Help me find a community...

amother

OP ↓

Yesterday at 11:49 am

I live in a super high cost of living area, high crime, and lots of homeless....
I want to move but need to convince my husband.
Can you help me find a community? Please state cost of an average 3-4 bedroom home and anything interesting about the community!

Low cost of living. Vouchers for all (without income requirements) are a plus of course.

Prefer nature/green. I am more suburban minded than urban/big city.

Small class sizes at the yeshiva day school. I have one kid who has been bullied and would like a school that can pay attention. In her current large class she gets lost in the shuffle and teachers don't see obvious bullying.

Yeshivas school be academically stimulating. While I won't force my kids to get degrees, I would want that option available if possible. One of my kids is also above grade level in reading, loves science and history etc.

Nice, welcoming, friendly community. Mine has too many cliques.

We are not chassidish, not straight yeshivish but not MO either. (We have degrees, I cover hair and legs fully, daughter dresses tzniyusly, let some secular books but I monitor, not in kollel).

Would like a decent medical system.

We don't need a ton of amenities in terms of Jewish life. We aren't huge on restaurants or the like. While nice, completely not necessary.

amother

Lightcoral ↓

Yesterday at 12:16 pm

are you ok if your child won't be challenged at the grade above level. like do you just want them to have an education that they can go on to college or do you actually want them to be challenged if that makes sense?
Cincinnati might be something you want to look in.

Please realize that small classes often means less resources and your kid won't necessarily be challenged to the level you want them to be but they can go to college afterwards if that's your only litmus test.

A large percentage of the community does work in the schools/shuls.... which is true for many/most of out town communities but there are some people who don't but I do think it's something to be mindful of if you don't plan to.

I do think that even in small communities bullying can happen unfortunately I think a lot is class specific.

amother

↑ OP ↓

Yesterday at 5:53 pm

amother Lightcoral wrote:

I am OK if he isn't incredibly challenged- he isn't now. I can give enrichment on our own. I just don't want a school where they are still teaching addition in 3rd grade or kids can't read... my kid would be so bored and couldnt handle it. I have a friend in one city where she was boasting about high academics in her kids school and I was afraid to burst her bubble that it was standard to learn that 1-2 grades younger than her kid.

Can you tell me about the negatives if you don't work in the schools?

amother

↑ Lightcoral ↓

Yesterday at 6:37 pm

amother OP wrote:

it's a personal thing. one small objective thing is that if you teach there you get a "key" so you don't have to wait to be buzzed in to come in to the school to get your kid. It's the same "key" for elementary and high school. But really it's just a personal thing. I'm not saying it has to bother you, just something to be aware of. Are you going to need childcare and for how long? Is it going to annoy you if they have events for parents during the day? I get the impression that teachers will get coverage for the 20 minutes to come to their kid's end of unit program in pre-k. I'm a Sahm but I don't get the impression that childcare for long hours is so easy to come by because that's not the norm here.

my daughter could read before entering kindergarten in chds (she was switching from Ohr Torah) and the teacher was totally fine with it. I know the principal in a different community ( more in town) had asked me why would I teach my kid to read and I was like what you want me to tell her when she asks me what something says, I can't tell you? ) my dd who is going through the system starting from 3 year olds is starting to learn how to read now in kindergarten. I don't think she's behind.

is there remediation in your son's school? In Chds they have resource room. kids who can't read are taken out for remediation. my girls said 3rd grade they are usually reading magic tree house and learning multiplication.

I asked my highschooler. she said she doesn't find a difference between the graduates of Ohr Torah and CHDS in terms of where they are scholastically, there's tracks for certain subjects and the tracks are a mix from both schools, if you are deciding between the schools. She also said that she gets the impression that in other schools they are ahead in certain things and behind in others compared to what she's learning. I also get the impression that my younger daughter's class is ahead of where my older daughter's class was at the same grade in limudei kodesh, don't know if the level of education is rising or they are just in different classes.

I just don't want to paint a rainbows and unicorns picture. bored children in school is definitely something we've struggled with and have been incredibly frustrated about but my oldest was also tracked and was able to take advanced math in 8th grade.

Hashem_Yaazor ↓

Yesterday at 6:43 pm

It's rising across the board because the administration infrastructure is quite stable with a set, continuous curriculum and measured standards. Less turnover than in the past as well.

