Moving to Arizona

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edmonb1

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Hello,
My family and I will be moving to Phoenix in the next few months and wanted to know if anyone has any suggestions for a good area with great schools. I will be self employed in the Glendale area but I dont mind commuting a good distance if the new home, Church and schools are good for us.
Thanks and God bless
 
Hi!! I’m not at all familiar with the Glendale area specifically, but we have the most excellent Bishop Olmsted here – It’s a great diocese. 👍

Traffic is absolutely atrocious here, but I’m sure Californians aren’t unfamiliar with this aspect of suburban living.

Welcome!

Edit: I like the Chandler/Gilbert areas on the East side of the Valley, but that would be one heck of a commute…
 
Yes, those Phoenicians stole our wonderful Bishop! I was confirmed and entered the Church under him while he was in Wichita. Long live the good Bishop!:highprayer:
 
Here in Arizona we have charter schools, which are publicly funded but allowed to run more like private schools. I have my children in one and we are very happy with it. The great thing is you can look around and find one whose philosophy and goals fit with yours the best.

In the Glendale area, I know of one good charter school…Heritage Elementary. We live on the east side of the Valley in Mesa (Glendale is west side) but we visited Heritage for some of our chess tournaments. Above the elementary level, I don’t really know out there. I am planning to use the Great Hearts Academies. They are opening a new one, Mesa Prep, this fall. Those go from 7th to 12th grade. I know there is Veritas Prep in Phoenix and Tempe Prep in Tempe. They have plans to expand to 12 schools statewide in the next few years, and since they are opening ours this fall, I would imagine a west Valley site is next on their list.

Catholic schools…there is St. John Vianney (elementary) in Goodyear, but that is south of Glendale and would be a real drive. The only Catholic high schools I know of are in Phoenix proper. I don’t know other than that, but the diocese website has tons of info.

Good luck! You’ll be near the Cardinals new stadium out there… a truly massive and impressive structure. Too bad the team sucks! 😛
 
Hi there! We moved from Glendale to San Deigo almost four years ago, so I guess you are doing our move in reverse.🙂 We lived in NW Glendale/Arrowhead ranch and really enjoyed the area. IMO the traffic in Maricopa County is worse than here in San Diego. The infrastructure has not caught up to the growth of the county. I don’t want to sound like a downer, but commuting in the heat is just the worse. AC or no AC it is horrible. If you want to keep your commute under a 1/2 hour good areas to look at would be NW Glendale, NW Peoria, Surprise, Litchfield Park and maybe certain parts of NW Phoenix and central Phoenix. Glendale, Peoria and Surprise all have great park and rec depts and many young families. If you don’t mind a larger commute Paradise Valley and NE Scottsdale are great for families - and these 2 areas have good Catholic schools. The East valley as in Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert and such would be at least a 1 1/2 commute to Glendale.

As far as schools, sadly there isn’t a really close Catholic school in those 3 areas (NW Glendale, NW Peoria and Surprise). Litchfield has a good one from what I understand and central Phoenix has quite a few. The diocese was promising a new school at St. Thomas More parrish in NW Glendale but there hasn’t been any movement on it a long time. We sent our kids to St. Jerome’s which is in NW Phoenix and for the most part we were happy with the school. My commute was about 20 minutes. There is a traditonal Catholic school in SE Scottsdale, Ville de Marie, which is an outstanding school. If you are familar with Sierra Madre in San Marcos, that school was patterned after Ville de Marie.

There are several good charter schools in the county. We know many families who send their children to them and say many positive things about them. Public schools seem to get mixed reviews from our friends. It seems to really depend on the school.

If you have any other questions or need additional info, pm me. We are going to Phoenix this weekend to see our family. I told dh we are probably the only people who are going in that direction over Memorial Day - everyone comes to San Diego from Phoenix over the holiday.😉
 
I hope that your move goes well! My husband and I lived in Glendale for a number of years before moving here last summer. I also grew-up in Poway (that’s near San Diego, for those who don’t know the area) and really miss it, though I’ve had 14 years to adjust!

Our kids are both babies, so I don’t have much to tell you about Phoenix schools, but I would recommend the Cathedral, SS Simon and Jude, for a parish. It used to be a little wacky, but our beloved priest from Chandler, Fr. Rob Clements, who married us, is now the rector there and has made some great changes. He is very reverent and humble, has a great sense of humor, and gives really good homilies – sound and practical in our lives.

As others have already alluded to, commutes are going to be a bear no matter how you cut it, but I prefer the West Valley to the East, as I think that traffic is not as big of a problem there and city streets are more viable alternatives to the freeway at some times of day. At one time, I lived in Tempe and commuted to central Phoenix, while I later lived in Glendale and commuted downtown. The latter was much easier!

Hope this helps. God bless you!
 
Thanks for all the info.Sorry I havent replied in a few days, been a little sick and my 3 kids are a handful. My wife and I are currenlty looking into all the places and schools you all recommended.

Take care and God Bless
 
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