South Hill vs. Mead? (Spokane: 2013, apartment complexes, rental)

[Waterloo]

My family is moving to Spokane from San Diego CA in two months. I've read all "which neighborhood is better?" type threads here, but I still can't decide...which neighborhood is better! The problem is that I can't make a house-hunting trip before moving, so I can't visit different neighborhoods in advance. I've narrowed the potential neighborhoods to the Mullan Road elementary area in South Hill (south of 57th Ave) and the Brentwood Elementary area north of Whitwirth College in Mead. We picked these neighborhoods based on school reputations, home prices, and the impressions we get from Google Mpas street view.

These are things we are looking for:
1. A good elementary school for our kids (they will be in 4th and 2nd grades this fall).
2. A neighborhood with culturally tolerant people. We are an Asian household.
3. A neighborhood with a "community" feel; we don't like suburbs that look too sterile.
4. A neighborhood with decent homes under $250k.
5. The area has to have rental housing (preferably apartment complexes because it's difficult to find houses for rent on the Internet). We want to buy a house in 6 months-1 year in the same area as the rental so that our kids don't have to change their school.

So between South Hill (Mullan Rd) and Mead, which one should be our first pick? Are there any other neighboords we should check out?

The Rockwood area between Manito and Lincoln Parks looked fabulous when I visited there during my job interview trip, but there are no apartments in this neighborhood and the most houses seem to be out of our price range.

Your comments will be much appreciated.

[Jey K]

Waterloo- direct mail sent

[Bakergirl]

I've lived in the Brentwood Elementary area for a year and I love it here. I can't say it's better the area on the south hill because I've never been there but I couldn't be happier with this location. It's close to shopping at Wandermere and Northpointe. My neighbors all like Brentwood Elementary. Actually, Whitworth U. and Brentwood Elementary have Spokane addresses. The town of Mead is northeast of here. Brentwood is within the Mead school district though. I would check out both of your areas while you're here to get a feel for where you'd be living.

[Count David]

Originally Posted by Waterloo

2. A neighborhood with culturally tolerant people. We are an Asian household.

I don't think you'll have to worry about that too much here.

[Waterloo]

Originally Posted by Bakergirl

I've lived in the Brentwood Elementary area for a year and I love it here. I can't say it's better the area on the south hill because I've never been there but I couldn't be happier with this location. It's close to shopping at Wandermere and Northpointe. My neighbors all like Brentwood Elementary. Actually, Whitworth U. and Brentwood Elementary have Spokane addresses. The town of Mead is northeast of here. Brentwood is within the Mead school district though. I would check out both of your areas while you're here to get a feel for where you'd be living.

Thanks for your comments Bakergirl. Everything I saw suggested that Brentwood Elementary is a great school, so I believe you! But please let me ask this. How much do the parents get involved in the school? Our experience is that "good" schools always have a high level of parental involvement regardless of the academic performance of the students.

[Waterloo]

Originally Posted by David Aguilar

I don't think you'll have to worry about that too much here.

This is really great to know. Thanks!

[kena]

They are both nice areas so I'm not sure there is a 'wrong' choice. I like the Moran Prarie are because it is closer to downtown and traffic tends to be much easier to navigate between the south hill compared to the north side (not that Spokane has terrible traffic compared to big cities). Both areas are close to shopping and other services so, again, no major differnce there.

[Deena160]

Originally Posted by kena

They are both nice areas so I'm not sure there is a 'wrong' choice. I like the Moran Prarie are because it is closer to downtown and traffic tends to be much easier to navigate between the south hill compared to the north side (not that Spokane has terrible traffic compared to big cities). Both areas are close to shopping and other services so, again, no major differnce there.

We looked at some lovely homes in the northside, but driving north/south seemed like such a pain that we decided to keep our search in the south end. Liked the Moran Prairie area. Love the big trees, wide streets, and variety of houses that you don't get in newer developments. It seemed very family friendly. One thing I've mentioned before was that there were lots of basketball hoops even right on the streets. That showed us that people felt safe about their kids playing outside--sometimes it's the little things.
:~) D

[RetiredChef]

My .02

Both areas are comparable to each other – when we did our research the top High School in the area (using our criteria and we only looked at High Schools) was Mount Spokane HS with Mead HS coming in second. Ferris and L & C are considered good schools but fell slightly below what we were looking for.

Any parent who participates with their child in their learning/schooling experience will cause that child to learn more. The schools themselves teach a state mandated curriculum so the education material is the same dumbed down crap – it is the parent’s involvement that makes or breaks the education – imho.

Both of the areas you are looking at are what I would label suburbs – when we moved from LA that was the last thing “we” wanted to live in. We craved land, openness, views of the mountains, trees, lakes, streams, deer and elk walking by our front yard, etc. In other words, near nature, near perfect experience, so we picked the northside.

If we had wanted to live in a housing tract, I think I would prefer the south hill, there is more restaurants, larger variety of shops, a more chic/diverse culture and downtown is closer then the north side. The drawbacks to me are that the south hill feels crowded, not LA crowded but Spokane crowded, and due to the hills, the area has worse driving conditions during the winter snow/ice time.

Good Luck

[grayproduct]

I completed my 1-12 education in the Mead School District, culminating in my graduation from Mead High School last year (and now attend UW). At the elementary level, the classes were of moderate size, with 26 or slightly less students. I was fortunate to have competent teachers, something I think the school district does make sure of at this level. Parent participation was also high, with many mothers volunteering in one capacity or another. I did run into issues when it came to the level of instruction taught. At least when I attended, the advanced instructional programs offered ("Challenge", etc) to students who excelled at a subject were often ad hoc in nature and not very structured. As with most public institutions, teaching to the lowest common denominator is preferred.

Educationally, the middle school level does offer improvement for those seeking more difficult coursework. The facilities are a bit dated, but the staff tend to be better than average. I participated in wrestling and football, two programs (if they are still in operation) that I highly recommend for any middle schooler. Sports play a large part at all Mead schools. A problem I found is because of the relative wealthier status of many of the students, they have more time and money on their hands than they probably should. This tacitly leads to some drug/alcohol use that is reflected all the way up to high school graduation for a lot of students.

High school at either Mead or Mount Spokane offers above par educational opportunities in Spokane. The honors courses at Mead were run of the mill, but they do something interesting with history and English, offering an option of combining them to form "Honors Humanities" for sophomores and juniors. Sports again play a large role at the high school level, as historically, Mead and Mount Spokane have regularly made state level play offs in various girls and boys events. I did find that the boys sports carried a bit of a religious overtone, something I found completely inappropriate in a public school setting.

To be frank, I was not satisfied with the institutionalized high school environment, so I chose to participate in the State of Washington's Running Start program, which allows aspiring high school juniors and seniors to instead attend one of the local colleges (EWU, SCC, SFCC) for FREE and gain college credit (up to 90+/2 full years) instead of taking high school courses. I entered UW as a junior, saving me 13,800 in just tuition fees. I highly reccommend this option. Considering that in-state schools are raising tuition at rates as high as 13% a year (compounding over 4 years means doubling by 2013), Running Start can offer an effective hedge.

Any questions?