Oregon Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Moms - PDX with kids?
DH and I keep seriously considering relocating to PDX. We both went to college there, and loved it, and my inlaws are in the Salem area.
We spent last week out there, and realized that we know nothing about sooo many neighborhoods out there. We are definitely city people, and if DH transferred there, we would both likely work right downtown. Any recs for neighborhoods that have great schools but are central? Any info on what you love or don't love about PDX with kids?
Re: Moms - PDX with kids?
http://www.pps.k12.or.us/
I think this site (http://www.ode.state.or.us/data/reportcard/reports.aspx) has report cards for schools.
I don't have kids so I can't give you first hand info only what I hear. I hear portland public schools aren't great (something about a very short school year? maybe it has something to do with the budget). Most of my coworkers that live in metro portland send their kids to private/Catholic (could or could NOT be related to quality. not sure) When we were looking for a house, we wanted a "good" middle school that feeds into a "good" high school. Elementary school wasn't as important, figured those basics should be partially taught at home.
You'll hear it from everyone else- please land jobs before moving here. Unemployment is high.
Good schools are more in the 'burbs than in the city. If I had kids in PPS, I'd be sending them to schools more in South Portland than North, for sure. I know nothing about elementary school, but for middle school, Sellwood Middle is fairly good. I also love Environmental Middle School, which is a charter school. High School, I'd do everything I could to get my kid into Lincoln's IB program. PPS has open enrollment, so if you really want to live in one area and have your kid go to a different school, that is an option. I don't know a lot about it anymore, and I think the people who live within that school's zone get first choice, but it is an option if you really like a school but don't like or can't afford the area it's in.
Things in PPS are rapidly changing though. They're trying to close some schools, move some things around, etc. So right now I'd say sending your kid to Benson HS is a good move, but if some of the proposals I've heard are going to hurt Benson and I'm not sure I'd recommend it if those proposals go through. Cleveland and Wilson are good schools too.
All that said, be careful when looking at the report cards and reading the ratings done by newspapers, etc. As a teacher I can tell you they leave a LOT of information out. We often don't meet, and people go tsk tsk tsk and shake their heads at us. What they don't always know is that 40% of our population is ESL and sometimes we're having to force kids who've only lived in the country for a month or two to take a test in a language they can barely speak. Also, The Oregonian reported that our class sizes are 19:1. Hah! I had an average of 40 kids in class. Those reports leave out a LOT of information.
My amateur photo blog
We're in the Beaverton School District in Washington County. If we had a kid, our kid would go to Sunset HS. It's an awesome school district, but we're close enough to downtown that it's an easy commute.
Beaverton School District also offers some unique schools such as a Japanese immersion school, and the Rachel Carson school that has a very eco-conscious philosophy. Although I don't love suburbia, it's worth it for us to raise our (future) kid here because of the great public school opportunities.
Having lived in Portland almost all of my life, I can say with 100% certainty, I would never put my kid(s) in Portland Public Schools. If DH and I move back (we're moving next month to NYC) here, we'll either live in Lake Oswego so DD can go to their schools, or live in Milwaukie so we can enroll her into a private Waldorf school.
I am probably not helpful to you at all, because I'm a huge fan of the 'burbs and do not like most of Portland to live in
Some of the previous answers were spot-on, some I couldn't disagree with more. I am in my early 20s, and grew up and went to school in the Portland area, and have first hand experience with many of them. I would not go with the portland school district, but both the beaverton school district and lake oswego area are wonderful. Many areas of beaverton are beautiful but not-so-nice, but there are also huge, beautiful upper middle class areas that are a wonderful environment to raise a family in.
The only caution I would have with the Beaverton school district is avoid Meadow Park Middle School and Sunset high school (one earlier poster suggested it; I definitely wouldn't). Westview High School is a fabulous high school - in a good area, good teachers, good families.