Park Hill District Schools (Parkville: fit in, real estate, apartments)

[anninkc]

Hi and thanks for any help. Our family will be moving to the area in a few months' time from overseas, so regrettably we can't do any weekend trips to check things out before the big move. As my husband's job will be at St Luke's North, we've narrowed down our proposed living area to Parkville and its surrounds. I'd like great city access for after hours arts/fun etc, so would probably rather be in the southeastern area of the Park Hill School District. Basically most of the schools fitting into the Lakeview Middle and Park Hill South High zones are the ones I'm looking at. If anyone has children in the elementary schools in this district, could you tell me if there's much difference in choice between the few available?? They're probably all fine, but before we start looking at any real estate, I was wondering if any have any red flags which would make you choose to NOT live in a particular elementary school zone?? Personally we are a very musical/artsy family - I presume all the schools would have at least a choir and instrumental band program etc. Also at least one of my kids will fall into the gifted category, however I'm not too worried about this (this one will finish elementary school within 18 months or so, anyway). I'm probably more worried about kids/families being pleasant and sociable/involved within the school community and would love a school that maximised outside play time if possible (my youngest hasn't started school yet and is very lively)!

I suppose the other point is that both my kids have July birthdays. I presume most people do send their kids to school being the youngest in the class (someone has to be) and not hold them back??? I see the cut-off for MO state schools is August 1st. This probably would only affect my youngest, anyway, as the older one will probably end up skipping up half a grade to fit in with her age cohort (we're coming from Australia where the school year ends in December, so it will be an awkward jump no matter what time of year you do it).

We previously lived in NE JoCo - Roeland Park - and enjoyed visiting Parkville, so are not entirely unfamiliar with the area in general. We haven't lived in KC for 5 years.

Thanks a lot.

PS I know there may be decent elementary schools in other nearby school districts, however the decent public high schools in other districts seem much further north etc., and I don't want to get that far away from downtown for living, so Park Hill schools look like a winner on paper (not interested in moving again in 3 to 4 years' time for high schools!).

[Okey Dokie]

I really can't address your school questions, but I sure can talk about being the youngest kid in the class. My birthday is in December, and back then, the cut off date was December 31. Obviously, I lived through it, but it always bugged me being one of the youngest. Especially in high school, it killed me having to wait to get my driver's license when all my friends had theirs. But, I did enjoy the year I turned 60, all my old grade school and high school friends on Facebook had their day of anguish and then I finally brought up the rear.

[ForeverRoyal]

Hey anninkc,
Just thought I'd post my thoughts and hopefully help you out a bit since no one else has yet.... I've lived in the park hill school district my whole life and now work for them as a matter of fact with they're before and after school program for Elementary school children (called "Adventure Club"). From a working for them point of view I can say that they treat their employees very well and that I think ultimately affects how the teachers treat the students in the classroom... I work at Chinn Elementary School and can say that there is definitely a wide range of income in the families in this schools boundaries. There's the new neighborhood of overland ridge with nice houses in the boundaries and also old run down apartments and neighborhoods as well... As far as the rest goes, they just built Tiffany Ridge Elementary leas than 5 years ago and man is it beautiful.... I myself went to Graden Elementary (the oldest and I'M most well preserved relic of the northland schools), and and talk very highly about the rest of the schools in the district. As far as middle and high schools are concerned, park hill South and Lakeview are the newest of the middle and high schools with Congress and Park hill- sometimes referred to as "North"- being the older ones. I myself went to the latter group but can say that Lakeview and South are very good schools as well (though I hated their guts when I was in high school during football season).... Hope I helped you out at least a little bit with this rather long post.... Hope you feel welcome to the area and hope you enjoy the great district Park Hill is! If you have any further questions or want to know more feel free to PM me!!
-Tyler-

[anninkc]

Thanks, Tyler. It's good to hear that school staff are looked after and that the area schools are so well-regarded