Planning to Buy home in Mt. Laurel NJ. Suggestions Please (Hillside: new home, school districts)

[pranavkashyap]

Hi,

We are planning to buy a home in Mt. Laurel, NJ and our budget is up to $350,000. Our kid is going to 1st grade in September 2019. Please give me some suggestions on Schools and community. I have gone through websites like greatschools and niche for school rating, but I am confused. The home we are looking at comes under Hillside Elementary School (which is under Mt. Laurel school district). Please provide your thoughts about this school and the community. Any help is appreciated!!



Thanks!!!

[sj08054]

Originally Posted by pranavkashyap

Hi,

We are planning to buy a home in Mt. Laurel, NJ and our budget is up to $350,000. Our kid is going to 1st grade in September 2019. Please give me some suggestions on Schools and community. I have gone through websites like greatschools and niche for school rating, but I am confused. The home we are looking at comes under Hillside Elementary School (which is under Mt. Laurel school district). Please provide your thoughts about this school and the community. Any help is appreciated!!



Thanks!!!

Mount Laurel Schools - Attendance Boundaries

Start with this site. What are you confused about? The pre-k to 4th grades are the elementary schools that sends all their 5th and 6th grader to a single upper elementary school. 7th and 8th grader are consider middle school. These kids are then send to the Lenape school districts supporting 8 municipalities.

[pranavkashyap]

Thanks for the response. I am confused about the school ratings. Can you please tell me how is Hillside elementary school. Is it good school in this area. Thanks!!

[Farmerkd1]

Mount Laurel has a good reputation for schools. Don't know how rankings go, but my son went through all the levels of school here and received a good education. Elementary schools are pretty much the same throughout the area and all do a great job. After that the kids are consolidated into one of the two junior high schools. Hillside would go to Harrington, which I thought was a very good school. Then everyone goes to Lenape H.S. It's a little ways away and a very large H.S. but the entire Lenape district has a very good reputation. I think you get what you put into it. As I said, it's a large school, so it's easy for a student to get lost in the system if you're not keeping up with them and making sure they're getting the right classes and doing the appropriate work. Lots of different cliques there also , so of course they have all the problems that a big school has, but a higher percentage of parents take a much more active role here than some other area schools.

[sj08054]

Originally Posted by Farmerkd1

Mount Laurel has a good reputation for schools. Don't know how rankings go, but my son went through all the levels of school here and received a good education. Elementary schools are pretty much the same throughout the area and all do a great job. After that the kids are consolidated into one of the two junior high schools. Hillside would go to Harrington, which I thought was a very good school. Then everyone goes to Lenape H.S. It's a little ways away and a very large H.S. but the entire Lenape district has a very good reputation. I think you get what you put into it. As I said, it's a large school, so it's easy for a student to get lost in the system if you're not keeping up with them and making sure they're getting the right classes and doing the appropriate work. Lots of different cliques there also , so of course they have all the problems that a big school has, but a higher percentage of parents take a much more active role here than some other area schools.

In the 15 years I've been in Mt. Laurel, the bold text above is not the case. All the elementary school sends their kids to Hartford for 5th and 6th grade. They go to Harrington for 7th and 8th grade. Each graduating classes are in the same school starting 5th grade.

This is from my experience with Mt Laurel school district and the Lenape school district. Because it is big, they are able to provide exceptional support for the top and bottom kids. The other 60% of the kids may just get lost into the system. I think this is typical of all big school district.

I agree that all the elementary school are very similar but there is a slight different in the social makeup depending on the school because of their location. I believe Springville is the newest of the elementary school.

One note I like to add is that they are building quite a bit a new homes in a a new development and Mt Laurel property taxes have been lower than the surrounding area. This may not be the case in the near future.