An island of Redwood City inside San Carlos.

Strange Boundaries…

Here’s a question for you…What do the listings at 2654 Eaton Avenue, 30 Eaton Villa Place, and 105 De Anza Avenue have in common?

Answer:  They’re not in San Carlos.

Even though they sure sound like familiar San Carlos streets, and their neighbors are most certainly in San Carlos, these homes are actually in… Redwood City. If you’ve been shopping for a home up in the Alder Manor district of San Carlos (west of Alameda de las Pulgas, and south of Brittan) you’ve undoubtedly come across this confusing scenario.  So what’s up with this?

Annexation and Incorporation.

The answer lies in the arrowhead shaped section in the map above.  Around 1922, the area around Hilltop Drive was apparently a large farm with a single farmhouse.  A subdivision titled “Carmelita Manor Near Redwood City, California” was recorded in 1927, and a few additional homes were built on Hilltop Drive in ’29 and ’30.  Sometime around 1936, the pasture area of this farm that was along Eaton Avenue was subdivided into eight lots (Eaton street numbers 2604 through 2656) and homes were built on these lots.*

How the surrounding areas were annexed by both San Carlos and Redwood City isn’t totally clear, but it appears the while the area around Clifford School was annexed by Redwood City in the 1950′s,  the area that surrounded the “Carmelita Manor” boundary remained unincorporated.   When San Carlos annexed that surrounding area in the 1960′s, it was not possible to “de-annex” that little pocket of what was now part of Redwood City. **

So the end result is that there’s a little “island” of Redwood City that is almost totally surrounded by San Carlos.    It’s confusing, and it’s a big reason why the boundary between San Carlos and Redwood City is so peculiar in that area.

I’m sure this explanation clears things up

Uncommon Cities, Common School.

One thing that these neighborhoods do share regardless of whether they’re in San Carlos or Redwood City, is the school district.  As I wrote about in a previous post, the part of San Carlos that’s west of the Alameda all the way up to Brittan Avenue actually feeds into Clifford School, which is in the Redwood City School District.

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*courtesy of the Redwood City Planning Department

** courtesy of the City of San Carlos Planning Department.

Thanks to the folks in both departments for their contributions to this post…..cg

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Is Clifford School getting a fair shake from San Carlos?

This conversation really happens.

I believe that any Realtor who has been selling in San Carlos for any period of time has heard this statement at one time or another (or something akin to it) from a prospective home buyer:

“We don’t want to look at properties in San Carlos that are west of the Alameda, because we don’t want to be in the Redwood City School District.”

I certainly have heard this comment in the past, and I have been told by other agents that they have as well.  (Even more alarming is when that conversation is reversed, and an agent conveys says this exact message to the home buyer…but that’s an entirely different story.)     Don’t shoot the messenger just yet.

Setting aside whether this is right or wrong for a moment, one can understand where this sentiment may come from.  The San Carlos School District is a big draw for some home buyers, and consequently if they’re going to pay for a San Carlos address, they may also want their children to attend San Carlos Schools.    Nothing shocking here — this same scenario is played out in other cities all along the Peninsula that have neighborhoods that border adjacent school districts (Check out this article on Linclon Elementary in Burlingame…the schools in question here are in the SAME school district!)

Are we in San Carlos..or not?

If you’ve been shopping for a home in San Carlos for any period of time,  you have probably figured out that not all homes that are in San Carlos actually feed into the San Carlos School District.    There are pockets on the northernmost parts of the city that feed into the Belmont School District, for example.   But the area that’s pertinent to this discussion is approximated in the shaded area below:


View Larger Map

Ironically, this section of San Carlos is home to some of the nicest neighborhoods and most expensive homes in all of San Carlos.  It includes well-known and sought-after streets like Eaton Avenue, Graceland Avenue, and Debbie Court.  But the fact remains that all of these homes feed into the Redwood City School District, not the San Carlos School District.

It’s important to clarify that this isn’t an argument pitting the Redwood City School District versus the San Carlos School District, because if you look at the Redwood City School District Boundary List, you’ll notice that all of the streets in the map above feed into one particular Redwood City School:  Clifford Elementary.    This discussion is really all about Clifford School.

So, is Clifford School getting a fair shake?

Consider the following facts about Clifford:

• Their most recent API Score was 807. Compare that to the rest of the Redwood City School District, as well as to the API scores of the San Carlos Schools.
• Clifford is a K-8 school, unlike San Carlos elementary schools who split up elementary and middle schools after the 4th grade.
• Clifford’s school grounds have undergone significant upgrading in the past few years.

There’s another school in the Redwood City district that could easily fit the above description:  Roy Cloud School. And believe me, residents of Emerald Hills generally fight tooth and nail to ensure their kids get into Roy Cloud.   So, what’s the difference?   Is any slight, perceived or real, truly justified?

Time to Change the Perception?

When I ask families who I know have their children in Clifford about the school,  every answer I have ever received has been overwhelmingly positive.   If you’re a parent of a Clifford student, I’d love to see you share your insights in the comments below.

Perhaps it’s time to change the perception about the school that serves this pocket of San Carlos.   After all, the same exact thing is happening right now at Sequoia High School…another school that probably hasn’t been given a fair shake…

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