Northborough? (Shrewsbury, Needham, Westford: apartment complex, house, to buy)

[bostonali]

Hello,

I am looking for information on Northborough (school info, family friendliness, etc.).

We are a family of 4 (2 kids under 2) looking to buy a house (over 1600 sq ft., 3+ beds/1.5 baths) near my husband's work (Boxborough) for $400k or less. Towns we are considering (because there are limited towns where this budget works, obviously!) are Shrewsbury, Northborough, Westford.

I had heard that Northborough schools were strong, but according to Schooldigger and Greatschools they don't seem to be as high as several people have made them out to be. Particularly looking at Fannie E Proctor elementary...

Any and all info appreciated!
-Ali
PS I have posted here a fair amount but forgot my login so had to create a new account.

[BuyWithHeather]

Northborough schools are combined with Southborough, and the system is quite good. You can look at their recent MCAS performance at the following link: Performance Data. The comparable schools are Needham, Nashoba, Sharon and Westford--some of the best schools in the state--and the school system has a 100 percent "Proficient or Better" MCAS ELA score.

Although these are stats for the high school MCAS performance, it is a very stable school system, an indication that the elementary school is doing a nice job preparing students for success.

[Parsec]

Only the high school is combined with Southborough and as you said, the high school is quite good. The OP was concerned with the MCAS scores of one elementary school in particular, which is much lower than the other elementary schools in town. If I had to guess, the low test scores could be one of 2 reasons:
1) it's the school that's zoned for the apartment complex(es) in town
2) some towns only have 1 elementary school that employs special ed teachers. all the kids in town with learning disabilities might attend that school, which will skew the test scores down.

[BuyWithHeather]

Parsec--great point. I believe that is also the school that takes METCO students, who may have circumstances that call for more than just special ed.

[bioran]

Northborough and Southborough are run as a single district. There is one superintendant and the planning and strategy for the district comes from that single office. As noted above, the high school is the only school with students from both towns. Each town has their own school committees and budgets.

Two of my children go to Lincoln St school. I've noticed that the Zeh school consistently scores a little higher than the other schools in town. Proctor seems to be the lowest and like the poster said above it probably has a lot to do with the Avalon apartments at Northborough Crossing. Northborough also lets special ed kids take the MCAS so the school average scores could be lower as a result. Doens't necessarilly mean it's not a good school. I also have a child at the high school. This is a great school that completed a $50 million rehab about 5 years ago. Algonquin is always ranked in the top high schools in the state.

I can't say enough good things about Northborough. Small town feel, great schools and recreation department. Very family friendly. Easy access to 290, 495 and the pike. Property taxes are higher than I would like, but they pay for the great schools that we have.

You can't really go wrong with any of the towns you mentioned. Westborough is also a great town with excellent schools. Their taxes are also pretty high. Shrewsbury has low taxes, but you get a high population (i think around 35,000) with that. And there seems to be a mix of industrial, commercial and residential concentrated in certain areas that is not attractive. But other areas are very nice (away from route 9 and 20). Their schools are also very good. The town manages a lot of their own utilities and they are very reliable during storms.

Good luck with your search - I went through the same one 5 years ago.