new to the board - 2008/05/26 10:38Hey guys. I stumbled upon this board and have been reading some of your posts. My husband is about to get an offer from the Hartford and we're seriously considering taking it. If we did, one of the areas I thought looked like a nice area was Simsbury. We currently live in Texas, so this would be a big move for us. One of the things that attracted me to Simsbury when researching was the idea of good schools (we have a 4 year old and a 2.5 year old). We live in an OK school district here, but not great, so if we stayed here we'd send our kids to private school. I was attracted to the thought of being able to use the public schools. However, after reading a few of your posts and hearing words like drugs, smoking, loitering, dirty dancing, lazy, I'm wondering if the schools are as good as I was thinking they were? Could you tell me a little more about Simsbury, schools and the like? What are the pluses and minuses and are there other communities that might be better? What about the private schools? If we decided against the public, we'd probably look at the catholic private school in the area. Thanks!
Julie
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uconniac
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Posts: 764
Re:new to the board - 2008/05/26 14:22Hey Julie ~
Welcome to CT (maybe).
Educationally, the schools here in Simsbury are top notch. We moved here from another location in CT for the school system ourselves and overall, have been happy with the system. As with any where, you can find "bad" teachers in a "good system" and vice versa. The "mommy network" here in Simsbury is very active and it is easy to find which teachers to hope for and which to avoid. As for the "drugs, sex, dirty dancing, etc., you can find these things even in private or parochial schools and in some cases these things are worse there. What I have found is that those of us who are willing to take the time to teach our children what to avoid, the consequences of not avoiding certain situations and are not afraid to be parents instead of "best friends" have no problem when the children get older. As for the dirty dancing, again it is not exclusive to Simsbury and unfortunately the current senior class is "biting off their collective nose to spite their face" by not attending school sponsored functions. If the administrators stick to their guns, this won't be a problem in the future because the students at that point won't know any different.
Please come visit Simsbury and take a look around. We have a lot to offer and I think you'll like what you see. In addition to the wonderful schools we have Stratton Brook State Park, Talcott Mountain (both hiking trail and music festival), Simsbury Farms Pool/Tennis/Golf/Playground, Tulmeadow Farms for the best ice cream and much more.
Good luck with your decision and potential move.
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Mimi
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Posts: 76
Re:new to the board - 2008/05/26 21:59Totally agree with unconniac. Unfortunately, a few bad incidents make the press, just as happens everyplace.
Great school system, good town to live in and raise children. There is plenty to do, if you want to do it.
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Mimi
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Re:new to the board - 2008/05/26 22:00Totally agree with unconniac. Unfortunately, a few bad incidents make the press, just as happens everyplace.
Great school system, good town to live in and raise children. There is plenty to do, if you want to do it.
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juliem
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Re:new to the board - 2008/05/26 22:05Thanks guys. I appreciate your responses. Once the offer comes through, so long as the numbers are right, we'll most likely be heading out within a month to visit the area and see what it has to offer. Are there any other areas similar to Simsbury that you'd recommend looking at while we're there?
Julie
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uconniac
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Re:new to the board - 2008/05/27 07:27In general, all Farmington Valley towns have decent reputaions: Avon is smaller but has a higher tax base and is the wealthiest town but has a large selection of houses at different income levels to choose from. Farmington is nice and has better access to the highways. Granby is small; East Granby is even smaller. Suffield is very nice and seems to be the up and coming choice for people moving around here. Hartland/East Hartland are smalller than even Granby or East Granby. They have their own elementary and middle schools but kids have to go to high school out of town at the town's expense. Transportation is not provided.
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Specter (1116)
