Help with newbury, thousand oaks and westlake H.S. (Los Angeles: renting, how much)

[islipmom]

My husband has been recently offered a chance to relocate to Burbank.
I looked into the LA area and like the above mentioned areas in Ventura County, for safety, air quality(son has allegeries), about an hours commute, (my husband easily does 2 hours one way here in LI during rushhour even though we are 56 miles a way from NYC where he works now) and schools. After reading several threads I still have some questions if anyone would be so kind to help me with them.

1. My first concern is education, and has always been for us, thats why we put with the high property taxes here in Islip to give our children that. I have five children and am not looking for private school.

2. That being said can I have some specifics on the academics of these schools that I can't always see on the school web site. things like:
National Merit Scholars, participation in Intel and Siemens competitions, graduates going to top twenty colleges and Ivy Leagues, etc,

3. I ask this because our eldest will be attending such a college and had opportunties to participate in the above programs, and I want this for my others also.

4. I have a bright 4th grader who reads at a college level and scores in the 90% on her National Assessment tests and needs to be challenged.

5. I have a 15 year old with some learning challenges and would like to know what these schools offer also.

6. We would have about 4000-4500 to spend on housing, but might wait to buy depending on the market.

7. We would need at least 4 bedrooms but would prefer 5+.

Are all these possible with what I stated, and is there another area that would meet my criteria and still be suburbian in nature.

P.S. I love the IB program at Newbury Park and would like to know more about that. Also, do you have to live in the area to attend that particular HS, ex all Newbury addresses go to Newbury HS, etc, the way it is in LI or could request a changes to another school, you can't here in LI.

Thank you. It will really help us decided if its best for our children.

[Charles]

There are probably other choices for living that provide good schools and aren't as far as Newbury Park. In clean conscious, I can't recommend anyone commute from the Conejo Valley to Burbank everyday - it's just not healthy. But if you insist, those schools are all very good. I am familiar with the Conejo Valley schools. Great place to live but the commute will kill him.

School Performance Maps

What about La Canada, La Crescenta, South Pasadena, San Marino, (from inspection of the above URL)? I am not that familiar with these areas, just offering a potential suggestion.

Check the commute using Sigalert.com Los Angeles Traffic Map to see what freeways get hammered from your potential commute position. Conejo Valley to/from Burbank is going to be horrible.

One other possibility, Simi and Moorpark to Burbank might be a better commute and you'll have to carefully check out schools - sort of hit and miss. Moorpark High School has won the US Academic Decathlon I think two times.

The idea of renting is probably a good one too as a lot of people think housing may be falling for another year or two.

Finally, check out this thread I started with all sorts of useful tools:

//www.city-data.com/forum/orang...ing-tools.html

[hsw]

All about trade-offs

SFV and inland LA tend to have worse air quality and weather (hot, not as humid as NYC region)

Public schools in LA region suck (much like in NYC or any other city): only decent ones are La Canada Flintridge, Palos Verdes Peninsula and Irvine

Many on Westside (an ideal location for LA for those w/ample bucks) opt for private schools

And most smart commuters either live as close to office as poss, or commute in off-peak hrs (arrive office <6AM and leave >6PM; and use Bluetooth in car to manage calls vs other time zones during commute time), same stuff guys in Greenwich do to drive into Manhattan w/minimal hassles and maximal productivity

[islipmom]

How long would this commute be? I had a friend tell me its about an hour to an hour 15 mins during rush hour. Is this not true? Here in Long Island during rush hour it takes 2 hours to go 50 miles.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by islipmom

How long would this commute be? I had a friend tell me its about an hour to an hour 15 mins during rush hour. Is this not true?

That's probably right but it is pretty bad, stop and go, very frustrating..lots of stress, not good for his heart.

Maybe he can vanpool or something.

[islipmom]

Originally Posted by Charles

That's probably right but it is pretty bad, stop and go, very frustrating..lots of stress, not good for his heart.

Maybe he can vanpool or something.

This is similar here in Long Island, very much stop and go also, but the van pool might be an option.

[islipmom]

[quote=hsw;9289142]All about trade-offs


Public schools in LA region suck (much like in NYC or any other city): only decent ones are La Canada Flintridge, Palos Verdes Peninsula and Irvine

hsw and Charles thank you very much for the information.

I looked up some of these schools that were mentioned, they seem good, but I am concerned about the air quality and heat in these areas. Is there much of a difference in the air quality? Also are these places very suburban as this is my perference.

I love Irvine how much better is the commute from there to Burbank?

What are the train options in Ventura County, as my husband has a 1 1/2 commute here with the trains now?

[Charles]

No way commute Irvine or Palos Verdes to Burbank.

The Conejo Valley might be a little cooler than La Canada and Pasadena but not significantly, maybe 5F to 7F in summer. Yes, La Canada and Pasadena are suburban (though Pasadena does have an urban district). Air quality may be a little worse in Pasadena but I don't have numbers so I really don't know if it is true. La Canada and Pasadena may also be a little more expensive in $/sqft too since they are a little closer to downtown.

There is a train that goes to Burbank (near BUR airport) from Oxnard, Camarillo, Moorpark, Simi, Chatsworth, and diagonally SE across the San Fernando Valley to BUR. I am not familiar with trains that head NE to BUR from the south and east sides of the LA metro.

Can he shift his schedule a bit to something like 7-330? If so, he would really beat a lot of traffic commuting from the Conejo Valley, especially in the morning.

[islipmom]

Originally Posted by Charles

No way commute Irvine or Palos Verdes to Burbank.


There is a train that goes to Burbank (near BUR airport) from Oxnard, Camarillo, Moorpark, Simi, Chatsworth, and diagonally SE across the San Fernando Valley to BUR. I am not familiar with trains that head NE to BUR from the south and east sides of the LA metro.

Can he shift his schedule a bit to something like 7-330? If so, he would really beat a lot of traffic commuting from the Conejo Valley, especially in the morning.

Thank you Charles,
That is something I will tell him to look into as I am not sure about the flexibility of the hours yet, but he might be able to telecommute a couple of times a week.

I like the proximity to the beach of about 20 minutes in the Conejo Valley very similar to here in Long Island, I would have to see how far those areas are from the beach. My family goes to the beach about once a week during the summer months here.

How are you assigned to the HS and Middle Schools in the area? Is it strictly by address or can they put your child in any of the neighboring schools?