Hi all
I would like to move to the Highland Park area of St. Paul in August. What I'm wondering is which schools are the best and which are is the best to live in. If anyone knows about the price or availability of apartments in that area that would be great too. I am looking for an affordable two bedroom apartment.
I have always loved this area of St. Paul and am very excited to be moving there. So if anyone has anything they'd like to tell me about it that would be great.
Hi, you should try Nova Classical charter school. Its very nice school. Its located off montreal and snelling right next to highland park hs. My children attended a few years ago and still in contact with friends from there. If I could commute that far they would go back. You need to call immediately to be put on the waiting list or go to the website and print out application. mail it or fax it to them. www.novaclassical.org
I just moved from that area last year. My daughter was 8 at the time we were there. If you are looking at public schools, my daughter went to Groveland Park for K-most of 2nd grade and I had no problem with the school. I thought the staff was excellent and the curriculum was wonderful.
I have heard good things about Horace Mann School, which would be your neighborhood elementary depending on where you live:
http://www.mann.spps.org/
The French Immersion school (L'Etoile Du Nord) school is on the East Side of St. Paul, near Dayton's Bluff, not Highland Park.
We lived on Ford and Fairview in a lovely 1920's style apartment. We loved the neighborhood! Brewberries, a sweet little home-owned coffee shop is just down Fairview. Kitty corner is a Mississippi Market for Organic stuff. Also the Highland library, Blockbuster, Papa Murphy's pizza, Lunds grocery, and the river parkway path are just down Ford. I used to strap on my roller blades and a backpack after work each day, cruise down to Lunds and pick up fresh food for dinner and breakfast! Also, Highlandfest is right on Ford each summer. My hub and I always enjoyed drinking to our heart's content that one day a year, as we could just walk home :) Also, just over on Cleavland is one of our favorite restaurants, The Highland Grill-- lots of innovative and fresh foods.
Unfortunately, I was never real impressed with the public schools in this neighborhood. I think the best bet is one of the magnets (French immersion is near there). I was a sub in St. Paul, and the Highland Park area schools always had lots of behavior problem kids (accept the French immersion). This struck me as odd because most of the people in that neighborhood are very involved with their kids and are quite family oriented. It seems that in that neighborhood though, many of the families can or do afford private school for their kids. The ones that can't or don't afford private go to public. Unfortunately in that neighborhood, that seems to mean lots of kids that have problems in the public school. Another option is the open enrollment. In MN, If you can drive your kids, or if you are within a certain distance, you can choose any St. Paul school, not just the neighborhood school. The magnet schools in St.Paul are excellent! I especially like Museum Magnet, Crossroads Montessori, J.J. Hill Montessori, Four Seasons Arts Magnet, and Galteir Math and Science Magnet.
Best of luck-- we loved this neighborhood!!
:) M.
