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Old 08-04-2012, 10:33 PM
 
1 posts, read 4,702 times
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We are moving from St. Louis city to be in a better school district. We are looking in Kirkwood, Webster, and Lindbergh school districts.

I have heard that in Webster Groves, you are able to chose the elementary school your child attends. For instance, if we bought a house in the Edgar School area, we would still be able to send our child to Bristol or Avery if we wanted. Has anyone heard of this option? What are the rules/policies around it?

Also, does Webster only offer 1/2 day kindergarten? It appears residents must pay $3,000 if they want their child to go to all day kindergarten. What are the hours of the 1/2 day? I don't see it on the website.

We prefer Kirkwood schools, but like Webster because it is closer to the city/friends/family. Frankly, we are not having much luck finding anything decent on the market right now.
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Old 08-07-2012, 10:27 PM
 
Location: St. Louis
7,442 posts, read 6,977,062 times
Reputation: 4601
Quote:
Originally Posted by alad219 View Post
We are moving from St. Louis city to be in a better school district. We are looking in Kirkwood, Webster, and Lindbergh school districts.

I have heard that in Webster Groves, you are able to chose the elementary school your child attends. For instance, if we bought a house in the Edgar School area, we would still be able to send our child to Bristol or Avery if we wanted. Has anyone heard of this option? What are the rules/policies around it?

Also, does Webster only offer 1/2 day kindergarten? It appears residents must pay $3,000 if they want their child to go to all day kindergarten. What are the hours of the 1/2 day? I don't see it on the website.

We prefer Kirkwood schools, but like Webster because it is closer to the city/friends/family. Frankly, we are not having much luck finding anything decent on the market right now.
I've been waiting for someone else to respond. I like Webster Groves a lot but I'm a Kirkwoodian, so of course I prefer it. I do think the school district generally is better thought of, but I don't think WG school district is bad or anything.

For your very specific questions, I'd call or email the school district. They should be able to answer it.

I've heard good things about Avery, I know that.
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Old 08-09-2012, 04:08 PM
 
Location: Saint Louis, MO
1,912 posts, read 4,674,384 times
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I lived in WG school district, but never heard anything about elementary school choice...then again, I don't have kids. I'm almost positive all the kids in our neighborhood attended the neighborhood school, which is not widely considered the best one in the district, so I'm guessing it's based on neighborhood boundaries.
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Old 08-10-2012, 07:10 PM
 
3,618 posts, read 3,039,264 times
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Yup, sounds like they do charge $3000 for full day kindergarten:

District Information - Kindergarten Program

That sucks. I like WG a lot, but you definitely pay a premium for the community. A few years back I was looking for a house in a good school district - I must have looked at 50 houses across all the usual suspects - from Kirkwood, Webster Groves, Richmond Heights, Brentwood, Clayton and Ladue - all in the 350-450 range. Webster Groves quality in that price range was among the most poorly maintained (lowest quality per square foot per dollar, if that makes any sense), I guess because the community is so desirable.
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Old 08-21-2012, 11:01 PM
 
Location: St Louis County, MO
711 posts, read 2,101,962 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alad219 View Post
We are moving from St. Louis city to be in a better school district. We are looking in Kirkwood, Webster, and Lindbergh school districts.

I have heard that in Webster Groves, you are able to chose the elementary school your child attends. For instance, if we bought a house in the Edgar School area, we would still be able to send our child to Bristol or Avery if we wanted. Has anyone heard of this option? What are the rules/policies around it?

Also, does Webster only offer 1/2 day kindergarten? It appears residents must pay $3,000 if they want their child to go to all day kindergarten. What are the hours of the 1/2 day? I don't see it on the website.

We prefer Kirkwood schools, but like Webster because it is closer to the city/friends/family. Frankly, we are not having much luck finding anything decent on the market right now.

Webster's distance to the city vs. Kirkwood is totally negligible. Webster vs. Chesterfield, definitely. Vs. Kirkwood? Not so much.

Also, Kirkwood kindergarten just went to free this year. Full day, 5 days a week, totally free. They also have before and after school care. If you do both (7am-6pm, school hours being 8:30-3:30) it's $240/month.

