad schools pretty much anywhere close to areas where you'd like to live. Both the Seattle and most suburban school districts have excellent track records with that age cohort; it's only at the middle- and high school levels where some disparities emerge, and even then, nothing like the range of terrible-to-excellent that you might encounter in other parts of the country.

Seattle's accelerated/enhanced/whatever term you want to use - programs are terrific, but, again, this issue would be one to assess a few years down the road, by which time you'll have a better handle on the home/work scene as well as the educational one. Tell us where you're working (downtown? Amazonia?) and we can be more helpful.
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Old 05-05-2018, 11:30 PM
 
3 posts, read 3,340 times
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I am applying now, so I don’t know yet, but I actually work in healthcare so the jobs are evenly distributed. There are hundreds of jobs in the area posted for my position so I can definitely hone in on a particular area. I currently work at a Children’s hospital so getting at job at the Seattle Children’s would probably be easy based on experience, but I could work at a pediatric office or family practice which might be more suburban. I have family in downtownish, Mercer, Auburn, Puyallup, Snoqualmie, Eatonville, and Portland. Despite almost my whole family living in he area I have never lived here! And I’ve only been twice briefly! My family is not up on elementary schools, they don’t have young kids. Good to know the tech industry is driving up the schools with motivated parents! I agree with the poster about the rating system, and know that the ratings don’t tell the whole story. I have been working my research off of the 2018 niche list linked below. Many of their “top” schools are only ranked an 8. I actually won’t be visiting before we move, eek! But I will have a couple weeks to look around, we might move the week school starts unfortunately, but that will benefit us to see the schools in operation. I do want a safe after school program and a short commute!

https://www.niche.com/k12/search/bes...le-metro-area/
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