What are some areas in Silicon Valley that have a good public high school (850+) but not so good elementary and middle? We plan on using private schools for educating our kids early on and then use public high schools.

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Question on Quora:

What are some areas in Silicon Valley that have a good public high school (850+) but not so good elementary and middle? We plan on using private schools for educating our kids early on and then use public high schools.

Robert Lei, REALTOR, E-PRO at Century 21 M&M and Associates

Hi, Yes, I know the perfect spot within Silicon Valley for you if you want excellent high school but do not need excellent elementary. One part of Sunnyvale has just this scenario. To see what region I’m talking about, go to this link: Silicon Valley School Districts . Scroll down and click on “Sunnyvale Elementary”. Look for the light-blue region along the western edge of Sunnyvale bordering Mountain View that says “Vargas Elementary”. This is the part of Sunnyvale that has an excellent public high school (Homestead High School API=873) but not as good elementary (Vargas Elementary API=776). Usually, elementary schools have higher API and the API gets worse as you move from elementary to middle to high school. However, this pocket of Sunnyvale is an exception because Vargas Elementary is joined by the two star elementary schools Cherry Chase Elementary (API = 952) and Cumberland Elementary (API = 947) when they reach high school at Homestead High.

Note: The API scores I’ve reported above are the 3-year average of the last 3 recorded years of the Academic Performance Index (API) from the California Department of Education website.

I’m guessing you are asking for “not so good” elementary because you are hoping to get the good high school without paying such a high price for the house as you would be forced to pay if you bid on houses that had all 3 schools — elementary, middle, and high school — all highly ranked. If so, you are correct that the prices of these homes aren’t quite as high as the homes that are in the Cherry Chase Elementary and Cumberland Elementary attendance areas.

Sunnyvale Elementary School Gap Appears to be Closing

Sunnyvale Elementary School Gap Appears to be Closing

Posted Under: Home Buying in Sunnyvale, Home Selling in Sunnyvale, In My Neighborhood in Sunnyvale | October 17, 2012 11:56 AM | 13 views | No comments

The gap in performance between schools in the Sunnyvale Elementary school district appears to be closing, based on the recently released latest API results. For many years, we had Cherry Chase #1 and Cumberland #2 both FAR ahead of the rest of Sunnyvale schools in Academic Performance Index (API). Ellis Elementary then emerged as a clear #3 with the remaining schools still far behind.

However, the latest results show a strong improvement in Bishop Elementary (+25) and good improvement in San Miguel Elementary (+7) while a couple of the top schools Cherry Chase (-11) and Ellis Elementary (-4) dropped slightly. If Bishop Elementary and San Miguel Elementary continue their climb, they will break the 800 API barrier next year. From an investment point of view, you might be wise to buy houses in those two neighborhoods while they are still below the psychological 800 barrier.

By the same token, now may be the smart time to buy in the Cumberland Elementary neighborhood. Cumberland Elementary looks poised to overtake Cherry Chase as the #1 ranked school in the Sunnyvale School District. If/when that happens, it will be a huge psychological stimulus for Cumberland home prices.

Robert Lei, REALTOR, ePRO
Century 21 M&M and Associates
474 E. El Camino Real
Sunnyvale, CA 94087
(408) 893-2410

Sunnyvale Cherry Chase Elementary Houses Near Highway 85 Power Lines

In a previous blog article, I wrote about the various school attendance boundaries in the Sunnyvale Union School District.
http://siliconvalleyhouses.blogspot.com/2010/05/sunnyvale-elementary-school-district.html

As you can see from the Sunnyvale School District Elementary School Site Boundaries Map, the western portion of the Cherry Chase Elementary attendance area is close to highway 85 and therefore is relatively close to the power lines that run along highway 85.

Those power lines can be an eye sore and the humming noise can sometimes get on your nerves, but the more important question is "Does the extra EMF radiation from those power lines increase the likelihood of cancer in the homeowners who live near power lines?"

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a study by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) titled "Electric and Magnetic Fields (EMF) Radiation from Power Lines"

Some takeaways from that report are:
1. The general scientific consensus is that, thus far, the evidence available is weak and is not sufficient to establish a definitive cause-effect relationship.
2. ... exposure to extremely low frequency EMF, the type found in homes near power lines. Based on studies about the incidence of childhood leukemia involving a large number of households, NIEHS found that power line magnetic fields are a possible cause of cancer.

Concerned home owners and potential home buyers should read the entire NIEHS report. For further discussion, home owners and buyers should read the various "Fact Sheets" from Transpower (a New Zealand power company).