[hayat-zweena]

Hello there,

My husband landed a job offer in LV and he will be moving there in a month. My kid and I will be joining him later. I have been doing lot of readings about the area (I personally never visited) for neighborhoods, public schools, weather, safety.

The job offer is for $75K - $80K in Spring Valley area. We would like to rent for a up to a year, before we decide if we would like to buy a home in the area. Starting with renting a 2 Bedrooms/ 2 baths apartment (or Townhouse).

If you could help me answer these questions:

- What are the best Public “Middle” Schools? I can’t find online ratings for Middle schools in the area, which is not the case for Elementary or High School.

- What neighborhoods should we look for good Public Middle schools? Rent Budget $1000-$1400. Hubby willing to commute up to 30-40 mn especially to be close to good schools

- is admission to charter schools with placements tests? Or just lottery?

- As plan B option: Are there any affordable Private schools, with a diverse population.

- In term of cost of living: can a family of three live comfortably with a $80K in the metro area?

Hopefully, I will be able to land an office job ($40K+) when I move there to help increase our household income.

Thank you in advance

[08grad]

Use Schooldigger instead of Greatschools. Schooldigger give you a table of all the SBAC proficiency rates for each school and you can sort accordingly.

The best public middle schools are in Summerlin (Rogich) and Henderson (Webb and Miller). Hyde Park is a good magnet option. There is not a noticeable difference between the top schools (Rogich/Webb/Miller) and their adjacent schools (Fertitta/Mannion/Greenspun). It's far more important to make sure your children are in the accelerated classes instead of the regular classes, than to get them into a specific school.

Faith Lutheran is a good option for a private middle school. Every school has diversity. The whitest schools in the valley are only 60% white. CCSD prevents schools from becoming too white by allowing non-white students zoning variances to attend white schools through their "majority-to-minority" policy.

80k/year is more than enough to live comfortably here, although home prices have doubled in 6 years so it's not like what it once was. Good middle school zones will cost you 300k for a house, add 50k for a pool.

[JonathanLB]

Yeah $80K a year would go far I would say, but if I were you guys I’d head north of Spring Valley. Wow that area was unimpressive, I thought it stunk personally. Better off living closer to the middle of Summerlin and commuting down to that boring area for work. I am sure the people living there will rush to defend it but any time you can stand on top of an IKEA and throw a rock and hit a thrift store or a Walmart you know you’re in the crappy area. Safe, but crappy.

[hayat-zweena]

Thank you to you both for your inputs. I appreciate the Schooldigger tip, it’ll be a very helpful tip.

Comparing these 3 Middle Schools (one in Summerlin -Rogich-) and the other two (Webb & Miller) in Henderson , I believe (since it looks like they are close more to McDonald Ranch and Seven Hills. Are these areas considered the town of Henderson too?

What are the differences/similarities between these two school zones? One in the North, The other in the south… Summerlin vs Henderson (McDonald Ranch and Seven Hills ) … is there a big difference in term of rent price? (2Br/2b)? the quality of buildings? Amenities? Home prices for sale maybe in late 2019/2020… are one area safer than the other? Which one has easier commute, less traffic to/from Spring Valley Area? And which one is more diverse? (We are Caucasians North-Africans, and do not speak Spanish)

[Code Stemi]

Originally Posted by JonathanLB

Yeah $80K a year would go far I would say, but if I were you guys I’d head north of Spring Valley. Wow that area was unimpressive, I thought it stunk personally. Better off living closer to the middle of Summerlin and commuting down to that boring area for work. I am sure the people living there will rush to defend it but any time you can stand on top of an IKEA and throw a rock and hit a thrift store or a Walmart you know you’re in the crappy area. Safe, but crappy.

Jonathan has never lived in Vegas and doesn't know a thing about the Spring Valley area. Disregard this advice. I live near IKEA and know this for a fact.
There are some very good areas and schools in Spring Valley and it's more affordable than Summerlin is.

Summerlin will have a shorter commute to Spring Valley area. its about 10-15 minutes. Henderson to Spring Valley can be 20-25 min commute.

