Fremont Real Estate Blog

Just got this forwarded to me by OneDublin.org: 2010 API Scores Released Today 2010 API scores for California schools were released today. Highlights: Dublin High's API jumped 26 points to 868, Wells and Murray had dramatic gains, and improvements were registered across key sub-groups. Overall the District API jumped to 878. Dougherty Elementary continues to have the highest API in the District at 939. For your convenience, OneDublin.org has compiled all results by school site. Read more... SUNIL SETHI REAL ESTATE Sunil Sethi / Broker, President, REALTOR, MBA / SUNIL SETHI REAL ESTATE 38750 Paseo Padre Pkwy Suite B3 / Fremont, CA 94536 www.sunilsethi.com CA DRE#: 01173766

This was passed to neighbors of the Cambridge Way community. -sunil Dear Neighbors, The New Haven Unified School District is in the process of making some important decisions that stand to impact every student in our district. I encourage you to stay informed, either by attending school board meetings, reading the meeting minutes, talking to educators in our district and/or reading our local newspaper. This issues are complex and many, and have the potential to impact our kids for years to come. There is currently a petition being circulated for signatures in advance of this coming Tuesday night's school board meeting. At issue are the elimination of class size reduction and the reopening of Barnard White Middle School, which was closed for financial reasons several years ago. (The following link provides some background on the original decision: http://www.nhusd.k12.ca.us/system/files/faq.pdf ). The school is slated to be opened for 180 kids this fall. (For reference, the other...

below is the press release by NHUSD. -ss NEW HAVEN UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD OF EDUCATION BRIEFS Forced because of the ongoing state financial crisis to make another round of drastic budget cuts, the Board of Education on Tuesday night accepted a recommendation that will save – for only one year, unless a new revenue stream is identified – the co-curricular and extra-curricular activities that are so vital to the New Haven community. The Board approved staff recommendations totaling $3.6 million in new reductions for 2010-11, on top of $1.6 million in reductions previously approved for next year. As a result, class sizes will be larger in kindergarten through third grade in 2010-11, and the District no longer will offer transportation for elementary and middle school students. The Board also approved reductions that provide the state-mandated starting point for balancing the 2011-12 and 2012-13 budgets. Eliminating stipends and release periods for co-curricular and extra-curricular...

15 Seconds of Fame Channel 11 news called this morning to do a human interest story on my annual dictionary give away. Kari McVeigh Superintendent of New Haven Unified (covers all of Union City and part of South Hayward) , Rick LaPlante Public Information Officer for NHUSD dropped by for the interview as well (Rick corrected me this morning, this is the 4th year I've done this). The segment will air tomorrow morning sometime between 4:30am to 7:00 am. The last time I was on TV was in high school for the Channel 20 Sock Hop, I'm glad there was no dancing involved this time. Rum Cake Contest/Soft Grand Opening (Dec. 12 from 1-4pm) To inaugurate my new office I'm hosting a Rum Cake Contest and will offer the 1st place winner a $75 cash prize, 2nd place will get $50, and 3rd place will get an honorable mention. Of course all submissions will become the property of my stomach. Rules: Any cake plus any alcohol (lots of it). All winners most be over 21 years of age. Please dro...

Steven Fong and I have been helping organize the distribution of dictionaries to all 3rd graders in the New Haven Unified School District since 2006 on behalf of the Bay East Association of Realtors. The dictionaries' are acquired through a national program called the Dictionary Project . For about $40 we can buy a box of 24 dictionaries to distribute to a 3rd grade classroom. I like this volunteer effort because as a Realtor I like doing activities which show the community that Realtors like to do activities that help communities increase their home values (I also organized the neighborhood watch and our annual National Night Out events). Also when we deliver the dictionaries to the kids in the classroom, they just warm up your heart from their appreciation. For the last two years, I've been asking Bayeast to let other businesses/individuals in the community participate with us because I believe the more groups of people we get involved with helping our schools, the better our...

a friend whose daughter is in the same soccer league as my daughter recommend the following private schools that her kids were attending in the hayward area. Lea's Christian school covers Pre-4th grade Redwood Christian. covers 5th to 12th Monreau High School covers 9th to the 12th

I'm always looking for bargains in good school districts. I saw a beautiful home in San Ramon's Windemere community with almost 3900 living space asking $950,000. It's bank owned. This will go fast. call me if you're interested.

this article on the risk of high-risk borrowers was published on Sunday. In general I am worried about the excess easy lending that took place in the sub-prime market. In the last 5 years sub-prime lenders we're offering loans to anyone with a pulse: 1 day out of bankruptcy - "no problem", mortgage lates - "no problem", in foreclosure - "no problem". Bankers with their loose guidelines were no worse than a prison warden who decided to hand out guns to every murderer upon completion of their term. However real estate pricing is determined locally. Palo Alto will always be Palo Alto. Similarly, Fremont's Mission School District is rated the top ten in the state, and the homes in its district are scarce. I'm not seeing price deterioration in prime neighborhoods but I am scared about the less desirable communities. I expect further price erosion in outlying areas (Tracy, Stockton, Modesto, Merced , Bakersfield, Redding ) neighborhoods with l...

Let's Just Try Drilling Down to see what we'd expect to do to improve a school's scores Our Goal is to increase the school's API score to the range of 930+ So in order to do well on a test, the students, teachers, and parents need to know what's on the test. Let’s first focus on what we as parents have control over - our kids. Ideally, we'd like to be able to administer the test to our kids periodically, assess weak areas, build skills in those areas, such that by the time the exam approaches, they are comfortable taking the exam, and know the material well enough to achieve the desired results. The 1st problem is I can't find a sample of the test online. (some help here please) I’m hoping our teachers get feedback on individual student progress from the state, based on the results of last year’s exams which were used to derive the API scores. So they should be able to tell us our kids’ weaknesses and the additional skills they'll need for this years exa...

Just went through the scores for Alameda, Contra Costa, San Clara, San Mateo and San Francisco County. Check out the easy links for these reports at http://www.sunilsethi.com/API_scores_by_county.htm The walk away impression is if you want to buy where all 3 schools score greater than an 800 and a decent home less than $1M, your choices are Fremont, Pleasanton, and maybe Cupertino though it'll be smaller than Fremont or Pleasanton. If you can manage the commute, San Ramon's schools are excellent, though they don't make the top ten list in the state. The Top Elementary Schools in the State were (boldface indicates northen Calif School) Faria (william) - Cupertino Union - 1000 Miliken - Santa Clara - 997 Mission San Jose - Fremont Unified - 991 Gomes - Fremont Unified - 989 Dilworth - Cupertino Union - 988 North Star - Redwood City - 987 Hoover - Palo Alto - 985 Oak Avenue - Los Altos - 984 Sleepy Hollow - Orinda Union - 982 Balboa Gifted - Los Angeles Unified - 982 Blue Hill...