Marblehead, MA
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2/5/2018
I have been to every state except Alaska and can say Marblehead is the nicest places to live. However, there are two big cons.
1. Is the unequal way properties are assessed for tax purposes. Taxes are high enough already but when you see a neighborhood house sell for way more or way less than their assessed value you know something is wrong. I file an appeal of an over assessed value both at the local level and with an appeal to the state. It was an extremely unfair and unprofessional process. There is simply no way to avoid being overassessed based on an arbitrary decision by the extremely unprofessional good old boy local assessor.
2. The declining quality of the education and the curriculum standards imposed by the State Department of Education. One of the ugly truths about education in Massachusetts is that Massachusetts is one of only six states in the US that does not have or even permit local program for gifted students. Instead the state imposes a grade level curriculum based on teaching to the mean level of students in that grade no tracking of students by ability is permitted. Yes, every high school does have AP courses but that keeps a student challenged for only 50 minutes a day. Charter schools are no better as they must admit students based on a lottery not ability.
We sent out daughter to our neighborhood elementary school which was terrific. But when she got to junior high and was simply bored we asked the school what they could do to challenge her, they told us nothing could be done and to send her to a private school that had high admission standards. We did and she excelled and now at 25 is doing better than any of her peers that stayed in the Marblehead Public Schools. While Ssnding a child to high performing private school is an option it is an expensive one.
Also, when we moved here 30 years ago the Marblehead Public Schools were one of the top rated schools systems in the state... it no longer is.
richard | Marblehead, MA