[Clarkcty]

Summerlin people, get rid of the grass in your neighborhood, on the sidewalks, get rid of the trees and plants in the median and put some beautiful mettalic sculptures instead. Those don't need WATER we are living in a DESERT not some tropical island! You people are WASTING precious LITTLE water we have in the desert!

[JonathanLB]

Originally Posted by chahunt

Jonathan has never lived in Vegas and doesn't know a thing about the Spring Valley area. Disregard this advice. I live near IKEA and know this for a fact.
There are some very good areas and schools in Spring Valley and it's more affordable than Summerlin is.

Summerlin will have a shorter commute to Spring Valley area. its about 10-15 minutes. Henderson to Spring Valley can be 20-25 min commute.

You don’t have to. It takes less than 5 minutes to realize what a pile of crap Spring Valley is compared to Summerlin. The total mediocrity of that area harms the property values of South Summerlin it’s so depressing. Go see it for yourself if you don’t believe me. I’ve been to Spring Valley many times and own part of a property there. It’s a safe, fine area, and it’s cheaper for a reason - because it’s not nice.

[Rhaethe]

I suppose it comes down to what qualifies as nice in the eyes of the beholder. Safe and fine, with access to things, without lots of garbage, litter, and gruginess could be nice. Nice doesn't have to mean obvious visual signs of affluence.

For example, here in metro Atlanta, Buckhead and Johns Creek is often touted as one of the nicest most afluent areas. It costs a pretty penny to live there. I personally, however, dont think it is as nice as say Dunwoody, or Chamblee, or Decatur, which cost less, even though they all have the same access to the same things. Other than schooling districts. And that is what drives demand and cost to areas here ... and most anywhere really. Other than schools, the main difference in the areas are the look/feel of the types of house built and the types of cars driving around in them and parked in driveways.

Me, myself, I simply don't require the trappings of affluence surrounding me at all times for me to consider a place "nice". If its safe, not dirty, and has a nice "feel" when you drive through, I think it is perfectly nice. But that is me. Others' mileage will vary.

~C

[08grad]

Originally Posted by hayat-zweena

Thank you to you both for your inputs. I appreciate the Schooldigger tip, it’ll be a very helpful tip.

Comparing these 3 Middle Schools (one in Summerlin -Rogich-) and the other two (Webb & Miller) in Henderson , I believe (since it looks like they are close more to McDonald Ranch and Seven Hills. Are these areas considered the town of Henderson too?

What are the differences/similarities between these two school zones? One in the North, The other in the south… Summerlin vs Henderson (McDonald Ranch and Seven Hills ) … is there a big difference in term of rent price? (2Br/2b)? the quality of buildings? Amenities? Home prices for sale maybe in late 2019/2020… are one area safer than the other? Which one has easier commute, less traffic to/from Spring Valley Area? And which one is more diverse? (We are Caucasians North-Africans, and do not speak Spanish)

MacDonald Ranch and Seven Hills are parts of the City of Henderson.

Both Summerlin and Henderson are the most amenity-rich areas of the city. I give Summerlin the edge as they have the new 51s ballpark, City National Arena, and Red Rock Canyon.

Summerlin is building new homes in the west. They'll continue to build into the mountains. Henderson is doing the same in the SW part of town near the M Resort.

Spring Valley is very big and even borders Summerlin on it's western parts, so it's hard to give a traffic estimate. Summerlin will be a 5-10 minute shorter commute, depending on the part of Spring Valley.

[mahjqueen]

I raised my kids in Summerlin. Both boys went to Sig Rogich. One went on to Palo Verde high-school and the other went to West Technical Academy. Both graduated and went to college. My youngest will be graduating college in May with a high GPA. I feel that the schools are great in Summerlin as long as the kids can handle the honor classes. I definitely think the charter, magnet and Tech schools are great. The reason is the kids want to be there and so the teachers truly take an interest in the kids. It is a lottery to get into these schools. There are very affordable areas just adjacent to Summerlin.

You can go to ccsd.net to look up the school zones, test scores and any other information about the school district.