PA ladies - school district question

penguingrrl · February 2014

Cart before horse for sure, but DH is currently at an interview for his top choice job and it's in PA (near Bethlehem/Allentown). I am so confused by school districts there, though! In the area I'm currently in (which is where I grew up) the towns are tiny (1-3 square miles usually) and each town is its own district, and around here the towns are so small there's 1 elementary and 1 middle or just 1 school period. So it's very easy to determine what school you would be zoned for because if you live in X town you go to X school and that pretty much can't change since there's no room for redevelopment and no rezoning possible.

I'm really confused because the districts I'm looking at seem to have some good schools and some only okay (and a few not so good), but I can't seem to find maps that would tell me what address is zoned to which school. Does it change by year or something?

Also, does anyone know anything about that area? I seem to be getting info based solely on test scores, which is far from the most important factor to me. I don't want a school that focuses on the test and leaves no time for science, history, art, music, creative thinking and gym. How do I get a real feel for a district from afar?

Thanks for any help you can offer!

Rink08 · February 2014

PM me. We moved into this area before DS1 started K last year and did quite a bit of research regarding the school districts. To answer one of your questions, yes the districts can be crazy regarding the areas. For instance, in one development, kids may be split into different school districts. When we looked at this house, the realtor wasn't sure which elementary school it was in and had to find out because we are within 7 minutes of two of them.

eaglesfan700 · February 2014

My BFF is having a house built there now and will move next year. They are moving specifically because of schools. I know the two areas she was looking at were Center Valley and Saucon Valley. I can't remember where they ended up buying, but I will find out. Both have good schools

penguingrrl · February 2014

eaglesfan700 said:

My BFF is having a house built there now and will move next year. They are moving specifically because of schools. I know the two areas she was looking at were Center Valley and Saucon Valley. I can't remember where they ended up buying, but I will find out. Both have good schools

Thanks so much!

penguingrrl · February 2014

Rink08 said:

PM me. We moved into this area before DS1 started K last year and did quite a bit of research regarding the school districts. To answer one of your questions, yes the districts can be crazy regarding the areas. For instance, in one development, kids may be split into different school districts. When we looked at this house, the realtor wasn't sure which elementary school it was in and had to find out because we are within 7 minutes of two of them.

Thanks! YGPM

penguingrrl · February 2014

LalaMama81 said:

I don't think any district redraws lines w/ regularity but technically they could be redrawn at any time.

I think you have a good lead on specific districts there - my guess is they're much bigger than what you are used to, some might be county sized, some might still be township/town based. Very few in PA will be a tiny district like yours now - one near us is like that, b/c the town is unincorporated. IME though, those much tinier districts don't nearly have the resources the larger ones do.

Thanks so much! It's early but I'm trying to amass what info I can

. So confusing compared to where I'm from and I don't want to pick the wrong district and move later because I don't want the girls switching schools too often and they'll be in 2nd and K next year!

Rink08 · February 2014

LalaMama81 said:
I don't think any district redraws lines w/ regularity but technically they could be redrawn at any time.

Yes, I should clarify that the district that we are currently in is rapidly expanding due to new homes and developments so additional elementary (and I believe middle) schools have been added over the last few years. There are currently 8 elementary schools for the district and the area that we live in is between two of them and is mostly developments. So when we were moving in, they could guarantee the school district but not the elementary school. At this point, the lines are drawn however, some developments are split between different elementary schools.

ETA: Replied to PM

penguingrrl · February 2014

ExpectantSteelerFan said:

I can't help with that specific area of PA, but I'll share my experience as we're moving to the suburbs of Pittsburgh. I just this week emailed my realtor and asked, how do I tell WHICH school within the district my kids would go to for each specific house, and her answer was, you have to call the district office and ask. Some districts have like 8 elementary schools, and they use home location as well as population of the school/size of the school to determine which one you'd go to. Def. not what I wanted to hear.

Ugh, that's stressful. So every rental we look at we'll need to call and ask? That just adds a ton of stress to an already stressful situation.

AimeeL85 · February 2014

We're not in that district so I don't know the specifics of it, but we do live very close to there (Nazareth area) and I had called the district just to make sure which of the 3 elementary schools we'd be zoned to (the one 3 minutes down the road, thankfully). Beyond elementary school, for our district, there is only 1 intermediate school, 1 middle school and 1 high school, so it's clear cut.

