Family moving to Fresno area - seeking advice (Pasadena, Clovis: rentals, crime)

[FreedomBelle]

My spouse very much wants to accept a job offer from Fresno State.

We currently live on the east coast, however, and neither us is familiar with the Central Valley. I'm feeling overwhelmed trying to identify places where we might want to live should things move forward; I'm hoping for some guidance from the forums.

A bit about us: we are a family of two adults, two kids (3 and 6 years old), and two dogs. Older child is in public school (kindergarten), younger child is in preschool. Good schools are very important to us. While we do look at test scores, we also want to know about curriculum and extra-curricular offerings. In other words, great scores don't necessarily mean a good fit for us, and average scores aren't a deal breaker if there are other positives. We probably will try to identify schools that we like and search for housing in those areas.

Spouse is a cranky commuter, so we need to try to keep the commute under 30 minutes (one way) if there're no public transportation (I assume there is not).

Ideal neighborhood: Would be family friendly (walk to school, has sidewalks, offers public parks and maybe access to trails?) and walkable, but still have space to park a car close to residence. While I've lived in large cities and been careful, but not alarmist, about crime in the past, parenthood has made me more cautious when it comes to safety, particularly after dark.

Ideal house: 3 br, 1.5 baths, around 2000 sq feet? Fenced yard and off-street parking would be really nice. I'd love to rent for a year (I have asthma and allergies; I'm worried about air quality). We currently rent since spouse has fixed-term fellowship, and pay $1600/month (not including utilities). We're willing to consider buying, but it makes me nervous because I've no idea what I might be allergic to out there. I've found that I just really need to live somewhere to find out what will make me sick.

Any advice? Thanks in advance!

[Senno]

Northeast Fresno seems to be the place to you.

Close to Woodward Park and convenient shopping at River Park, and within Clovis Unified School District, which is superior to Fresno Unified. Clovis unified offers Campus Club for after school care and has sports programs starting in grade 4.

My niece and nephew attend Lincoln Elementary, which is a very good school. A school like Liberty is also good. I believe they both feed into Kastner Junior High and Clovis West High School.

The home listed here is about 500 square feet smaller, but in a gated neighborhood.

The growth in Fresno has been to the northeast and northwest with new development being predominant.

Property Results - Community Rental - Northeast Fresno

Commute to Fresno State should be fine, with freeway 41 or surface streets easily available. Not more than 15-20 minutes if you catch the red lights. Busses are available, but the actual scheduling might be the problem.

You might also consider Clovis, which has an easy commute by Fresno State on Highway 168 or surface streets. The Buchanan High School area is nice, for instance.

The air can be a concern, of course.

Something like this seems good:

http://www.ajrmanagement.com/listing...96E1ACAB.shtml

(No, I don't work for the rental agency)

[Senno]

With crime in Fresno, generally stay north. The further north you go the safer you are.

Fresno Crime Watch

Same roughly holds true for Clovis.

http://spotcrime.com/ca/clovis

[imcurious]

Don't do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BeauCharles]

Just makes sure the home you buy is in the Clovis Unified School District. That encompasses the city of Clovis and parts of Northeast Fresno and is very good. If you choose that area your spouse's commute to CSUF will be very short - like 15-20 minutes. Finding a home within your budget will be no problem and you'll probably be pleasantly surprised compared to the East Coast (as far as cost goes). Much of the metro area is quite nice and its near three Sierra Nevada national parks.

Air quality is another issue. While its not good, its not much worse than some large Eastern cities (I've read Philly is quite bad for instance). Its also very dry much of the year - only 11.5 inches of rain a year on average. You may not have allergies to much around there compared to where you're currently at (it does take time to develop allergies in a new place - especially when its so totally different in climate, agriculture and native and ornamental flora). Good luck!

[FreedomBelle]

Thank you all for your replies!

Do you know whether all of the elementary schools within Clovis Unified follow the same curriculum, or does approach / content that vary by school? For example, We've lived in some districts where all of the elementary schools pretty much follow the same curriculum and and lived in others were even at that age, there are magnet schools (e.g. arts, language, STEM).

Also, what about preschools? I see that some public schools offer preschool for four-year-olds, and I was wondering what people think of those programs.

