Soon to Be New in Town Looking for a Great Preschool. Upper St.Clair or Mt Lebon

Hello, USC and Mt. Lebanon are both nice communities, lots of activities. Both are regarded as some of the more "upscale" communities in the South Hills area, which has its good points & bad points, basically it's what you feel comfortable with. (Many other nice communities around here too). The schools for both are very well regarded, the disadvantage might be that they are both large and very competitive. We live USC and like it quite a bit. We moved here 6 months ago from Washington Co. which as mentioned below does have significantly lower taxes. We liked it there too but decided to come to USC for the school system, the community resources, and we felt like we were always driving in to go to anything. (The taxes in USC have been a bit of an ouch because we are not wealthy but we budgeted it out). We go to church in Mt. Lebanon (United Presbyterian)and my son goes to preschool there. It's called Kingdom Kids, I am very happy with the program there. Also in Mt. L is a Montessori school, some people like that. I know many people in Mt. Lebanon, again very good schools but as someone said there are no buses. Also the general type of homes are differnt. In Mt. Lebanon there are a lot of 80-90 year old houses, very beautiful but sometimes lacking in modern updates, have smaller kitchens, 1-car garages, etc. There are shops in Mt. Lebanon that depending on what neighborhood exactly you are in that you can walk to, which is nice. USC does have a mall (that also is partly in Bethel Park) but there is no nice "downtown" area, it's mostly all residential. USC homes tend to be a little newer and more spacious (2 car garages, bigger yards) but many homes, as ours is, are in the 40 year old range. New construction is almost nonexistent in Mt. L.,any new construction in USC is very expensive (400K+). In case you need a realtor, I loved ours, she does a lot in both communities. Let me know if you want her name or if I can let you know about anything else. Good luck!

Both are excellent school districts. Taxes are awful. I live in South Park witch is about 10 minutes from Upper Saint Clair. I have a special needs child and South Park is a smaller school district. However I also hear that USC has excellent placement for special needs too.
Both are good and I personally like South Park too.

Good Luck

BTW
Do you need a real estate agent. I have one if you are interested and perhaps she could send you info on what you need. Just thought I'd offer.

N.

Kingdom Kids at Mt. Lebanon United Presbyterian Church has excellent reviews. I will be sending my baby there when she is age appropriate. In Upper St. Clair I have heard Westminister Church has a nice preschool.

Hi K.! I just moved to the area from Dallas about 6 months ago. It was a huge change for me as I also stopped working at the same time. When my husband and I came to look at homes, we looked at Upper St Clair, Mt Lebanon, Bethel Park, and South Park. Our final picks were in Upper St Clair and Bethel Park based on the size of the homes (we needed 4 bedroom and space for guests), the family friendly environments, school district, and property taxes. You'll see when you come to look that USC and Bethel are very close in proximity, and depending at the stats you look at, very comparable in quality of schools. My husband drives 5 minutes to the "T" to get to his job downtown. The taxes are a bit lower in Bethel. We ended up in a wonderful neighborhood in Bethel Park with tons of kids. This has saved my life as I have made terrific friends in my neighborhood when I may have otherwise been rather secluded. I am 5 minutes from the store, but I have deer walk through my back yard and 3 horse stables and parks nearby. We participate in activities at the library and rec center which are abundant. The other towns- USC and Mt Lebanon also have lots of community programs. Mt Lebanaon does not have buses or school lunches from what I understand. I would love to meet you when you come to town. We benefited from having a couple we knew here to advise us as we made choices. There is a house accross the street for sale if you wanted to get an idea of the neighborhood- its on Palamino Drive in Bethel Park. Best of luck! Oh right- you were looking for Preschool- my daughter attends 1st bethel Presbyterian and loves it!

I take my daughter to a preschool in Bethel Park that's close to both of those area's. She's currently in the moms and tots class (she had turned 2 in August) and the 3 year old preschool classes will be tuesday and thursday - afternoon's and mornings. Registration just started too so if you're interested let me know and I'll get you their number

My 19 month old son goes to Westminster Presbyterian. IT's in USC on Route 19. Their program is excellent and always gets high marks. Their registration just started or will start shortly. You should contact Karon Hammond at ###-###-####. She is the director at Westminster Child Development Center to see if you can get on the waiting list. But at least you can get an appointment and check out the pres-school room and program. I live 2 minutes from there in Brookside farms. Both Bethel Park and USC are part of Brookside Farms and is very conveniently located to stores, hospitals, downtown, etc. At the same time it is very rural and definitely child- and dog-friendly. Any other questions, I'd be happy to help out.
D.

You may want to consider looking at Peters Township. It borders Upper St. Clair on the south side...minutes from Bethel as well. The school district is one of the top in the state and because it's in a different county (Washington county), the taxes can sometimes be 1/2 of what USC (Allegheny county) pays. We just moved to the area as well and couldn't believe the difference in the taxes. If you do consider Peters, I'd look into St. Benedict's preschool or Little Lambs of Hope. St. Ben's is larger and has a waiting list...Little Lambs is smaller, with smaller classes and the child/teacher ratio is great! Good luck with your move...if you would like some info. on Peter's let me know...we really love it!

B.