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Thinking of biting the bullet...
and moving to washington county.
So we are currently in the process of selling our TH in South Fayette. We have had about 15 showings, 1 offer (that we couldn't agree on price plus it was contingent on buyer selling her house.. which was still marketed at FSBO), we are optimistic that the right buyer is going to be coming through soon. Fingers crossed.
When we put the house on the market, we just assumed that we would move to a single family in South Fayette. We both grew up in SF, currently live in SF, and I guess already started to imagine our kids going to SF. So it was a no brainer, find a home in SF. So we were leaning towards building, we wanted it to be our own.. So that leaves us a Ryan plan in SF and a new heartland plan that they plan on opeing late Fall.
Now that we are in the process we started to consider Washington County (more specifically Canon Mac SD. So we tried to hold off from physically going to see anything because we didn't want to fall in love with something and not be able to get it... anyways, within the past week we went to a Heartland Plan in Cecil just to get an idea of the homes.
After going to that plan and crunching the numbers, I think we in our heart know that we would have to settle on a house to stay in South Fayette (more so if we are dead set on wanting a Heartland Home). If we bite the bullet and move to Washington County we could essentially afford our dream home, but it will change our "dream" of our kids going to South Fayette.
If we had no kids already, this would be a no-brainer (even if kids were a possibility in the future) we would probably just move to Washington county. Our families think we are crazy to not move to Washington County.
I guess now we really need to decide...in the long run... will an education at SF really provide more opportunities then Canon-Mac for our children? I think it is soley up to the child and their personality not necessarily the school.
My question is, when deciding where to live... how did you research school?
Re: Thinking of biting the bullet...
I don't have roots here...but school district was something we considered some while looking for land. We had an area that we wanted to be in, with a few school districts we'd never consider. Everything else was fair game.
While I think school district is important, I also think that parental involvement and the child themselves plays a huge rule in determining their sucess.
We happened to find land in a great school district (West A), which happened to be my DH's alma mater.
With that said, from what I hear Canon Mac is a great district. The director of DD's old daycare's son switched from Peters to Canon Mac in HS (they moved) and I remember her saying she liked Canon Mac better and thought they offered more.
Distance from work was a heavier deciding factor for us. We both had done long commutes for years, and were through with it.
If you want to research this is a link to the School Guide in the Pittsburgh Business Times. http://www2.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/events/2012/school_guide/index.html
We also had an idea of which districts we did not want, but were pretty open when it came to districts that were "good." As far as I'm aware CM is a good district, but not being from that area I'm not aware of how it compares to SF.
I think district is a consideration (even if you don't have kids, b/c it impacts your resale), but not the only one. We definitely also considered what we could afford in terms of our house, taxes, commutes, nearby ammenities, proximity to family, etc.
I can't offer any opinion on the disctricts yo uare talking about, since I've been in the Northern areas since we moved here, but I wanted to ditto what Amy said. We currently live in the Ambridge S.D. (which does not rank high at all), BUT recent graduates of the HS have gone on to Notre Dame, Westminster, and Allegheny College - all great schools, to name a few.
That all said, we chose to do the parochial route in another school district - one of the main reasons being smaller classrooms and that it works out best for DH and I logistically (the school offer after school care). Also, with North Catholic HS moving to Cranberry, we know that they should have a strong academic future there.
We hopefully will be moving within the next year to something bigger, and newer, but the area we live in - you can't beat the prices right now on new builds and the taxes are lower. Our current house, if located in Cranberry Twp., would be at least $40K more - with half the yard. So, we are considering building in our current area or going further North into Zelie/Harmony area. It all depends on how my job transitions; right now it's leaning towards going remote at least 50% of the time. If that plays out, then I can consider going further from town; but I personally can't do a longer commute 5x a week.
I guess my point is - there are many factors to consider. You need to figure out what's the most important to you and your family and work it out. Good luck in your decision!!
PS: Coming from someone who's family is now growing again, quite by surprise, I wouldn't compromise on the house!
My three sons!
