Moving to Philadelphia Proper

[Anonymous]

A lot of the posts here involve moving to the suburbs. Does anybody ave thoughts about moving to Philadelphia proper? We have two young elementary school aged kids and would be looking at public schools. I understand that West Philly around Penn Alexander and Center City are neighborhoods with good schools.

[Anonymous]

We have good friends who raised 4 kids in Rittenhouse Square. They tried really hard to be supportive of city public schools but wound up using Germantown Friends when it didn't work out.

[Anonymous]

I think Penn Alexander is well regarded compared to other W. Philly schools, but the people I know in the city who send their kids to public school live in Center City, Mount Airy, or Chestnut Hill. Meredith and Greenfield are well regarded elemetaries, and those are more "family" neighborhoods. If I were moving to the city, I probably wouldn't move to W. Philly unless I were a grad student or younger person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have good friends who raised 4 kids in Rittenhouse Square. They tried really hard to be supportive of city public schools but wound up using Germantown Friends when it didn't work out.

Do you know where they went to school and about how long ago this was?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think Penn Alexander is well regarded compared to other W. Philly schools, but the people I know in the city who send their kids to public school live in Center City, Mount Airy, or Chestnut Hill. Meredith and Greenfield are well regarded elemetaries, and those are more "family" neighborhoods. If I were moving to the city, I probably wouldn't move to W. Philly unless I were a grad student or younger person.

That's interesting. As an outsider, West Philly seems more "family" like because of the size of the homes.

[Anonymous]

I live in Center City and from what I can gather from my coworkers, Penn Alexander is probably the best of the urban schools. It has a GS ranking of 9. But West Philadelphia isn't for everyone. There are nice patches of it, but it's also not for everyone.

Meredith is probably the most sought after of the Center City elementary schools. People buy to be in that zone and who also want to be in Center City or close to it. The neighborhoods that feed into it are Queen Village and parts of Bella Vista.

Greenfield is the Rittenhouse/Fitler Square area and has more of a mixed reputation. Some people make it work and are happy with it, but pretty much anyone with money in Fitler/Rittenhouse goes the private route at some point, either Philadelphia School in Fitler Square, or Germantown Friends or William Penn Charter (another Quaker, not public, school), which are both outside Center City but not too far away. Friends Central, which is in Center City, isn't that well regarded for academics.

The citywide selective public high school, Masterman, is excellent and among the best in the country. The middle schools are very problematic. There are charters everywhere. There are also Catholic schools.

I can't speak too much about the Mount Airy or Chestnut Hill area. Chestnut Hill is a strong private school territory. Mount Airy is hit or miss when it comes to housing and I'm sure the more well off kids are more likely to attend private schools. I can't speak to the public schools they feed into. The problem with buying in Mount Airy or Chestnut Hill is that if you want to go the public route, you might as well buy in the Main Line or Wyndmoor, which are no further away from Center City (or even closer depending where on the Main Line you are) and you get top notch public schools and similar housing stock.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think Penn Alexander is well regarded compared to other W. Philly schools, but the people I know in the city who send their kids to public school live in Center City, Mount Airy, or Chestnut Hill. Meredith and Greenfield are well regarded elemetaries, and those are more "family" neighborhoods. If I were moving to the city, I probably wouldn't move to W. Philly unless I were a grad student or younger person.

That's interesting. As an outsider, West Philly seems more "family" like because of the size of the homes.

Most of the housing stock were divided into cheap apartments and rented to students or fresh out of college, or low income rentals. There are parts of West Philly that had solid long time residents and houses never divided up. There are families living in West Philadelphia now, in the 40s between Spruce and Baltimore and some of the blocks are very nicely kept up. But the overall area still has that split between college town and low income feel to it, and a lot of the young white post-college kids aren't Penn students or grad students but of your young angry left wing variety. Some people will be fine with it, others less so. I like the housing stock in Mount Airy better but I do think West Philadelphia now has the edge due to Penn Alexander and proximity to Center City.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in Center City and from what I can gather from my coworkers, Penn Alexander is probably the best of the urban schools. It has a GS ranking of 9. But West Philadelphia isn't for everyone. There are nice patches of it, but it's also not for everyone.

Meredith is probably the most sought after of the Center City elementary schools. People buy to be in that zone and who also want to be in Center City or close to it. The neighborhoods that feed into it are Queen Village and parts of Bella Vista.

Greenfield is the Rittenhouse/Fitler Square area and has more of a mixed reputation. Some people make it work and are happy with it, but pretty much anyone with money in Fitler/Rittenhouse goes the private route at some point, either Philadelphia School in Fitler Square, or Germantown Friends or William Penn Charter (another Quaker, not public, school), which are both outside Center City but not too far away. Friends Central, which is in Center City, isn't that well regarded for academics.

The citywide selective public high school, Masterman, is excellent and among the best in the country. The middle schools are very problematic. There are charters everywhere. There are also Catholic schools.

