Where Is The Best School?

Education is a question, usually in the top 5, of all the questions when it comes to choosing the right home. Some are interested in the school district, and many go even further and they want to find a home within a certain school or schools. The schools are a question even if there are no children, as the school district and schools within do reflect in the prices, not that the other school or district would be any less than good, but there just are schools and school districts that seem to be more wanted than others.

In places where private schools flourish, and parents consider private education being more sought after, I would assume the school districts matter less, but here, in Greater Seattle area the majority of children go to public schools and thus public schools and school districts do tie into pretty much everything. In a neighborhood, a road can be a divider that changes everything as the left side belongs to one district, and the right to another. Or maybe it’s a different school, sometimes considered equally great but just further away.

As parents, we all want our kids to get at least a good education, and living where I live, serving the people I serve, there usually are only good options. But schools are different, and people are different, and what we want for our children and consider a great education can differ quite a bit. So, when someone asks me if a school is a good school, or what school is best I don’t feel like I have an answer. I am unable to answer as my view of a great education could be way different that theirs. Will they learn to read, and write and make basic calculations? I’m sure they will. Would they be happy there? Would they thrive? Would they get what they want or need, it’s that that I feel unable to answer, and thus I tent to refer to websites with school district information, school scores and such.

School boundaries also tend to change, and I would hate to tell someone something, just for them to find out that in two or three years everything is all very different and staying within that certain school, they would actually need to sell their home, and buy a new one 500 yards left.

Really? Yes, really. When my kids were in preschool, our home was part of school A. A great school, actually a fabulous school, a school that was and still is extremely sought for. The spring before my eldest entering Kindergarten the boundaries were redrawn and we got moved to another school. In my opinion even better, as I knew they had less students and an awesome program for kids with special needs – my kids. So I was absolutely thrilled, but many others weren’t. They had bought their homes thinking they would be going to that fabulous school A, and now everything changed and they would be going to the fabulous school B. Does it really matter? Well, both schools are equally fabulous, but also different in things other that academics. To me it mattered even though looking at their education from the purely academic side, it really should not have made any difference whatsoever. But schools, and education are also a question of that wishy-washy, touchy-feely stuff. Stuff that is hard, if not impossible to pinpoint.

The winds of change are blowing again. Within two years, the city of Redmond is getting two brand new elementary schools and a new middle school, and guess what, here we go again. What used to be our school, will no longer be. We will be moving first to a new elementary school and then a new middle school. So practically within my kids five years in elementary education, they will have had two schools, almost three. We are well off with these transitions. The new schools will be closer to our home. They will be new, and I’m pretty sure they will also be brilliant schools due to all of our wonderful kids going there. However, not everyone is happy, as for some children this will mean longer bus rides, being separated from established friends and many other things. When you buy your home very school specific, the reluctance of your realtor promising it will actually be your school is most likely going to be great, as what is today, may not be tomorrow, and thus you will have to do your own research.

I have also seen families move to a certain area for a certain, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious school, and then a year or two later move again, because the school wasn’t a great match for their family, and did not meet their expectations, no matter how awesome the SBA scores were, and how many awards the school had won, or however very happy so many other families were with that school.

So, education is tricky. It’s certainly not straight forward statistics, there are so many components to what is and what isn’t. Everyone’s personal perceptions, needs and wants, that I would never be able to tell anyone to choose a home based on one school being above all others as what I want, may not be what you wanted at all.