A district is what you make of it. Better districts usuallly have better parental involvement in the child's home and school life. Kids succeed in school when parents make school a priority.
ETA: I speak from experience. I worked in a district that had a line dividing the haves/have nots. I worked in Special Ed. The kids whose parents were involved and gave a crap about school were successful. The ones whose parents couldn't even be bothered to show up to an IEP meeting or make sure their kids went to school, not so much. Education starts at home with expectations and a parent that values an education as a way to change your situation or station in life.
This is so true! My district has a bad rep. In fact, I bet most people would tell you they wouldn't send their kids there. But, so far, we've had nothing but great experiences. But, I am very involved in the school, we make Noah take school seriously, etc. It makes a world of a difference!
Exactly, and ditto a lot of PP's. I went to a district in Washington County (Trinity) that, when compared to other schools might rank "low" (I think it's maybe in the 40's) but I like to think I came out ok
But-my parents were involved, they expected me to do well in school and would have been willing to put the time and effort in to make it better if I didn't do well. When we were house hunting, district was important to us, but we also knew that we didn't HAVE to have one of the very top districts in the area to be able to provide our children with the opportunity to succeed.
ETA-I just checked on the site linked above, Trinity is #48.
Jake - 1.15.08
Liam - 5.17.11
I agree with this totally and completely.
I want to add one more thought, too. We bought our house before we had kids and we bought it with the expectation that we would stay in it for as long as we live in Pittsburgh. At this point, we would probably only leave Pittsburgh if one of us got a job in another city. So if that doesn't happen and we stay in the house at least until we retire, we'll be in the house about 40 years - three times as long as the time our kids will spend going to public school.
By that account, the length of our commute, house cost, taxes, enjoyment of neighborhood, etc are just as important as the school district. I wouldn't choose to buy a house somewhere choosing a school district over everything else, unless we planned to move after the kids graduated.
ITA! We are in an 'okay' school district, and although we may be moving before Mason starts school, I really don't have any major concerns if we were to end up there because I know both DH and I will be involved and present in their education. Ironically, I am more concerned if we end up in one of the best schools in the area - it's highly ranked, but so enormous that I feel like my kids would actually have limited opportunity there vs. a smaller, lesser ranked district.
What year did you graduate from SF? That is where I (and DH!) graduated from!
I think you (and everyone else!) are correct when you say that the success of education is significantly based on the foundation at home. Also, I have heard some good things about Cannon Mac. (My sis substitute taught there for a while and DH does some work for them.) I would look for a house you love, and trust that your LO's could be successful either.
I think people get overly concerned with school district when like pp said parental involvement counts for a ton. And we are talking about canon Mac which is a good school. They are in the 20s on that rank so I wouldn't be concerned. What does SF really offer that you think you would need? It sounds like you are just more unsure because it is new.
For us we bought our house before we had dd. we had a couple people comment on the school district. We live in Ny and there are some amazing ones near us. But those areas are of course super expensive. I don't want to kill us financially for that. And good districts can have their own problems. I know some of them because they are expensive areas that there is a lot of keeping up with the joneses. School sadly is more than just school work and I didnt want that mentality. Not to mention the good schools are very large in our area which I dislike. . In the end I think our district is good and with our involvement I am sure dd will be fine.
Also from my own experience my SD is listed at high 70s. I am functioning fine :-). I have a masters degree. I know people with all kinds of education and those who went to amazing colleges (MIT for one!) and there are kids who didn't graduate. While I don't think our district was amazing it was fine. We had AP classes and plenty of opportunities. There were other better SD in the area at the time and honestly I wouldn't really have wanted to go to them because of other issues. Personally I think every SD has their pros and cons.
Another thing to consider...will this be your forever home? Because your kids won't be in school forever. I mentioned in another thread about houses that my parents moved to their house when I was 4 and they still live there 14 years after I graduated high school. They've lived there just as long with me in school as out of it. While SD is an important factor I wouldn't base my decision mainly on that especially if the SD is good as it is. 24th is not bad. If it was at the bottom then I would think differently