I posted this on the r/Northampton sub first because it’s the most active forum for the region, but I figured I might as well post on the actual r/greenfield sub too. I’m hoping to hear from folks familiar with the Pioneer Valley in general.

My husband and I had initially considered moving to Northampton, but the housing market there is very expensive and, most importantly, he got a job in southern New Hampshire, so we’re planning to move to the Greenfield area. I want to learn more about the school system there.

Our ideal location is relatively inflexible because it needs to be between commuting distance from his job in New Hampshire and our family in northern Connecticut. At this point we’ve visited Greenfield and Turners Falls ~5 times and we really loved how walkable Greenfield is while still being close to activities throughout the Pioneer Valley, and an equal commuting distance between NH and CT. So Greenfield is our target location.

One thing that concerns me about Greenfield, however, is the public school system performance. Looking online, it seems like Greenfield public schools perform unusually poorly — 10-30% on reading and math proficiency. We don’t have any children yet, but that’s in our future plans, so we’re a little concerned about these statistics, especially because we rented through the “starter home” phase of our lives, so we’re planning to skip right past that and buy a larger, long-term home in Greenfield. Ideally, we wouldn’t move again for at least 15 years.

So are the public schools in Greenfield really that bad..? I saw that there’s private schools, some of which seem way more “elite” than anything I’m familiar with in my life, but the most affordable private elementary/middle school seems to be Greenfield Center School (serving pre-K through 7th) and it performs fine on state exams. Then there’s the Four Rivers Public Charter School for 7th-12th which seems pretty good if your child can gain admission. I think we could make it work for Greenfield Center School, with financial aid, but private school is an expense we’d never imagined. I also heard that Massachusetts has a lottery system for “public school choice,” but I haven’t really looked into it yet.

So I’m curious to hear from any parents or those who know parents in the Pioneer Valley, and what your experience or knowledge is of the various school options, through personal experience or your acquaintances.

We’re pretty dead set on Greenfield at this point — communities like Montague and Shelburne are more rural than we have in mind, while South Deerfield could be a possibility but there’re rarely any houses for sale there, and Easthampton/Northampton/Amherst are too far south to happily make a regular commute to NH — so I just wanted to get a better sense of what we’re getting ourselves into when it comes to the school system in Greenfield

Okay, I live in greenfield and sometime in 2022 there were these flyers taped to light poles asking you if you had "signed up for the talent show"/"what are you bringing to the talent show?" I guess I never took any pictures of them, even though they were kind of weird. The flyers had no number to call, no website to visit and were just in plain black text on white paper. I think the last time I saw one was maybe spring 2023? But honestly that's just my best guess, I'm not really sure. I definitely haven't seen any of them in the last year or so. If anyone has any pictures or even just remembers seeing them please let me know!

https://archive.is/4LBkt

Repairs are on tap for Paws Park, the dog park within Green River Park on Petty Plain Road, after police say a New York man crashed into the fence on Friday while allegedly driving intoxicated in a 1978 Chevrolet van.

Michael Rockwell, 61, of Scotia, New York, was arrested Friday on charges of driving under the influence of alcohol, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, leaving the scene of property damage and a marked lanes violation.

According to Police Chief Todd Dodge, no one was injured during the incident, which was reported by numerous eyewitnesses in the area at approximately 6 p.m. Dodge said that with multiple recreational events occurring throughout Green River Park on Friday evening, police estimated a total of 60 to 80 people were in the park at the time.

“The wooden guardrail on the fence was broken with tire marks inside the dog park,” Dodge recounted. “Officer [Nicholas] Limoges observed a multi-colored van parked inside of the fenced-in dog park with multiple parties standing beside it.”

Dodge noted that one eyewitness reportedly removed Rockwell’s keys from the van before police arrived. Limoges reported that Rockwell was having trouble completing sentences, was slurring his words and smelled of alcohol.

When police asked Rockwell where we was going, he allegedly replied that he was “headed home from his address [in New York]” then followed up by saying “Clifton Park.” According to Dodge, when Rockwell was asked what town he was in, Rockwell replied “Glenville.”

According to Dodge, Rockwell blew “above the legal limit” during a breathalyzer test. He added that Sgt. Christopher Rowell, who also responded to Paws Park, learned of reports of a damaged mailbox outside 48 Petty Plain Road at roughly the same time as the incident.

“It’s sad to think somebody would have consumed that much alcohol and ended up in a location he wasn’t even aware of. That’s scary. It’s even scarier that he was driving a vehicle that size into such a heavily occupied park with a lot of recreational activities ongoing. This could have been a tragedy, a massive tragedy,” Dodge said. “I hope he gets the help he needs so that he doesn’t do this again. That’s really what we care about. Clearly he was not in a position to drive.”

The Greenfield Recreation Department posted on Facebook on Friday night advising residents that the dog park would be closed in the wake of the fence damage.

“For your safety as well as your pets, we ask that you stay out of this area,” the post reads. “We will update you when the area can be safely reopened.”

Recreation Director Christy Moore, in a voicemail Monday, said she was “saddened that it happened,” but “grateful that nobody got hurt, human or canine.”

“We will do our best to get it repaired as quick as possible,” Moore said.