Relocating Family Needs YOUR Wichita Expertise

1) Derby, Andover or Maize
2) Derby, Andover and Maize school districts have excellent reputations and are some of the best schools in the area.

Hi A.!

Welcome to Wichita! Riverside is a nice neighborhood, with older unique homes. I am partial to the NW side of Wichita and the Maize School System. That is where we are hoping to send our son to when he gets of school age. Goddard is a good school district as well. Andover is great, but on the pricey side. In my opinion as well, I wouldn't go to Wichita Schools, unless it was a magnet or private school, but that's just my opinion. Hope this helps, and if have anymore questions, feel free to ask. I have lived here my whole life. Again, Welcome!!

K.

A.,

Riverside is a great artsy type neighborhood with older homes. Benjamin Hills is a great older neighborhood that feels like you're not in the city. Also, Rockwood has a lot of nice homes. I can't speak to a lot of the newer housing development as I've not had much experience with them.
The Wichita public schools have a lot to offer if you're willing to look. Our son attends McLean Science and Tech Magnet and we love it. Hyde is also a highly sought after magnet school that always has a waiting list. Our nephew attends Emerson Open magnet and his parents have no complaints. It gets a lot harder at the middle school level however. It seems most of the middle schools are struggling. Allison being the exception. If private schools are an option, the Independent school and Collegiate both have good reputations. My only hesitation with a suburb would be the that there isn't as much diversity that you might find more of in the city setting.
Good luck with everything!

Welcome!
We moved back to Wichita two years ago after living in CA for four years. The first time we were here, we had just bought a house just outside of Derby and our kids would have attended Rosehill schools. We now live in a newer subdivision on the NE side of town (off of 21st St N & 127th St E). We live in Wichita but are in the Andover school district. I've heard from another mom who lived in Andover (Butler County) in order for her kids to attend that district, but the taxes were very high. She said when they move back, she'd rather live where we do for the lower taxes. I think property taxes are high anyway, but I thought I'd pass it along. We had thought of looking on the west side, but our church and my husband's job are on the east side. The nice thing about Wichita is whatever side you live on, there are few reasons to travel to the other side. Both have malls, Walmart/Target, grocery, etc. How nice to have the ability to talk to others before you move!! I wish I had known about this site before moving to CA! Good luck!

Well, this of course is just one moms' - who lives in Wichita - opinion. We live on the west side of Wichita in the Goddard school district. We have three children - one who will be a junior at Goddard High School, one who will be in 5th grade and one will just be starting kindergarten! Three areas of life! HA Anyway, we have lived in this area for about 3 years is all - and we love it. Very close to groceries, Walmart, movies, theaters, Towne West Mall and wonderful, clean, friendly neighborhoods! Another school district that is excellent is the Maize school district - you can also live on the west side of Wichita and be in that school district. You will have to find out the boundaries to each school district. Derby is a small suburb of Wichita - but a very expensive small town to live in - but a pretty good rep for their schools. There are many more small surrounding towns that you might want to look into - Rosehill, Haysville, Mulvane, etc. Good luck! We love the Wichita and hope that you will too!!

Having moved here myself 12 years ago, I can say whatever school you chose will work fine as long as you are involved in your children's education. My daughter attends a Wichita school, Kelly Liberal Arts Academy and we both love it. The teachers are great and they have a good PTA. I have also been told not to let my daughter attend Wichita schools, but I know quite a few students who ALL attend Wichita schools and have done amazingly well. I am a youth sponser at my church and my kids there attend mostly Truesdell and South High, all of them are on the honor roll and some who just graduated this year had 4.0's! They are all amazing kids. Sure I have been told other schools are much better, but not all of us can afford to live in the richer neighborhoods. I believe your kids are going to get whatever education they need by the effort they put into it. I think it more important for them to feel comfortable, so just come take a look around, any place you chose will probably have a school you will like. And welcome!! How old are your kids? Where are you moving from? Will you be needing a church to attend? If you'd like any more answers, feel free to contact me again.

Good Afternoon A., Welcome to Central Ks.
I grew up mostly in Wichita, attending Gardener Elementary, in south Wichita, attending Knight Elem. ( no longer there) and Truesdale Jr High. We moved to Oaklawn when I started 8th grade. Parents divorced. I graduated from Derby High in 69. Hubby & i married in 71 and lived for 3 years outside of Derby. Derby is South of Wichita on K-15, it has expanded through the years. Hubby & I love small towns so we lived 11 yrs in Rose Hill, great schools there and it is a growing community also. Rose Hill is East of Wichita. Then we lived in Augusta ( East on 54 hwy ) for 7 Yrs. Kids attended Garfield Elem. and Augusta Middle school. We moved to TX for 6 years and have been in Benton, Ks now for 10 years. Benton is North east of Andover very small town living. We do not have a grocery store or Wally World but they are easy to get to in Andover or Kellogg
Another area on the East side is Belle Aire. Friends have lived there 15 or more yrs. Also College Hill Area is nice older homes. Off of Kellogg/54 hwy & Oliver. A very close friend's bought her parents home when their children were small, all the kids are grown and went to Catholic Schools and Southeast. Their eldest daughter lives in Maize and they love it there also.

