Moving to Atlanta

[paperboy]

I am looking to relocate to the Atlanta area. Specifically, Cobb, Gwinnett, or Paulding county. Any information on the better areas and more importantly the better schools...would be helpful!

The move may be as soon as March...thanks for all the help!

 

[olena]

For schools, I suggest a visit to www.schoolreports.com.

Keep Atlanta traffic in mind. Where you work should factor heavily in your decision.

Where will your job be?

 

[olena]

The link is wrong. Here's the right one:

http://www.homefair.com/sr_home.html

 

[paperboy]

I have heard Atlanta traffic is horrible. Is it any worse then DC? I live about 20 minutes away from downtown and it can take me about 45 minutes to an hour to get home. Is that about the same, or is the traffic worse?

 

[Robinrs]

That's about the same. I lived 13 mins from my job and it usually took me 20mins to an hour...

Not only is the traffic BAD, the drivers are WORSE and the directions are abysmal which causes the BAD drivers to become WORSE... did I lose you yet?

What grades are your kids in? I can do some research for you about the schools.

Good luck!

 

[onecoolmama]

I was curious about that too. My Dh and I were planning on moving to Raleigh or Atlanta. I haven't been to Atlanta in a long time...I was in high school last time I went.

Are kids going to their local schools or is bussing a big problem there. Raleigh is having a HUGE bussing problem and I want my kids to go to the schools they are zoned to...because I will pick a house that is zoned for a good school district. Also, I noticed there are a few year round schools...how are they academically? Is it a lottery to get into them..or do you have to apply? Or do you just get zoned to that particular school? Are there magnet schools there? Sorry for the questions..if my husband has to have an hour commute just to be in the better schools...so be it.

Also...this may sound a little silly, but I am looking for a diverse school. My kids are half Filipino half American...so I dont want them to be the only Asians in the school. Plus, I think a little diversity is good...learn about all the different people and cultures and learn how to interact with them all. Which counties are more diverse...not all of any one race.

Sorry for all the questions...and thanks in advance for any and all the help you can give!

 

[padams]

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/schoolguide/index.html

Every year, the Atlanta newspaper publishes a guide to the metro schools. I hope this link helps.

 

[onecoolmama]

Padams - thanks for the post. Since they only single out black white or other...I guess my kids fall into the "other" catagory. It seems that Gwinnett is more diverse with us "others" and also seems to have a higher ratio of Teachers that have their masters or higher.

The schools that I would be more interested in I guess, would be Magill, Simonton, and Nebo and Ritch...while the website gave me great info on the diversity...it did not tell me the performance levels. Does anyone know the performance or have an opinion about any of these schools?

Again, thanks for all the help thus far...you have been wonderful!

 

[onecoolmama]

Is traffic just sitting or are you moving just extremely slowly? The reason I ask is becuase here, at least we are moving. It might be slow, but it is very rare that you are just sitting. Also, what are your general rush hour times?

For example, here rush hour is from 4:30-7:30 with 5 and 6 being the worst times. But if yours is only 5-7 then maybe my DH can work late and go in late or go and leave early. Traffic here in the morning is 6:30-9:30 when our rush hours are. On Fridays generally the traffic starts and ends earlier and September and October are the worst months for traffic. Is it roughly the same there? If it is what we have known..then we should be ok...but if it is just sitting and not moving at all..that is a different story.

Again, thanks for all the insight...it has been very informative!