Stamford schools are not bad AT ALL. My two kids went through (district, not magnet) and are now quite successful 20-somethings, living in their own apartments, with their own jobs. The thing I always ask parents is this: How good was YOUR elementary school? Do you even know? Do you think it mattered? (Answer: it didn’t. It’s elementary school.) Pick the place you want to live based on the place you want to live. Your kids will become the people they will become based on YOU and your family life, not the place where they learn how to do long division.

Think about the lifestyle you will have if your kids go to your local, district school. My kids walked to elementary, middle, AND high school. Imagine the hours we saved because of that! Their friends could walk home with them and come over after school. I would see their friends’ parents in the supermarket. I didn’t have to drive them everywhere. Stamford High is close enough to downtown that high schoolers can walk to a job after school. Living near a city bus stop or train stop will give your children a welcome taste of independence.

Middling test scores doesn’t mean that YOUR child’s test scores will be middling—any more than going to school with poor children will make your child poor.

Does anyone really think the teachers in Darien and New Canaan are somehow better than the teachers in Stamford? Teachers are teachers—there’s good ones and unfortunately bad ones in every district. There’s no magic to high test scores other than high real estate values. If you like what Stamford has to offer, you’ll be happy in our schools. Welcome!