Best School District in Erie

[D'Arcy Nulph]

My family will be moving to Erie this year and I am trying to figure out the best area to live. Can anybody give their opinion on different areas, good and bad...schools, shopping, crime, sense of community?

Thanks!
D'Arcy

[Shelly Marie McGranor]

I think that General McLane in the McKean/Edinboro area is wonderful.

[Laurie Myers]

I am very happy with General McLane - I have children in McKean Elementary, James Parker Middle, and General McLane High (all part of GM) I also am familiar with McKean Preschool, and I love the program and teachers there as well. Good Luck with your move!

[Mariah]

Some parts of the city of Erie are a bit rough, and some aren't bad. In general, the southeast portion of Erie is pretty nice, but the northeast portion can be questionable. The lower west side is okay, but has some questionable spots. The southern north side is a little better. The further west you go, the better.

We are working on moving to Milcreek, ourselves. Since hubby & I both grew up in the suburbs, we want to stay there. He's from Milcreek, and loved it. There are a variety of places to live in the Milcreek school district, as well, including Belle Valley (east of Erie), and further west, the areas north of 26th street are fairly inexpensive, slightly more between 26th & 38th, and most expensive south of 38th street. There are places to rent and plenty of places to buy in Milcreek, as well.

Fairview is a quite wealthy school district, and a bit smaller. Milcreek is a HUGE school district, the largest around, and property/school taxes are a bit more than in the city, but Fairview's taxes are significantly higher. I graduated from Fairview in a class of 110.

General McLane is awesome, as well, but as I lived most of my life between the Fairview & GM school districts, and I can tell you firsthand, the snow is AWFUL. If you don't mind snowblowing, plowing, and being basically buried in snow, then GM is a great area. The schools are fabulous, the people are really nice, and the landscape is absolutely beautiful. I can't stand the snow and refuse to drive a larger vehicle. I also commuted to Edinboro for several years, and it was an awful commute. Edinboro is beautiful, and a fairly small community built around the college. It's nice, but again, the snow is horrendous.

I hope that helps!

[Beverly aka HockeyGal4Ever]

It really depends on your style, your kids,etc. I've lived on the lower west side my entire life, went to the schools in this area, my kids went to some of them (I homeschooled most of their time) but all in all most every school has it's good & bad points. One of the better grade schools is Harding, but you pretty much have to live in that exact district to get your child in there. It's been one of the best schools in the Erie district.

Some swear that Millcreek is so wonderful. Perhaps for the grade schools but the middle/high schools there leave a lot to be desired. I've heard a lot of bad going on there, they are over crowded & pretty much your child is a number that gets pushed through. This is from others who've been in the district not from my personal experience.

When it comes to High School Erie District has an open school policy. You apply to the one you want to go to. The better your grades, the earlier you apply, etc. all help to get you in where you want. Central Tech High has a bad reputation but only if your child is easily swayed & can get with the wrong crowd. My daughter & all of her friends graduated with medical certification & either went on to college to become doctors, registered nurses or have full time jobs straight out of high school paying between $9-$15/hr. Not bad for the area. If your kid's not a book type, they have electronics, computers, special law enforcement classes and so much more there. I personally think that's one of the best schools around if your child stays with the right kids, but that's with ANY school.

Schools that aren't so great, Middle School Roosevelt. Rough kids, rough teachers. I took my kids out of there & homeschooled again after many incidences there, not involving them in particular but things going on there.

Wilson Middle School (Erie), rough also. I think it's a Middle School thing. That's one good part of getting your kid in at Harding, it's K-8, not nearly as "tough & rough" as the middle schools.

[Sarah Y]

I grew up in Millcreek and went to schools there. They were all good. Elementary schools are: Asbury, Ridgefield, Tracy. Middle Schools: Walnut Creek,Westlake. Highschool: Mcdowell. There are also private schools. Villa Maria Academy has a pre school to 12th grade. That school is for girls. and Prep is for the boys. Also collegiate acadamy. There are more I just am not sure which ones anymore.

[marnie]

Fairview has repeatedly been rated in the top 10 percent in the state.

[D'Arcy Nulph]

After much research it looks like Milcreek, Fairview and Harborcreek will fit our needs. General McLane looked great, but it is too rural for us. I went to greatschools.net and when you look at the test scores it really shows you which schools are doing thier jobs, plus the parent and student reviews were very favorable. I love the older homes in the Erie school district, but it isn't right for my family.

[Jeorja Morum]

Just a note if you are moving into the Erie area.

Millcreek and Erie School district are the only two in the area that do not inforce a mandatory redshirting if your child is born in June July and August.

This was huge for me. We moved from NY state. The kindergarten cut off is November 30th a child had to be 5yrs. Here a child has to be 5 by May 31st. I checked around and only a few disctricts are with this cut off. This means kids in that school district do not start school untill they are 6 years old....compared to NY where they start at 4 1/2.

When I called the Dept of Ed. They recommend all school align with First grade~ Sept 1st, but they can change if they want to set it at whatever. Many people are saying it is for sports.

For us we couldn"t believe how much older some of the children were, almost 15-18 months older.

[D'Arcy Nulph]

Thanks for the info. I had no idea. Both of my kids are very far from those months - April and October. I was very concerned if I stayed in AZ because my son would be almost a year older than most of the kids - September 1st is the cut off here. My opinion is the child should be 5 by August 1st, so they are 5 when school starts. The problem with schools is they want all children to learn at the same pace. They need to evaluate the childrens needs and divide them based on their level rather than evaluating them and spliting the levels evenly. Did I am sense? Hope so.... Here in AZ it is such a problem because there are so many non-english speaking kids, but let's not get started on that.

Jeorja Morum said:

Just a note if you are moving into the Erie area.

Millcreek and Erie School district are the only two in the area that do not inforce a mandatory redshirting if your child is born in June July and August.

This was huge for me. We moved from NY state. The kindergarten cut off is November 30th a child had to be 5yrs. Here a child has to be 5 by May 31st. I checked around and only a few disctricts are with this cut off. This means kids in that school district do not start school untill they are 6 years old....compared to NY where they start at 4 1/2.

When I called the Dept of Ed. They recommend all school align with First grade~ Sept 1st, but they can change if they want to set it at whatever. Many people are saying it is for sports.

For us we couldn"t believe how much older some of the children were, almost 15-18 months older.

[Dr steve hodack]

it would depend on where you are planning on living girard is yet another great district it is an old fashioned town away from the hustle and bustle of erie itself. has several schools which you will be required to send your child to what school is in the neighborhood. general mclean is good fairview is also good these are all located outside erie itself so depending on where you are planning to live then that is when you will know what options are available. several great schools eries are bigger as erie is the forth largest city in pa. but the outside areas in any direction you go all have great schools hope that helps

[D'Arcy Nulph]

Dr Steve thanks for the info.

We are deciding on where to live based on the schools. We are coming from Phoenix and don't want to have major culture shock so we don't want to go too small as far as the town goes so we are going to stay close to Erie, basically we have decided on Millcreek or Fairview.

[Dr steve hodack]

both are great choices and millcreek is also another great school dont worry even if you go as far as girard you are only 15 minutes from erie and all its fixings and if you stay outside city limits the taxes aren't as bad either i know millcreek and fairview try and do there best to keep them down Erie on the other hand has always seemed to somehow raise them almost every year hope that helps and fairview isn't a bad school district either there is less crime and things happening in millcreek and fairview than in Erie itself