I know a professor there with young kids. West lafeyette is nicer. However, they moved from the far west side of town to just east of purdue for what they said was the best school district. You want me to try to get some more general data for you from them??
That lines up with what I have figured out from the very limited stuff I can find on city-data.com. I am pretty sure that is the district we would want to be in, due to quality of schools, proximity to work, and compactness of the area (less suburban/rural sprawl so more walkable/bikeable). But (searching craigslist) I can't find much for rentals in that area, especially in our price range.
If you cross the river to Lafayette, it is still bikeable/walkable, but supposedly the schools are worse. There are tons of houses for rent, and much cheaper. I have a feeling the "much worse" schools are still probably good, albeit with more poverty, which brings down test scores. But with a special needs kid who struggles socially, I don't want to experiment with that. DS is also academically gifted, so we would prefer schools with a gifted program, or at least a good population of other gifted kids. The district where all the faculty send their kids is most likely to have that in my experience. We need whatever district has the money to provide him the best services. But OTOH maybe the "best" is rich, conformist, and cliquey.
Thus, I am tearing my hair out. My younger, highly social daughter, I could throw her into any school and she would do fine.
So, long story short, if this move is definitely a go, after H visits and gets the formal offer and negotiates the package, it would be great if you asked your friend. Kids and I will visit next Friday to find housing so it is a tight turnaround, but I hate to have you go out of your way to ask your friend if they aren't going to offer relo.