I can't speak too much about the Mount Airy or Chestnut Hill area. Chestnut Hill is a strong private school territory. Mount Airy is hit or miss when it comes to housing and I'm sure the more well off kids are more likely to attend private schools. I can't speak to the public schools they feed into. The problem with buying in Mount Airy or Chestnut Hill is that if you want to go the public route, you might as well buy in the Main Line or Wyndmoor, which are no further away from Center City (or even closer depending where on the Main Line you are) and you get top notch public schools and similar housing stock.

Thank you! This is all very helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in Center City and from what I can gather from my coworkers, Penn Alexander is probably the best of the urban schools. It has a GS ranking of 9. But West Philadelphia isn't for everyone. There are nice patches of it, but it's also not for everyone.

Meredith is probably the most sought after of the Center City elementary schools. People buy to be in that zone and who also want to be in Center City or close to it. The neighborhoods that feed into it are Queen Village and parts of Bella Vista.

Greenfield is the Rittenhouse/Fitler Square area and has more of a mixed reputation. Some people make it work and are happy with it, but pretty much anyone with money in Fitler/Rittenhouse goes the private route at some point, either Philadelphia School in Fitler Square, or Germantown Friends or William Penn Charter (another Quaker, not public, school), which are both outside Center City but not too far away. Friends Central, which is in Center City, isn't that well regarded for academics.

The citywide selective public high school, Masterman, is excellent and among the best in the country. The middle schools are very problematic. There are charters everywhere. There are also Catholic schools.

I can't speak too much about the Mount Airy or Chestnut Hill area. Chestnut Hill is a strong private school territory. Mount Airy is hit or miss when it comes to housing and I'm sure the more well off kids are more likely to attend private schools. I can't speak to the public schools they feed into. The problem with buying in Mount Airy or Chestnut Hill is that if you want to go the public route, you might as well buy in the Main Line or Wyndmoor, which are no further away from Center City (or even closer depending where on the Main Line you are) and you get top notch public schools and similar housing stock.

FWIW I know/have known families with kids at Henry and Jenks (publics in Mt Airy and Chestnut Hill). They seem happy enough with the early elementary grades, at least. There are some charters too, and Greene Street Friends, which is a private but less expensive and less fancy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in Center City and from what I can gather from my coworkers, Penn Alexander is probably the best of the urban schools. It has a GS ranking of 9. But West Philadelphia isn't for everyone. There are nice patches of it, but it's also not for everyone.

Meredith is probably the most sought after of the Center City elementary schools. People buy to be in that zone and who also want to be in Center City or close to it. The neighborhoods that feed into it are Queen Village and parts of Bella Vista.

Greenfield is the Rittenhouse/Fitler Square area and has more of a mixed reputation. Some people make it work and are happy with it, but pretty much anyone with money in Fitler/Rittenhouse goes the private route at some point, either Philadelphia School in Fitler Square, or Germantown Friends or William Penn Charter (another Quaker, not public, school), which are both outside Center City but not too far away. Friends Central, which is in Center City, isn't that well regarded for academics.

The citywide selective public high school, Masterman, is excellent and among the best in the country. The middle schools are very problematic. There are charters everywhere. There are also Catholic schools.

I can't speak too much about the Mount Airy or Chestnut Hill area. Chestnut Hill is a strong private school territory. Mount Airy is hit or miss when it comes to housing and I'm sure the more well off kids are more likely to attend private schools. I can't speak to the public schools they feed into. The problem with buying in Mount Airy or Chestnut Hill is that if you want to go the public route, you might as well buy in the Main Line or Wyndmoor, which are no further away from Center City (or even closer depending where on the Main Line you are) and you get top notch public schools and similar housing stock.

FYI I meant Friends Select, not Friends Central. Friends Central is on the Main Line and has a good reputation. Just clearing up a point before someone jumps on me for it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have good friends who raised 4 kids in Rittenhouse Square. They tried really hard to be supportive of city public schools but wound up using Germantown Friends when it didn't work out.

Do you know where they went to school and about how long ago this was?

The youngest kid is a sophomore in college. He always went to private. The oldest sister was the experiment and she is 25ish.

[Anonymous]

We have good friends at McCall in society hill and they are very happy. It is a mix of kids from society hill and Chinatown. Very diverse economically with a commuted parent group.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in West Philly, in those forties blocks before Penn Alexander existed and went to Masterman. It was a fantastic place to grow up, with a blend of urbanism and space I have longed for since and found nowhere else. University City, they'd call it, then.

I think it's nicer now than it was in the eighties... But other parts of the city are poorer and the lines between the haves and the have nots are sharp. I would move. back in a second. Hell, I'd move back on half our salary. But it must be said that on my Facebook friendslist full of Masterman alum... I think I know two families that stayed in the city and both have gone the private school route. Masterman's bigger than it was, but I think it's harder to get into than ever... And while good high schools exist, and good elementaries, yeah MS is a problem.