I would also be very surprised to find out that you could pick your child's school. In Kirkwood, if you move 2 blocks away and its in a different zone, your child must attend the school in the new zone. They said there is very rarely, if ever, and exception to that rule. I don't see how they could possibly do that. If word got out that one school was better than the other, you'd have to have a lottery system and all that for schools within the same district. So yeah, I highly, highly doubt that.
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Old 08-29-2012, 11:41 AM
 
Location: St. Louis, MO
758 posts, read 1,633,525 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AJohnston_STL View Post
Webster's distance to the city vs. Kirkwood is totally negligible. Webster vs. Chesterfield, definitely. Vs. Kirkwood? Not so much.
It depends what area of Kirkwood you are talking about. Kirkwood is almost twice the size of Webster, and really stretches out quite a bit. There are sections that butt right up to Webster, and other sections that are more West County, by Valley Park/Manchester/Des Peres, etc. And that is about 10-15 highway minutes to Webster Groves.
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Old 01-14-2013, 01:20 PM
 
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Traditionally, within the district, the option to choose any elementary school was accepted.

However enrollment has skyrocketed due to increased rate of property taxes (if you are paying $10k in taxes, let's use the schools mentality) and the exorbitant tuition costs associated with private and parochial schools (Annunciation in Webster proper and St. Michael's in Shrewsbury--Webster schools have merged with 2 other area parish schools due to dwindling enrollment).

Families who consider their home school undesirable have had to request in writing permission for their child to attend a school elsewhere in the district. The district is trying to discourage these requests but they are still occurring.

Very few families living in prestigious Warson Woods send their children to Hudson school in Rock Hill, even though it is a short and safe walk. Hudson has a much more diverse student population, drawing students mostly from lower middle areas of Rock Hill and North Webster. Instead, families in Warson Woods overwhelmingly request the district for permission to send their children to Bristol, located in the very affluent Old Webster area with demographics that reflect the neighborhood of Warson Woods. Some in Warson Woods are content to send their children to Clark, a very small elementary school located in Webster Groves proper as well.

Hudson school, as a result, has artificially lower test scores as much of their wealthier home school student population attend elsewhere. If Webster Groves school district were to enforce their home school attendance policies, Hudson's MAP scores would skyrocket!
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Old 01-23-2013, 09:22 AM
 
Location: Saint Louis, MO
1,197 posts, read 2,271,915 times
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Hudson school, as a result, has artificially lower test scores as much of their wealthier home school student population attend elsewhere. If Webster Groves school district were to enforce their home school attendance policies, Hudson's MAP scores would skyrocket!

But this can't be true. According to "Waiting for Superman", the Republican Party, and school reform experts the reason for low test scores is simply bad teachers. So the wealthy students that go to Hudson would simply start performing worse because they would of course have worse teachers. (Read with heavy sarcasm, in case that was not evident).
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Old 03-27-2014, 09:24 PM
 
8 posts, read 12,822 times
Reputation: 10
Question Webster Groves Computer School vs. Hudson Elementary

In relation to the above posts, I'm hoping for some guidance from those familiar with Webster Groves schools. Our home school is Hudson. We put our son's name into the lottery for Computer School and made it onto the waiting list...then got selected. Without revealing exactly where I live, I'll just say that I don't need binoculars to see my kids playing on Hudson's playground! Six steps and we're on the property...so this is an extremely tough decision for us. We're well aware of the fact that the intimate, small, unique environment at WGCS is very likely to change in the next few years to deal with the overcrowding in other WG elementary schools. We'd have to drive (albeit less than a mile) to WGCS. Hudson starts at 8:20am (I've been told); WGCS starts at 7:50am (other working parents with multiple children understand that this is actually a huge amount of time in the morning). Like the original person posting, we moved from the city when we knew elementary school was fast approaching. We knew we wanted Kirkwood or Webster, but preferred Webster. So, why is this so hard? The test scores are clearly higher at WGCS. The teachers seem (to us) friendlier and more inviting. The classrooms have enough computers for all of the students and there is only one class per grade (vs 2 to 4 Kindergartens on up at some of the others). Several people have told us that getting into WGCS is like getting a private school for free. Then there's Hudson. There are more friends to be made, it's in our immediate community, friends and family currently attend. We never have to drive, deal with car lines, parking for functions, etc. The playground and garden are both wonderful. So, do we give up the convenience of the close school for the advantages and edge offered by the one a short drive away? That's the question. I welcome all feedback! Yes, I realize I'm lucky to be deciding between two great schools instead of the lesser of two evils. Education is extremely important to us...help!
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Old 03-29-2014, 11:11 AM
mtc
 
11 posts, read 31,636 times
Reputation: 13
If you got into the better school, TAKE IT- don't be a fool. The bottom line is it's about your kids and where they will get the better academic education. Period. Be multicultural on the weekends when it doesn't impact your children's learning. There's plenty of time for living in the UN in your free time and in teams/clubs, etc... Don't mess up your chance out of misplaced guilt. I can't believe you are even debating this.
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