Gifted program and school transfer - moving to SLC (Draper: house, tech jobs)

[movetoslc]

I never looked into private schools, thank you for sharing the details.

[kavm]

I also mentioned positive feedback for Rowland Hall earlier, but cheap it is not.

[movetoslc]

@kavm, sorry I missed on Rowland Hall part as went straight to research on Davidson Academy! Thank you for the feedback! We may go with public or public charter school as two kids tuition adds up to about 50+k , also from past experience the private schools seem to have continuous fund raisers and parents are pressured into contributing for the fund raisers.

[kavm]

Understood. The price tag is quite high.

[parentologist]

As a member of a religious minority (white appearance) living in SLC for about 5 years, I found that EVERY SINGLE CHILD who had grown up in my community, and who had the ability to do so, got out of SLC for college, and would have been thrilled if their parents had moved elsewhere when they were younger. It can be tough for the kids, although within SLC it's not as much of an issue now. And your children's appearance identifies them as "other". Personally, I think that you should keep looking. It would be one thing if a fantastic career opportunity or proximity to family were drawing you, but it's not. You've chosen SLC for other reasons. I suggest that you connect with South Asian people there, lots of them, and ask their teenagers what life has been like for them - lots of them, from different families, encouraging them to speak honestly. It sounds as if you and your spouse are introverts, which is fine once you're married, but your children need social lives to be happy, and they may have a very tough time of it in the suburbs of SLC.

[Katzpur]

@movetoslc,

After reading all of these comments, you're probably already starting to reconsider your move to Salt Lake. If that's the case, please don't. Some of the naysayers, by the way, are probably not even speaking from personal experience but from hearsay. I am white. I was raised in the Sugarhouse area of Salt Lake, way back in the 1950s (yeah, I'm old). When I was a kid, we didn't care what color skin the other kids had. One of the most popular kids in my grade was a little Asian girl. All of my friends weren't LDS either. That didn't matter to us and it didn't matter to our parents either. I raised my own two children (who are half Hispanic) in Cottonwood Heights. Their groups of friends were quite mixed, too, especially when it came to religion. I have a really cute picture of my daughter when she was in sixth grade. It was taken on Halloween. She was with her two best friends; one was white and the other one black. On my street alone, there are Caucasians, Middle-easterners, Asians and Hispanics. We're all very friendly with each other.

I'm sure some kids do have problems fitting in, but this can happen anywhere in the country. You guys will do fine here.

[grandisp]

Originally Posted by movetoslc

@kavm, sorry I missed on Rowland Hall part as went straight to research on Davidson Academy! Thank you for the feedback! We may go with public or public charter school as two kids tuition adds up to about 50+k , also from past experience the private schools seem to have continuous fund raisers and parents are pressured into contributing for the fund raisers.

Actually public school has WAY more fundraisers than private in our experience. Private asks once a year. They are looking for participation whether that be $10 or $10000. Higher participation in the fundraiser means more access to grants etc. We always give, a small amount, and they don’t ask again til the next year. Of course if you want to be more involved you can. Public we have this sale and that sale and if your kid sells x,y,z they get a crappy toy that is a piece of junk, and ‘PTA’ fees and all kinds of bus/field trip/art/music/library etc fees that are voluntary but ...you know they need the money so you pay.

[parentologist]

Originally Posted by Katzpur

@movetoslc,

After reading all of these comments, you're probably already starting to reconsider your move to Salt Lake. If that's the case, please don't. Some of the naysayers, by the way, are probably not even speaking from personal experience but from hearsay. I am white. I was raised in the Sugarhouse area of Salt Lake, way back in the 1950s (yeah, I'm old). When I was a kid, we didn't care what color skin the other kids had. One of the most popular kids in my grade was a little Asian girl. All of my friends weren't LDS either. That didn't matter to us and it didn't matter to our parents either. I raised my own two children (who are half Hispanic) in Cottonwood Heights. Their groups of friends were quite mixed, too, especially when it came to religion. I have a really cute picture of my daughter when she was in sixth grade. It was taken on Halloween. She was with her two best friends; one was white and the other one black. On my street alone, there are Caucasians, Middle-easterners, Asians and Hispanics. We're all very friendly with each other.

I'm sure some kids do have problems fitting in, but this can happen anywhere in the country. You guys will do fine here.

But Katzpur, from your tagline, it appears you were/are a member of the dominant religion. Your experience as someone on the inside of the majority, looking out, is not the same as that of someone on the outside, and we as adults, especially as older adults, cannot speak to the experience of children and teens being raised today in the Greater Salt Lake area, outside of the Mormon church, and especially those who are not white. The best information that this family could get would be from high-school aged children from their ethnic group who have been raised in SLC or in the surrounding areas that they are considering.

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by parentologist

But Katzpur, from your tagline, it appears you were/are a member of the dominant religion. Your experience as someone on the inside of the majority, looking out, is not the same as that of someone on the outside, and we as adults, especially as older adults, cannot speak to the experience of children and teens being raised today in the Greater Salt Lake area, outside of the Mormon church, and especially those who are not white. The best information that this family could get would be from high-school aged children from their ethnic group who have been raised in SLC or in the surrounding areas that they are considering.

It goes without saying that the perspective of high-school aged children with ethnic backgrounds would be more relevant than either yours or mine, but how many of them are going to be posting on this thread.

All I can do is speak from my own experience. So I'll just say it again: As a LDS kid growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, I had plenty of non-LDS friends throughout my elementary, junior high and high school years, and nobody I hung out with cared at all what anybody's religion was. Our parents didn't either. Non-LDS kids held student body offices and were some of the biggest names on the school football and basketball teams. You seem to be implying that my experience was atypical. I don't think it was.

I know the same was true when I raised my own kids.

[movetoslc]

@Parentologist , thank you for your reply and I appreciate your point of view. We checked with few Indian (South Asian) families and one of them is living in SLC for more than 20 years with mom being a teacher at public elementary school. After talking to them we are even more determined for our move as they all had to say nice things about SLC. Of course the common theme is to stay in east side of the SLC county so we will focus on that area only, they also mentioned that the area is becoming more diverse so things may look different by the time kids get to high school. We are introverts and don't have much of a social life, that is true. The place we live in right now does not have much to offer for our interest, the kids are interested in music, chess, hiking etc.

We have been living in deep south for more than 15 years as a minority, our kids are only South Asian kids in each of their class so living in SLC may bring diverse experience for us and them. We are aware of the possibility of them moving away and are ready for them to go live wherever their lives take them, it will be the case no matter where in the world we live. Once they get their wings, they can fly away wherever the wind takes them. We have done the same, so can't stop them. All we are looking for is a family oriented communities that invest in education, health, and there are job options if they decide to live near by. Even if we are working from home, we should be able to find job easily in case we loose ours. We have done pretty extensive research when it comes to our next move in the US. We also looked into other cities - states, but SLC still checks out for most of our requirements and can't wait to make this big move!

I really appreciate everyone's input, thank you so much for all your help and suggestions!