The person I spoke to had said usually they go to the closest one but there are exceptions, so it's definitely best to just call. I called because I was curious, but all of them had good ratings, so I wasn't really making a decision based on it.

We love it out here, by the way! You're currently in NJ if I remember right (I may be totally wrong on that)...I lived there my whole life before moving here in 2012.

penguingrrl · February 2014

AimeeL85 said:

We're not in that district so I don't know the specifics of it, but we do live very close to there (Nazareth area) and I had called the district just to make sure which of the 3 elementary schools we'd be zoned to (the one 3 minutes down the road, thankfully). Beyond elementary school, for our district, there is only 1 intermediate school, 1 middle school and 1 high school, so it's clear cut.

The person I spoke to had said usually they go to the closest one but there are exceptions, so it's definitely best to just call. I called because I was curious, but all of them had good ratings, so I wasn't really making a decision based on it.

We love it out here, by the way! You're currently in NJ if I remember right (I may be totally wrong on that)...I lived there my whole life before moving here in 2012.

You're in Nazareth? That's one of the districts we're looking at!

AimeeL85 · February 2014

penguingrrl said:

AimeeL85 said:

We're not in that district so I don't know the specifics of it, but we do live very close to there (Nazareth area) and I had called the district just to make sure which of the 3 elementary schools we'd be zoned to (the one 3 minutes down the road, thankfully). Beyond elementary school, for our district, there is only 1 intermediate school, 1 middle school and 1 high school, so it's clear cut.

The person I spoke to had said usually they go to the closest one but there are exceptions, so it's definitely best to just call. I called because I was curious, but all of them had good ratings, so I wasn't really making a decision based on it.

We love it out here, by the way! You're currently in NJ if I remember right (I may be totally wrong on that)...I lived there my whole life before moving here in 2012.

You're in Nazareth? That's one of the districts we're looking at!

Yep! Well, I'm technically in a small town next to it, but we're in the Nazareth Area School District, and the school district was a big reason we chose this area! I have never heard anything but amazing things from everyone since moving here. I'm also part of the Nazareth Area Moms Club which is great! Move here!

penguingrrl · February 2014

You don't know how good it is to hear that

. *If* DH gets this job (and it's a big if and we may not know until April or May) then Nazareth is our first choice of town. I saw my dream house in droves listed in our price range already (I have dreamed of owning a Victorian since I was 8 or 9 years old and there we could buy one that isn't falling down)!!! Even better if there's a SAHM I already "know" there to help me assimilate in

Thank you for all your info and help and I'll keep you posted!

AimeeL85 · February 2014

penguingrrl said:

You don't know how good it is to hear that . *If* DH gets this job (and it's a big if and we may not know until April or May) then Nazareth is our first choice of town. I saw my dream house in droves listed in our price range already (I have dreamed of owning a Victorian since I was 8 or 9 years old and there we could buy one that isn't falling down)!!! Even better if there's a SAHM I already "know" there to help me assimilate in Thank you for all your info and help and I'll keep you posted!

Nazareth is a great town!! My town is so small that most things we do (clubs, sports organizations etc) are part of Nazareth, including the schools of course. There's always so many family things going on, especially in warmer weather, and it's a nice historical town too. It's a really great place to raise a family!

penguingrrl · February 2014

AimeeL85 said:

penguingrrl said:

You don't know how good it is to hear that . *If* DH gets this job (and it's a big if and we may not know until April or May) then Nazareth is our first choice of town. I saw my dream house in droves listed in our price range already (I have dreamed of owning a Victorian since I was 8 or 9 years old and there we could buy one that isn't falling down)!!! Even better if there's a SAHM I already "know" there to help me assimilate in Thank you for all your info and help and I'll keep you posted!

Nazareth is a great town!! My town is so small that most things we do (clubs, sports organizations etc) are part of Nazareth, including the schools of course. There's always so many family things going on, especially in warmer weather, and it's a nice historical town too. It's a really great place to raise a family!

Fingers, toes and everything crossed lol! Just heard from DH and the interview was amazing and he really feels he would be happy there!!!

eaglesfan700 · February 2014

Penguin, that is only about an hour from the Philly area! Good luck!

penguingrrl · February 2014

Yes, not far from Philly at all! If we move there we'll have to do a Philly GTG

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