Moving back - need help/advice

Submitted by chobette t3_11x2a29 in pittsburgh

Hi everyone! My husband and our working on moving back to PGH within the next year and a half, we currently reside in MN. We lived in West Mifflin prior to moving away, that is where a majority of my husband's family resides.

However, now that we are older, we have children, and need to be more considerate of where we want to settle. This is where I am hoping you all can come in.

We have been living in a rural area for the better part of 10 years - we would like to keep the small town feel, if possible. My oldest son would be migrating into middle school - he's super introverted, but loves baseball and hockey. He's had a ton of issue with bullies here in his current school. The administration sucks.

My youngest son will be 8/9 when we move - he has speech apraxia, sensory processing, ADHD and an IEP.

We are hoping to get some advice on the school districts to avoid and the ones who do exceptionally well in regards to bullying tolerance, special education, and extracurricular activities.

Here's what we've considered so far - please be honest with any of these or if you know of others we should consider

Bethel Park - Bethel Park school system Finleyville/Gastonville - Ringold (sp?) Canonsburg/Strabane Jefferson Hills Jeanette - Hempsfield also there's Jeanette schools McMurray - likely most out of our price range, but still considering Clinton/Airport area

Please and thank you so much! We are making our yearly trip this June to explore the narrowed down list, but it would be awesome if we could narrow it down further. Thank you!!

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Aggravating_Foot_528 t1_jd10w1y wrote

Jeannette schools are not great.

Norwin, which isn't on your list but is nearby, has been busy banning books this year so you may want to skip them.

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chobette OP t1_jd12pey wrote

Thanks for the heads up on that!

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Horror_Financial t1_jd5t8r8 wrote

Ignore the book thing but you don't want norwin if your kid is really into baseball and introverted. His spot is taken by the PAL field mafia lifers and teachers kids already.

Jeannette isn't bad it gets a bad rap from online people who have never known it because..sorry but because it's the 1 school out t here that isn't 95% white.
It's poor though and really small.

Yough is where I'd go in your situation tbh. Rural but close to that family in WM. Small but not so small they can't have teams.

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AmyTea t1_jd18hdi wrote

I don't have any insight but that's fab you actually did some research and narrowed it down. Hope someone can help

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angrygnomes58 t1_jd19dy0 wrote

If you’re looking around the airport area you’d want to be in either Moon or Montour schools. I had a coworker with a child who had similar needs as your younger child and she was very happy with Moon.

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ManufacturerCute4113 t1_jd1mwd5 wrote

Moon is great w services but county tax is high.

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chobette OP t1_jd1n43w wrote

Good to know! - we have a really high tax rate here in MN, so I imagine it wouldn't be a sticker shock for us

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uglybushes t1_jd13211 wrote

Where are yins working? Living close to work in Pgh can be a game changer

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chobette OP t1_jd1imys wrote

Spouse currently working at hospital - 10 years experience with his current job (sterile processing) and he's in school online for database management.

I work for the state of ND for Medicaid. I'm hoping that something opens up in PA that allows me to move into the state level Medicaid - otherwise I am a social worker in this state. Moving to PA - I can't transfer my license from ND due to the fact PA requires all licensed be MSW level.

I hope that helps answer that question - Husband will likely move into a hospital there until graduation

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724Realtor t1_jd1eirp wrote

Hello! My brother is autistic with sever sensory issues, and he has attended New Brighton and Blackhawk school districts and we have only good things to say about them! He is able to have aids working with him all day, which has been very helpful. The only thing is they are pretty far north of the city, about 45 minutes. So that could be a negative factor depending on where you will be working!

I have other family with a child with an IEP in West Allegheny school district, they transferred there after home schooling and are much happier there. That puts you around the Robinson area, which is much closer to Pittsburgh and city life in general

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Longlang t1_jd1j8u0 wrote

Have you looked in to Murrysville? Its in Westmoreland county so you will save big on taxes plus Franklin Regional is one of the better schools in Western PA. Lots of nature and an easy commute to the city.

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chobette OP t1_jd1n2hy wrote

Apparently Franklin Regional is also into book banning - we are avoiding those schools

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cat_za_rat_za t1_jd2h5qz wrote

While I can’t speak on any of the districts you have listed, I highly recommend setting up a meeting with the special education department at the districts you are interested in. It would also be a good idea to see if there is a Facebook group for the district run by parents and ask in there for opinions and experiences. I didn’t do that with my son’s former district and learned my lesson the hard way.

My son went to Gateway School District in Monroeville prior to our move out of state at the beginning of this school year. He is 8 years old w/ an IEP and has autism, ADHD, and disruptive behavior disorder. While Gateway isn’t on your list, I figured I’d let you know to steer clear just in case. The special education teachers, paraprofessionals and principal we dealt with were wonderful! The custodian and school resource officer were equally as great! They went above and beyond for us and we loved them! The downfall for that district was the superintendent, director of special education, and the school board. It seemed like most of the board and the superintendent only cared about the appearance of the schools and sports. They always answered around questions that had to do with special education, it was extremely frustrating. The director of special education was no better. You would’ve thought she was getting paid extra to block the teachers efforts to help our children and secure proper services as hard as she fought against literally everything. It was like her against everyone else on the IEP team. I ended up having to get an advocate and she did change her tune after that.

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chobette OP t1_jd2n8dh wrote

Thank you so much for the heads up! When we moved to our current district, we had zero choice as we moved here for my job. I love this advice as we have been battling our current district with bullying and IEP issues from the start. I will check into the areas and see if they have FB groups as well as when we narrow down the list see about setting up something with their special education department! Good luck to you and your kiddo!

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Zealousideal-Sand720 t1_jd5536z wrote

I live in the Greensburg Salem area and can say the school is pretty good. I went there as a kid but also have family in it, and worked as a substitute for a short while. The highschool staff are incredibly caring, in particular.

The elementary schools are split up by area. Nicely and Metzgar are both good, but the third is off. The middleschool is okay, the principal used to be the highschool's VP last I checked. I haven't talked to him in a few years but I do know he was very against bullying and was strict about it.

Tour the schools if you can.

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tacticoolmagnum t1_jd62fch wrote

Peters township. Great schools. Not as rural as it was but not as over crowded as everywhere else. Plus Washington county taxes. I would not recommend ringold for the sake of your kids. Trinity high school is a better option if you want rural and cheaper home prices

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chobette OP t1_jd6ejy1 wrote

Thank you!! I am really interested in McMurrray and Peters Township - that makes me happy to hear that!

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tacticoolmagnum t1_jd7rj8v wrote

Peters school district consists of McMurray and Venetia. Both great areas. You can still find a couple acres at a decent price if you are willing to get an older house. It also has a brand new high school. It’s the best high school in the Pittsburgh area so it will have the resources you need

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stadulevich t1_jd1s659 wrote

Take a look into Deer Lakes. More affordable option with a rural feel, but still close enough for your husband. School is coming along way too.

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DIY_Creative t1_jd2p4ew wrote

School is definitely getting better and has come a long way, but they have huge bullying issues with no support from administration. My partner has kids in this district. Also, in other posts OP has mentioned a desire to stay away from districts that are into book banning. Deer Lakes isn't as prevalent as Norwin and Franklin Regional in this regard, but there have been rumblings of book bannings bc the district definitely skews conservative. Def worth checking out, but just proceed with caution I'd say.

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