Also, there's a difference in above grade level and really accelerated. Many students are above grade level and that's accommodated pretty well. It gets more if an issue when a student is vastly ahead of the class...

(Signed a mother of 2 post high school students and a bunch more still in the system.... With many ups and downs during the years 😉 )

amother

Fern ↓

Yesterday at 6:49 pm

amother Lightcoral wrote:

Second Cincinnati. I lived in a place like that and my son was bullied. We moved to Cincinnati and he's much happier and has spread his wings.

↑ Hashem_Yaazor ↓

Yesterday at 7:10 pm

amother OP wrote:

I know nothing about Cincinnati so please tell me everything!
Zillow links?
Is there an eruv?
Can you tell me about the schools?
Are there high schools for both boys and girls?
Shuls?
While I would love to work in a school I am not a teacher so I wonder if they have a need for my field...
What is crime like?

Most available houses that frum people want aren't really on Zillow right now. There are a few available I can think of offhand and if you're serious, there are frum realtors to speak to, but first do your research.
The eruv is top notch... Nationally recognized as being a model to other communities in terms of halachic standards and levels of checking.
PM me and I'm happy to talk to you about CHDS. My knowledge of OTC is only from the sidelines so I'm not your best bet for that. I've sent to at least 8 different schools at this point in the past 2 decades and I can honestly say CHDS is my favorite.
There's a girl's high school and a mesivta, as well as a Chabad Yeshiva.
The 3 main shuls in the area are CZE, Golf Manor, and Shaarei Torah and there's a lot of overlap between the shuls as people are just happy to not be confined to a box. There's also Chabad and an extremely active kollel which is rare from what I hear from others in different communities. It's busting at its seams at night at the same time I see the parking lot at CZE full with cars from men learning there as well.
You can speak to me about your field privately if you'd like...
Crime ba"h isn't something we usually feel is present in the community. The police take a very strong stance if there's a car break in or anything. Strong police presence in Golf Manor and Amberley where the Jewish population is mainly concentrated. People are moving out to Roselawn now as well which is officially City of Cincinnati so the police scene is different there. Vouchers are a bit complicated based on which area you live in, age of kid, and whether it's income based or not but the income level is very generous. I can assist with that as well.

amother

↑ Lightcoral ↓

Yesterday at 7:20 pm

amother OP wrote:

a police officer told me that if he could pick where to live, irrespective of price he would pick Amberley or a certain very high end neighborhood in cincinnati. he lives in neither but he feels like those are the safest neighborhoods. He said there have been two home breakins this year and I believe they caught both. you will frequently see police officers driving around. it's taken very seriously.

amother

↑ Fern ↓

Yesterday at 7:22 pm

Cincinnati does have a very good eruv. There are a few parts of Cincinnati where the Jewish community lives. There is Golf Manor, where there are houses that are on the small side and houses can go 150 to 250.
Amberley Village is another part that have bigger houses but houses got from 450, to a lot higher than that .
Roselawn is building up, and houses go starting at 350.
There are 2 schools here. Cincinnati Hebrew Day School (or Chds) and Ohr Torah .
Ohr Torah is grades Toddlers to 8th grade and it's Montessori style until 6th grade.
Chds has grades 18 months to 8th grade. ( If you work there and you have a baby there is also a daycare to put your baby there while you work). I don't know about Ohr Torah, but Chds has one grade per class. In Chds the girls and boys are separated starting 1st grade. The biggest class for the girls is 20 girls and the boys is 6th grade which is 27 boys .
There is a high school for girls called Atara. The Mesivta started 4 years ago and it's growing!

Chds always welcomes staff even without degrees, I have friends there that are staff members without a degree and they love working there!

There are 4 Shuls here, Golf Manor Synagogue, Zichron Eliezer, Shaarei Torah, and a Lubavitch Shul. There is a Lubavitch community here with Yeshiva and we are all friends here.

We love everyone who comes here and you can be who you are.

amother

↑ Lightcoral ↓

Yesterday at 7:24 pm

amother Fern wrote:

should warn you though that 5th grade girls doesn't exist in chds and I think OTC's not accepting for that grade. Someone moved to town recently but they pushed her up to 6th and I think it's working out.