Need advice on Seattle neighborhood for my family

[sean98125]

Seattle Schools is doing away with the lottery system in fall of 2010 and will be assigning kids to schools based on where you live. There will also be option schools (alternative schools) available that you can try to get in to, but you're only guaranteed to get in your neighborhood school.

[tlmg21]

Originally Posted by sean98125

Seattle Schools is doing away with the lottery system in fall of 2010 and will be assigning kids to schools based on where you live. There will also be option schools (alternative schools) available that you can try to get in to, but you're only guaranteed to get in your neighborhood school.

I just read an article from October 11th that talked about this, but said that there will be a vote on it in November. Is this basically a done deal, or is there a chance it won't pass? I really hope they change it, that would be a HUGE relief.

[texastrigirl]

Queen Anne and Magnolia are both Seattle Public Schools so yes, they are affected and it is my understanding that once you get in a school, you can stay in a school. Maybe this will help?

Seattle Public Schools*|*New Student Assignment Plan | FAQ | Choice (http://www.seattleschools.org/area/newassign/faq_choice.html - broken link)

I thought I had read their goal was to change this assignment process and it sounds like some changes are to be made starting with the next school year but it was so much information...I stopped reading. You can go to the Washington State Report Card website to determine school by school scores and demographics. They have a comparison feature. Generally Mercer Island, Bainbridge Island, Bellevue, Issaquah and Lake Washington are considered to be the strongest school districts. The City of Sammamish is split between Iss/LW districts. Certainly SPS has some terrific schools within the district...just figuring out if you will get into that school is the wild card. It was too much risk for us. We moved here in July 2007 and after finding out about the lottery and hearing what a mess SPS was, we just headed to the Eastside. Can't say we regret it. You might consider looking in the Shoreline School District which is North of Seattle if you want to stay in the city. Not sure if they use the lottery system.

[texastrigirl]

I guess it is going to be implemented in waves over the next few years if it passes?? Too complicated to understand with kids screaming over Monopoly downstairs so I stopped reading!!

[tlmg21]

Originally Posted by texastrigirl

Queen Anne and Magnolia are both Seattle Public Schools so yes, they are affected and it is my understanding that once you get in a school, you can stay in a school. Maybe this will help?

Seattle Public Schools*|*New Student Assignment Plan | FAQ | Choice (http://www.seattleschools.org/area/newassign/faq_choice.html - broken link)

I thought I had read their goal was to change this assignment process and it sounds like some changes are to be made starting with the next school year but it was so much information...I stopped reading. You can go to the Washington State Report Card website to determine school by school scores and demographics. They have a comparison feature. Generally Mercer Island, Bainbridge Island, Bellevue, Issaquah and Lake Washington are considered to be the strongest school districts. The City of Sammamish is split between Iss/LW districts. Certainly SPS has some terrific schools within the district...just figuring out if you will get into that school is the wild card. It was too much risk for us. We moved here in July 2007 and after finding out about the lottery and hearing what a mess SPS was, we just headed to the Eastside. Can't say we regret it. You might consider looking in the Shoreline School District which is North of Seattle if you want to stay in the city. Not sure if they use the lottery system.

I found the Washington State Report Card website you mentioned. Wow, what a great resource! Thank you!

[Tinas3825]

I am relocating to the Seattle area with a 3 yr old. I need parks, community center with youth activities, easy freeway access w/reverse commute if possible, awesome preschool close by. I can pay between $1900-$2000 per month. What areas should I be looking at?

Originally Posted by GettingOutofTexas

We are relocating to Seattle in a couple of months and are having a hard time figuring out which neighborhoods to concentrate our housing search in. Any advice would help.

We are in our 30's, professionals, with 5 and 1-year old boys. We will need to rent for a few years, but would like to rent somewhere we can eventually afford to buy a house. Our rental budget is around $2000/mth, and our buying budget will be somewhere around $400,000 in a few years.

My husband will be working in what I think is Lower Queen Anne, just south of the Seattle Center.

Our priorities are:

*short commute time
*decent schools
*safe neighborhood to go walking with kids
*close to parks

It would also be nice if we could get:

*walking distance to restaurants/shops

We would prefer to stay in the city if possible. We're not big suburb fans, but will go there if that's what it takes to have a safe place for the kids.

Any thoughts? Thanks.