[BeauCharles]

I can't really say - best bet would be to call Clovis Unified's office to inquire about curriculum and policies from school to school. But again, its much, much better than Fresno Unified (and those are pretty much your only two options in the area within your husband's commute time limit). Clovis Unified School District

[mstnghu2]

Originally Posted by imcurious

Don't do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posts like this are always so well thought out and helpful to the OP.

[Senno]

Originally Posted by FreedomBelle

Thank you all for your replies!

Do you know whether all of the elementary schools within Clovis Unified follow the same curriculum, or does approach / content that vary by school? For example, We've lived in some districts where all of the elementary schools pretty much follow the same curriculum and and lived in others were even at that age, there are magnet schools (e.g. arts, language, STEM).

Not sure about Clovis Unified as far as magnet schools. Their school system is generally better than Fresno Unified, with the kids at Fresno Magnet schools generally competing with the best Clovis Unified Schools. The other way to look at it is that Clovis Unified educates everyone that shows up, and you'd better be accepted to a magnet school to get that education generally in Fresno Unified, to compete with the average Clovis Unified student, at least.

Clovis Unified has a history of passing bond measures to fund schools (and generally has newer, more well funded facilities), Fresno Unified doesn't. Clovis has many schools recognized as Distinguished Elementary Schools, Fresno Unified zero.

The schools in CUSD pretty well follow the same curriculum for elementary at least. When I checked the websites last night, the books available at Lincoln and Liberty were the same.

That said, Fresno Unified offers many magnets.

Fresno Unified offers Bullard T.A.L.E.N.T. K-8 (In the Fig Garden area) which teaches arts and music, then the child could attend Roosevelt School of the Performing Arts (southeast Fresno, otherwise best avoided, unless attending for the magnet) for high school (Audra MDonald, most famous grad, not promising your children will be little Audra McDonalds though.)

There are many other Magnet schools available depending on interest.

If you find yourself interested in Fresno outside the Clovis Unified School district area in NE Fresno, look in the northwest (north of Shaw at least)or Fig Garden (generally no sidewalks, unincorporated island in the middle of Fresno. Whole Foods is at Fig Garden village if that's important). Areas of Fig Garden south of Shaw are good, but you would feed into Fresno High School (unless the child is accepted into the International Baccalaureate magnet program, I suppose), which is not as good as Clovis High Schools.

Parts of Northwest and West Fresno are in Central Unified School District. The homes are nice in the far reaches of NW Fresno (around Herndon Ave.) but I'm not so sure about the overall academics.

Charter schools are also available.

Also, what about preschools? I see that some public schools offer preschool for four-year-olds, and I was wondering what people think of those programs.

My niece and nephew attended private pre-schools near their home in NE Fresno. Niece actually attended kindergarden at the pre-school, going to Lincoln in the first grade. My sister liked the conveniece since it was one dropoff for both kids, and they both are straight A's at Lincoln. Don't have specifics on curriculum for you. Actually can't remember the name either, would have to ask my sister...

For background I've lived many places around CA, but lived in Fresno most of my life. I live in the Sunnyside area (unincorporated SE Fresno) of Fresno and attended Fresno elementary schools, and Roosevelt High School. When I attended Roosevelt it was bussed into to handle desegregation. That ended my sophomore year with the opening of the Performing Arts Magnet on campus. If my kids were young I'd be in the Clovis Unified District.

We aren't a million person metro area, and the commutes just aren't that bad, no matter where you live. People on yelp complain about the design of the freeway system (it's not looped, and Herndon is generally used on the north end to go east/west quickly, unless you don't mind going south 15 miles out of your way from NW Fresno to Clovis). Herndon isn't known as the Herndon Speedway for nothing and I'd bet those people havent commuted in LA County on the 10 to 210 to get to Pasadena. It's all relative.

In case I'm accused of being to pro-Fresno, I present todays air from a local allergist:

Baz Allergy, Asthma & Sinus Center | Welcome

[FreedomBelle]

Originally Posted by Senno

In case I'm accused of being to pro-Fresno, I present todays air from a local allergist:

Baz Allergy, Asthma & Sinus Center | Welcome

LOL and . Thanks for the additional information.