Anybody from Cary, NC?

[buzzrelly]

Hi everyone...just saw an article from Greatschools.com and they listed Cary as having the #3 school district in the country. What makes it so great? Also, what do you think about Cary as a place to live and raise a family? What is the economy like there? Anything else somebody new to the area should know? Just daydreaming at this point but Someday I may just take the plunge and get out of New England...I have lived here all my life and could use a change of scenery. Thanks!

 

[BalooTheBear]

Hi everyone...just saw an article from Greatschools.com and they listed Cary as having the #3 school district in the country. What makes it so great? Also, what do you think about Cary as a place to live and raise a family? What is the economy like there? Anything else somebody new to the area should know? Just daydreaming at this point but Someday I may just take the plunge and get out of New England...I have lived here all my life and could use a change of scenery. Thanks!

I live just south of Cary, but it is the same school district. So, I'm wondering how they were able to pinpoint the better schools to just Cary...

Overall the schools in the district are very good, some areas are better than others. But, the main thing that is going on with the districts is the Wake county school board was recently re-populated with an election of new members. Depending on who you ask at any given time will let you know how well they are doing so far. Previously, the district would reassign your child to other schools, not necessarily the school closest to where you live. I'm not sure where the school board is on this currently.

We also have/had year round schools (previously mandatory) mixed in with the traditional school year. My daughter goes to a year round school, which she enjoys and so do we.

If you search back through the forums (on CARY), you should find very many threads about life there....

 

[tar heel]

There are some sectors doing okay, but North Carolina's economy overall is a mess with unemployment over 10% and state government scrambling to fund services. Tax refunds have been delayed b/c there is no money. This is NOT a good time to move here unless you are in a really specific industry that still has jobs.

Cary used to be a little town outside the capital city. In the past 30 years, it has exploded into a major bedroom community for the capital, the three major universities and the Research Triangle Park. It has the amenities you would expect for a "new" high-income town. Natives jokingly call it the Containment Area for Relocated Yankees.

School districts are different here than you are accustomed to in Massachusetts. There is no Cary school district. There is the Wake County school district which is very large and encompasses many schools in many towns. While there are still a few city districts in North Carolina, most counties have consolidated their schools into one system. For the urbanized areas, this means thousands of kids and many, many schools in one district.

I'm guessing Cary district refers to the high school and its feeder schools, but I'm not sure. I don't think the writer of the article you read understood North Carolina school districts.

 

[MulanUSAF]

I'll toss in my $0.02 on the topic. I live in Chapel Hill which is about 20 minutes away from Cary. Currently it's hard to say how good or bad Cary schools will be in the future due to the Wake county school board drama going on right now. My brother attends high school in Chapel Hill-Carrboro school district and I can honestly say it's a much higher caliber school district than the surrounding districts. Wake County as a school district doesn't have the high reputation that Chapel Hill does, but they have some excellent magnet schools. But if they get rid of these schools and go to all neighborhood schools, who knows what will happen.

 

[Muushka]

The 'drama' associated with the Wake County schools (of which Cary is part of) deals with a busing program which bussed students to different school districts in order to evenly distribute the more affluent with the poorer districts.

Our node was affected by this ruling and caused some very dear neighbors to move to nodes that were not bussed (why some were bussed and not others will be something I will always wonder). They did not want their children to be bussed 40 minutes to a school that was not as academically good as the one that was 10 minutes away. Imagine that .

Fortunately this practice is coming to an end. That is the drama. With all the expenses associated with education, paying all that money to ship students all over the county was a waste of money and time. And after 30 years, they (or should I say some realize) it is an experiment that has failed.

Forgot to add that Cary has some very good schools that are not magnet schools.

 

[buzzrelly]

Wow...not the responses I expected after reading that article...Hopefully the school district problems will get worked out. In the meantime, i think I'll stay put. I am always thinking that life could be better living somewhere else, but you know what they say..."the grass is always greener on the other side." Thanks for the responses.

 

[christineann]

If you live in North Carolina, your kids can attend excellent public universities - a real bargain!

 

[NC State]

Fortunately this practice is coming to an end. That is the drama. With all the expenses associated with education, paying all that money to ship students all over the county was a waste of money and time. And after 30 years, they (or should I say some realize) it is an experiment that has failed.

I don't live in Wake County but if I did I would agree with you on that!

 

[SOnotLayuh]

My Dad and step mother are moving away from this school district before their new children are old enough to attend school.