[gacri]

Well I've been her all week and am departing back to PA tomorrow 3/13/09. As stated in my prior posts I made the trip to research the area (in person) while taking part in the LV Metro PD testing process.

Prior to my arrival I had it in my head that I would want to move (if offered) the job, to the Henderson area...Well, I think it comes down to a matter of personal preference but I found that I would prefer the Summerlin area better.

With that said I have concluded the "mesa" area of Summerlin would be the area of focus 89148. This would allow us to zoned for Batterman Elementary School which I did "tour". After all the places I drove, visited and researched thus far my opinions are as follows:

The public school system is without a doubt dependent on where you live. I can't say for certain that I feel that even the best rated public school here compared to those in NW PA. (That is just an opinion not truly backed by any hard facts).

In a perfect world I would love to send my two youger girls to Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School. I visited it today and was sad to hear there is a waiting list. The other schools in the Diocese of LV appeared to me to be in a much less desirable part of town. The schools in the Diocese are mcuh more reasonable as far as tuition goes.

The traffic can get heavy at different times of the day of course, but all in all I think it flows nicely and is not an issue in any future decisions.

Weather - 70 degrees in Vegas today 22 degrees in Erie, PA ummmmmmm, thats an easy one.

Wife is soon to graduate from nursing school - visited and toured St. Rose-very helpful staff and think would be a great place for my wifes career!

Crime - are some bad parts of town drove East off 95 looked like higher crime areas...Sure things are going on that I don't hear about but I must say I never have felt unsafe throughout my time here and don't see much of it in the area where my brother lives which is Mountains Edge.

Bottom line is I still feel a little apprehensive of the public schools even the ones in the better areas of town. If offered a job our decising factor will be if the school situation.

Any insight that can be provided good or bad based on the conclusions I've drawn up would be much appreciated.

[lvkewlkid]

it depends what part east of the 95, but anyways it shouldn't matter since you're looking at the Mesas anyway, right? the most dangerous area is Alphabet city, just northwest of 95/15, there's really no reason to go through there, unless 15 is backed up, you can use D, Bonanza, and City Parkway or MLK as detours when I-15 is backed up...

PA schools are definitely much better than here, i'm jealous of your 22 degrees, i was just in Philly and on the Shore 2 weeks ago, it was beautiful weather, almost got caught up in the snow storm, it was great, lol...i still never got used to this awful dry heat!

The Mesas are a pretty new area, not much inside the village, but on West Tropicana and West Flamingo there is plenty of shopping...your 215 commute may be a little difficult tho, especially during construction...

[jjameson922]

My one suggestion would be, since you are extremely concerned about education, can you get from your realtor a listing of the beginning salaries for teachers in the various school systems? I had an out of town couple ask that of me as a realtor when they were looking and it was very eye opening even to myself. I had no idea, for instance, that many of the private schools, particularly the religious based ones, have a much lower starting salary and continuing salary. That can lead one to deduce those schools are not the ones that are getting the experienced teachers and can give you more information than just a walk through will ever do.

[olecapt]

I would worry less about the schools. The top quarter of the elementary schools are quite good. Mother Seaton would be similar but no better. I would avoid the bottom half for a nuimber of reasons. I would pay more attention to the middle schools and a lot to the high schools. I would gather however that you are a few years from any of that.

I don't buy a signifricant difference to the schools of the east. Middle class suburban schools in the US are pretty uniform. Las Vegas by policy maintains a somewhat homogeneous high school system that may not have the premiere high school common in many eastern areas. The magnets however serve the function for the bright or talented and Gorman and Faith Lutheran are available to the rest. I see no evidence that Gorman is better than any of the top ten high schools though.

You should also consider the NW as it is the center for your demographic. Fine schools and large homes at least 15 or 20% less than Summerlin. Generally loaded with younger families. I too am fond of Summerlin but suggest it when income has reached a high level.

