School districts (Kennewick, Richland, Prosser: rental, house, transfer)

[edetore]

For starters, which school districts would you choose and which would you avoid? I have heard taht Richland is pretty good but we are looking at a rental house in the Kiona-Benton district...hopefully that one is okay...

Also, just in general what do you guys think of Benton City?

[M3 Mitch]

Full disclosure - no kids, never went to school here. That said my impression is that all of the school districts around here to include Benton City are at least OK. There are a few troublesome punks where-ever you go, but my impression is they are fairly rare around here.

Compared to say Gwinnett county back in the 70's, the schools here are less drug-infested and more academically oriented.

Benton City is a quiet little town, it's actually quite nice. It has Bella Italia deli (not to be confused with Bella Italia in Kennewick completely different business) which is fairly high end, very good food, reasonable price for what you get.

IMHO people get too wound up about schools. Elementary schools teach, well, elementary stuff, you don't need an Eienstien to teach A-B-Cs. By high school, the glands turn on, and the brain turns off, so again it's not that critical. The difference between the best and worst public schools *around here* is not enough to get excited about.

[heymikey]

Sorry I didn't see this earlier—lots of sickness in the house for the last 2 months.

I have several friends who are teachers and the consensus seems to be that there's something "off" about Ki-Be. I've heard horror stories about principals and administration that have kept would-be teachers from applying for openings, though I've heard nothing bad about the teachers already there.

Sorry, but I really can't be more specific...

[j_k_k]

Originally Posted by edetore

For starters, which school districts would you choose and which would you avoid? I have heard taht Richland is pretty good but we are looking at a rental house in the Kiona-Benton district...hopefully that one is okay...

Also, just in general what do you guys think of Benton City?

An important thing to know about Bentucky, as many TC locals call it, is that part of it is vulnerable to flooding. Think carefully about where you locate. I have heard mixed reports about Ki-Be schools (if you are thinking of moving there, that's the standard term for it). If I had kids, I'd probably live in Richland to send them to school there, just based on what little I know.

[drarcher]

Apply for a transfer into Richland schools if you are willing to drive them. Richland schools are wonderful. I have 2 at Enterprise and 1 at Hanford.

[skinem]

I've had friends with kids in Kennewick and Richland school systems.
Just thinking about them seems that the Richland folks had fewer complaints or were more complementary.

[M3 Mitch]

Originally Posted by j_k_k

An important thing to know about Bentucky, as many TC locals call it, is that part of it is vulnerable to flooding. Think carefully about where you locate. I have heard mixed reports about Ki-Be schools (if you are thinking of moving there, that's the standard term for it). If I had kids, I'd probably live in Richland to send them to school there, just based on what little I know.

There was some postive news about the "Bentucky" schools in the paper recently but I just skimmed the article - no kids and live out past Prosser anyway.The part of town that's prone to flooding is not a mystery, it's the flat land near the river. Go on up the hill past say the Palm tavern, and you are probably not going to see any flooding. I guess everyone has to answer the question for themselves, if one school district is that much better around here to let that dictate which town you decide to live in. My impression is that the differences are not that stark.

[j_k_k]

Originally Posted by M3 Mitch

There was some postive news about the "Bentucky" schools in the paper recently but I just skimmed the article - no kids and live out past Prosser anyway.The part of town that's prone to flooding is not a mystery, it's the flat land near the river. Go on up the hill past say the Palm tavern, and you are probably not going to see any flooding. I guess everyone has to answer the question for themselves, if one school district is that much better around here to let that dictate which town you decide to live in. My impression is that the differences are not that stark.

Having gone to a much smaller school than Ki-Be (and not far from the Valley), my general impression is that smaller is usually not as good academically, but there is an important tradeoff there. At a smaller school, kids have a lot more chances to participate in certain extracurriculars. I would never have made a bigger school's football team, for example, nor played first chair in the trumpets in the band in most larger schools, much less been a starter on a baseball team. However, our academics were a train wreck, as I learned when I got to college and suddenly found myself a remedial student compared to my peers. And in fairness, anyone can get good academics him or herself anywhere if sufficiently motivated, which I was not at the time, so part of my school's failure has to rest on my shoulders.

[edetore]

Thanks for all the insight! As it turns out we are settled on moving to Kennewick so it looks like my son will be slated to attend Edison Elementary...