Stillwater or South Washington County School District (St. Paul, Woodbury: renting, homes)

[Tryingtofindgoodhome]

We are currently renting a home in Woodbury so our children (1st grade and 3rd grade) are currently enrolled in the South Washington County Schools. We are looking to purchase a home and are very torn between school districts. And we moved from the east coast so are not totally familiar with the areas. But we do like this side of the metro area and have family and friends over this way. We were looking in Lake Elmo, Stillwater, Woodbury, Afton, Cottage Grove areas. Does anyone have experience with or knowledge of the two school districts that can give us some insight? Or of the areas? Thank you so much. (And this is my first time ever posting to a forum of any sort so I hope I did it right.)

[golfgal]

Personally I think that the Stillwater Schools are better than South Washington County, especially if you are comparing Cottage Grove schools. Stillwater is a very intellectual type town and education is important. Students there have a long tradition of excelling in all areas and land at top colleges around the nation. Plus, Stillwater is just a nicer area so that is a bonus.

[nansan]

We have been in both school districts and would prefer South washington county schools. There are more academic opportunities and school ratings are better. Recently stillwater schools had lot of budget cuts including laying off teachers. Its a struggling school district now and they are even cutting down on AP programs. I have to admit that some of the teachers in stillwater schools are really nice.

HTH

[stolafs69]

If you want to stay in Woodbury, I would find a home that is in the South washington county school district so your kids don't have a 30 minute bus ride (each way) to stillwater MS and HS as there are lots of homes in the woodbury city limits that are actually in the stillwater school district. Northern Cottage Grove isn't too bad because the homes are usually newer and most of nothern cottage grove at least is in the East Ridge HS boundries instead of Park HS. Although the elmentary and MS in nothern cottage grove certainly aren't the same caliber as woodbury schools would be.

Remeber the South washington county school district stats get dragged down by the Cottage Grove, St. Paul Park, and Newport schools (generally a lot of lower income folks). If you just look at the stats for the individual schools inside woodbury city limits (Liberty, Red Rock, Woodbury MS, Woodbury HS, Lake MS, East Ridge HS etc) you will find that these schools will likley have better stats then the stillwater schools. But my view is that if you live in stillwater send your kids to stillwater schools and if you live in woodbury, send your kids to so wash county schools. Nothern cottage grove, maybe consider private schools for elementary and MS if you can afford it (St. ambrose seems to have a good repuation for private) and East Ridge for HS is great option for the nothern CG.

[PullMyFinger]

Our kids went to Stillwater HS. When my oldest daughter graduated in '03 and went on to St Olaf college, the admittance counselors told us that Stillwater HS is one of their favorites to work with as the students are prepared and the administration is really on the ball with transcripts ect.

My son graduated last year and wasn't at the same level academically as my daughter so I'm not sure if it's as good as it used to be. They were always good to us.

It is big however, one of the biggest enrollments of any public high school in the Twin Cities, close to a thousand in my son's graduating class.

[Tryingtofindgoodhome]

Thank you all so much for your advice and info. I'll be sure to look into the budget issues in Stillwater while we do our research.

[MN55]

Stillwater. It may be huge but it's a top quality school district. South Washington is fine but it has its problems (Park/Cottage Grove in particular isn't the best).

I would also look at Grant and Mahtomedi which is in the area; Mahtomedi schools are the best in the east metro and arguably the best district in the state.

Stay away from Oakdale unless you want to pay to send your kids to Hill.

[HKB]

If you live in Woodbury, pay close attention to the school boundaries. There are 3 school districts in Woodbury. Some of the north/northwest part of Woodbury (mostly north of Tamarack Road) is actually in the 622 Oakdale school district. The bulk of Woodbury is in 833 South Washington County district. The northeast part of Woodbury is in the Stillwater district.

Stillwater schools are very good, but personally I'd never buy a Woodbury home that was in the Stillwater boundary. The schools would be ridiculously far away from your home. That's a lot of commuting time back and forth to school over a 12 year period... not to mention extracurricular activities when they are old enough. The long drive would be extra miserable in the winter during bad weather.

All of the 830 South Washington County schools located in Woodbury are comparable in quality to Stillwater, and would be much closer.

I never understood why they don't re-draw the boundaries so that Woodbury kids can stay closer to home. I suppose it comes down to money. Stillwater would probably never agree to give up that tax base.

[Going Fishing]

Originally Posted by HKB

Stillwater schools are very good, but personally I'd never buy a Woodbury home that was in the Stillwater boundary. The schools would be ridiculously far away from your home. That's a lot of commuting time back and forth to school over a 12 year period... not to mention extracurricular activities when they are old enough. The long drive would be extra miserable in the winter during bad weather.

All of the 830 South Washington County schools located in Woodbury are comparable in quality to Stillwater, and would be much closer.

I never understood why they don't re-draw the boundaries so that Woodbury kids can stay closer to home. I suppose it comes down to money. Stillwater would probably never agree to give up that tax base.

Originally Posted by stolafs69

If you want to stay in Woodbury, I would find a home that is in the South washington county school district so your kids don't have a 30 minute bus ride (each way) to stillwater MS and HS as there are lots of homes in the woodbury city limits that are actually in the stillwater school district. Northern Cottage Grove isn't too bad because the homes are usually newer and most of nothern cottage grove at least is in the East Ridge HS boundries instead of Park HS. Although the elmentary and MS in nothern cottage grove certainly aren't the same caliber as woodbury schools would be.

Old thread but I just came across this when doing some similar research. This is generalizing and simply not true in many cases. For example, in most cases, in NE Woodbury you would be much closer to Oak Land Junior High (Stillwater) than any Woodbury Middle School. The elementary schools distances just depend on where you live. Stillwater high school is probably a little farther, but you don't travel through Woodbury, so the time it takes may not be much different.