[Daddys///M3]

Originally Posted by olecapt

I would worry less about the schools. The top quarter of the elementary schools are quite good. Mother Seaton would be similar but no better. I would avoid the bottom half for a nuimber of reasons. I would pay more attention to the middle schools and a lot to the high schools. I would gather however that you are a few years from any of that.

I don't buy a signifricant difference to the schools of the east. Middle class suburban schools in the US are pretty uniform. Las Vegas by policy maintains a somewhat homogeneous high school system that may not have the premiere high school common in many eastern areas. The magnets however serve the function for the bright or talented and Gorman and Faith Lutheran are available to the rest. I see no evidence that Gorman is better than any of the top ten high schools though.

You should also consider the NW as it is the center for your demographic. Fine schools and large homes at least 15 or 20% less than Summerlin. Generally loaded with younger families. I too am fond of Summerlin but suggest it when income has reached a high level.

Again I have to back up the suggestion of the NW. As a resident of the 89131 zip code and a father of a 3rd grader I can not only attest to the livability of the area but the schools as well. My son attended Scherkenbach from K-2 and it as well as Bilbray (they are literally next door to eachother) are both very comparable to the top schools in the valley including Ober, Givens, Goolsby, and the aforementioned Batterman in the Summerlin area as well as Twitchell, Vandenburg, and Bartlett in the Henderson area. My chid currently attends O'Roarke which just opened this year, so there are no ratings or test scores available yet but I can assure you that my son is receiving the same level of education and discipline (very important to me) at O'Roarke that he previously received at Scherkenbach.

That being said, I do feel that Summerlin has certain advantages over the NW part of the valley, mainly dealing with proximity as far a commuting goes as well as the fact that there is more available in terms of shopping, dining, etc. However, I personally prefer the more distant suburb feel of the NW to the busier suburb feel (almost Orange County, CA like) of Summerlin.

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by olecapt

I don't buy a signifricant difference to the schools of the east. Middle class suburban schools in the US are pretty uniform. Las Vegas by policy maintains a somewhat homogeneous high school system that may not have the premiere high school common in many eastern areas.

I'm beginning to believe that more and more as we spend more time in Georgia. When we were moving here in 2007, all we heard was "the schools in the south are horrible compared to the schools here in NJ". We've since found that our girls are generally on par with or ahead of their cousins in NJ in relation to what they're learning in each grade level. The facilities are much nicer, class sizes are the same, the classrooms have tons more in the way of technology.

I think it's more related to the socio-economic and demographic makeup of a neighborhood than to the area of the country- live in an upper-middle-class neighborhood in most areas, and your likely to find similar levels of education quality. Move to the hood in most areas, and you'll probably find similarly poor-performing schools.

[olecapt]

Originally Posted by BobKovacs

I'm beginning to believe that more and more as we spend more time in Georgia. When we were moving here in 2007, all we heard was "the schools in the south are horrible compared to the schools here in NJ". We've since found that our girls are generally on par with or ahead of their cousins in NJ in relation to what they're learning in each grade level. The facilities are much nicer, class sizes are the same, the classrooms have tons more in the way of technology.

I think it's more related to the socio-economic and demographic makeup of a neighborhood than to the area of the country- live in an upper-middle-class neighborhood in most areas, and your likely to find similar levels of education quality. Move to the hood in most areas, and you'll probably find similarly poor-performing schools.

Yup,,,my view as well. My children were educated between a very fine upstate NY district - Brighton, NY...and a nice upper middle class commumity next to Long Beach in Orange County..Los Alamitos, CA. Los Al was quite comparable to Brighton even though the Rochester types initially were worried crazy over the poor schools of Los Angeles. The other big concentration of Rochester transplants was on the Palos Verdes Penisula which, if anything, was actually better than Brighton.

I believe the schools in GV, Summerlin and much of the NW are the same. They simply reflect the demographics of the neighborhood.

If you get into the downtown area it is much different. They have trouble holding high skill teachers. They have all the openings in the teacher ranks. They have high percentages of non-english speakers and they suffer from parents who are unable or unwilling to be involved.