Walkable suburb/neighborhood with good schools (Minneapolis, Plymouth: 2015, middle schools, gated)

[CARas2020]

Originally Posted by UMN2BE

It's really, really difficult. One thing I've learned is that you can do all the reading and analysis you want, but unfortunately the best way to check school 'fit' is to actually send your kid there a year or two.

GreatSchools is a decent start - they usually gets the extremes correct (the schools rated 2/10 or worse, or 9/10 or better). It's the schools in the 5-8 range that require more examination. A school that is great may get penalized because of "equity" - not all groups performing the same, and gets a 5/10. This is totally irrelevant if your student is motivated and has good parental support.

The best approach IMO is to look at objective measures like AP course and extra-curricular offerings. These are probably the best indicator of the academic "caliber" of a school and can truly give your kid a leg-up when applying to college. Not offering AP Calculus BC IMO is a big red flag.

Test scores are hit-or-miss. Frequency of discipline issues is another statistics I wish were reported.

Thanks and I completely agree. The factors you listed will probably give a good overview. I really cannot wait for school to start. $ weeks from today. I should review her school on great Schools and see what it says she has been going there since 7th grade.

[Moirarose]

Morningside in Edina is very walkable. As long as you don't want a 3,000 sq. ft. new build, you should be able to find something in your budget there. Edina schools are exceptionally good.

[Moirarose]

Originally Posted by UMN2BE

Don't move to MPLS or St Paul. The public school districts are jokes. The "flagship" Southwest High in Minneapolis is approximately as good as an average or even slightly-below-average suburban school. School boundaries can change and probably will if one school starts overperforming. Everything hyper-politicized towards one direction. Political correctness and "equity" comes first, which means bringing all schools down to the same low standard rather than focusing on improving bad schools. Then you have insanity like the defund the police movement, where a bunch of unemployed artists and "community leaders" and professional activists are driving major decisions in the city - do you really want to pay $700k for a house in that area?

Prioritize your kids education first and foremost even if that means foregoing "walkability" which is a joke even in the most walkable neighborhoods in Minnesota. This ain't Tokyo or Hong Kong bro. And there's the whole winter thing BTW which makes walking to buy groceries a headache several months of the year.

My suggestion would be Edina, as there's a lot in the city itself, and it's close to a ton of stuff as well.

Shoreview or Arden Hills are two other options I didn't see mentioned, which are part of Mounds View district and your kids would go to Mounds View Senior High, a flagship public school in MN. It's super suburban, however. Woodbury, Wayzata, and Minnetonka are also excellent choices.

I'd have to agree. I speak as someone who lived in SW MPLS for 18 years. Loved pretty much everything about the city. I could even tolerate the uptick in crime - but Minneapolis Public Schools are really struggling. St. Paul too - and the pandemic really showed the cracks. The difference in experiences of MPS kids with suburban kids - it was brutal. We couldn't in good conscience keep our kids in Minneapolis schools. For what it's worth - I don't think for a second that the teachers outside MPLS are any better; it's simply a matter of resources (and the shambles that is the MPS school board, but that's for a different thread.) We very reluctantly decided to leave in April, and sold our house in about 15 minutes. We have just bought in East Edina and are very excited for our kids to start school soon.

[UMN2BE]

Originally Posted by Moirarose

I'd have to agree. I speak as someone who lived in SW MPLS for 18 years. Loved pretty much everything about the city. I could even tolerate the uptick in crime - but Minneapolis Public Schools are really struggling. St. Paul too - and the pandemic really showed the cracks. The difference in experiences of MPS kids with suburban kids - it was brutal. We couldn't in good conscience keep our kids in Minneapolis schools. For what it's worth - I don't think for a second that the teachers outside MPLS are any better; it's simply a matter of resources (and the shambles that is the MPS school board, but that's for a different thread.) We very reluctantly decided to leave in April, and sold our house in about 15 minutes. We have just bought in East Edina and are very excited for our kids to start school soon.

It's not just resources, but everything is on such a smaller scale. Most school districts have one, maybe two high schools? So a suburban school board member will in general 'represent' far fewer students/families than one in Saint Paul or Minneapolis. Suburban parents also tend to be a lot more involved and willing to go to bat for their kids. There's more accountability and visibility. Unfortunately, serving on a big city school board is often a stepping stone into a political career or other government job, not so much at a random suburban school.

It's insanity that someone owning a $1m+ home in SW MPLS has to put up with such awful schools while a $250k rambler in Mounds View gets you a top-tier school district.

Congratulations on the move, you made a great decision for your family.

[Moirarose]

Originally Posted by UMN2BE

It's not just resources, but everything is on such a smaller scale. Most school districts have one, maybe two high schools? So a suburban school board member will in general 'represent' far fewer students/families than one in Saint Paul or Minneapolis. Suburban parents also tend to be a lot more involved and willing to go to bat for their kids. There's more accountability and visibility. Unfortunately, serving on a big city school board is often a stepping stone into a political career or other government job, not so much at a random suburban school.

It's insanity that someone owning a $1m+ home in SW MPLS has to put up with such awful schools while a $250k rambler in Mounds View gets you a top-tier school district.

Congratulations on the move, you made a great decision for your family.

Thank you - and yes, I agree with everything you said.

[Cruz Azul Guy]

Originally Posted by UMN2BE

It's not just resources, but everything is on such a smaller scale. Most school districts have one, maybe two high schools? So a suburban school board member will in general 'represent' far fewer students/families than one in Saint Paul or Minneapolis. Suburban parents also tend to be a lot more involved and willing to go to bat for their kids. There's more accountability and visibility. Unfortunately, serving on a big city school board is often a stepping stone into a political career or other government job, not so much at a random suburban school.

It's insanity that someone owning a $1m+ home in SW MPLS has to put up with such awful schools while a $250k rambler in Mounds View gets you a top-tier school district.

Congratulations on the move, you made a great decision for your family.

If you don’t mind sharing I’m curious to know how you concluded that SW Minneapolis had “such awful schools”?

[the_gruffalo]

I've been following this thread with interest still, and I have a bunch of areas I'm going to look at when I visit Minnesota next time. Now, I know I said we are thinking of moving there to be close to family - but family cannot be the only people we know. How easy (or difficult) is it to make friends in Minnesota, esp. considering the fact that we are of Indian origin? Most of our friends are people we met through our children's school. If we do move to MN, our kids will be old enough that we don't get involved as much in school. For instance, are there clubs that we could join, based on interests? I've read a bit about Minnesota nice, and what I read wasn't always positive.


Edited to say: we have friends from different nationalities and cultures, and while that is unique to the place I am in, it would be nice to meet different people anywhere we go.

[my54ford]

Did you notice this?

https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2021/...sing-shortage/

[wamer27]

Originally Posted by my54ford

Did you notice this?

https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2021/...sing-shortage/

Somebody disproved this on local CBS Facebook page, they used actual current real estate data, not census.

[the_gruffalo]

Originally Posted by my54ford

Did you notice this?

https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2021/...sing-shortage/

I'm not too worried about this - yet. I'm planning for the near future, but not the immediate future. I'm more concerned right now about the effect of uprooting my family - basically, the age old question of is it worth it? We like new experiences, so it should be a plus - but still ..