One thing to ask a realtor when moving on the West side of Wichita is if the area floods during heavy rain. There are places in West and downtown Wichita that get very high Water.
So before you buy ask alot of questions.
I just love country type living not in the middle of things. There are some nice homes West of Derby off of Hydraulic, acre or 2 lots etc. Also Building New homes in the 100's on 21st and hwy 96 east. Reed's Cove and Reed's landing.

After living in Houston TX area for 6 yrs anything here is easy to get to and fast.

Welcome to Wichita area.
God Bless your moving and give you stress free situations.
K.
In Benton
____@____.com

If you're looking for a great neighborhood with character, College Hill in east Wichita is the place. There are many good public schools in the area and private schools in and near the area. People walk and ride bikes ALOT and many blocks have block parties. The houses were built in the 20's & 30's and the neighborhood has been very well maintained. It's close in to downtown, if you have to commute, but in Wichita, most anything is within a 15-20 minute drive. Just across Oliver from College Hill is Crown Heights. Also an older, well maintained neighborhood. Most homes were built in the 30's. However, because College Hill & Crown Heights are so desirable, if you are on a budget, you can get more square footage for the money in other neighborhoods. Riverside is also a great older neighborhood. Homes were built from around 1900-1925. Lots of character and slightly more affordable than College Hill/Crown Heights, although I'm not very familiar with the schools around there.

I also saw someone mention Rockwood, which is also a good neighborhood in east Wichita. Directly north of Towne East Mall and very convenient to Hawker Beechcraft.

The best thing to know about Wichita real estate is that if it seems like a really good deal for the square footage, it may be a less than desirable neighborhood. That's not to say that if you are willing to do some work and buy a fixer upper there aren't bargains to be found, but, as in most cities, the better the neighborhood, the higher per square foot the price.

Good Luck! Feel free to contact me if you would like more info.

Hi A., Welcome to "ta town!"

I am part of the Northwest group. We live in Tyler's Landing which is north of 29th past Tyler. We are in the Maize school district and they are actually building new schools right across the street from us. Any of the developments in this area I would definitely recommend. Anything in the Goddard School district I would highly recommend as well. This next part is just MY opinion . . . I will not send my children to Wichita Public schools.

Hope that helps!

The very north east side of town is a great location. North rock road and North woodlawn are good. Webb road is good as well. The Northwest side of town is a good area as well. 21st and Tyler, 21st and Ridge areas. Belaire is a good little suburb. Small, friendly, right outside Wichita. Strict cops!! Watch your speed! But they are helpful as well.
DO NOT move around 9th and Grove. Bad bad area. DO NOT move to the Southeast side of town. Very low income areas, minority areas, drug areas. Not that low income or minorities are bad ppl to be around, just typically there is more crime in those areas.
My best recommendations would be North Rock road or Woodlawn between (north to south) 45th street to 21st street for the East side. West side my recommendation would be 21st and Tyler or 21st and Ridge, if you can afford these places. If its too expensive Belaire doesnt cost as much and is really a pleasant community. Belaire is on the Northeast side of town and it covers (from North to South)37th street, 45th street, 53rd street, down to 61st street. It also covers some of (East to West) rock road, woodlawn, Oliver, and some of Hillside. It may cover more but thats the majority of the suburb.
I hope this helps!! Its kind of hard to picture without a map so when reading this a map may be very helpful for understanding the locations! Let me know if you have anymore questions!
Schools in these areas are typically the better ones in the city.
* I had to add this part after seeing people post negative things about the Wichita school systems. I think there are a lot of schools that are terrible, mainly in the low income areas of the city, but there are also a lot of good schools. I think, personally, that Wichita schools get a bad reputation that really isnt deserved. Magnent schools are typically pretty good schools in Wichita. I wouldnt send my kid to Mayberry Middle School, nor would I send them to South High School, North High School, Southeast High School, or West High School. Heights High, Northwest High, East High are all good high schools in Wichita. Someone posted about Allison Middle School and I went there as a kid. It was a very good middle school compared to most of the others. I am unsure about Elementary Schools in the area though. I went to Buckner Elementary Performing Arts Magnent School. WONDERFUL school, unfortunately it wasnt in a great neighborhood. Again, I hope this helps!

We live off of East Harry between Webb and Greenwich. I love our neighborhood. There are young families all around us although i don't get to see much of anyone but our neighbor who is older but has young children. We converse through our fence LOL but it's quiet here and there are TONS of houses for sale. We did have someone try to break out a window in one of our vehicles that was parked in the street but honestly....that can happen anywhere. We never park our car in the street except for that one time because we had company. Other then that we never have complaints about this neighborhood. I feel safe going on walks with my kids and I see lots of people walking everyday here.

have to agree with the last poster as to wichita schools when ours goes to middle school we are moving to the burbs if at all possible either goddard or andover