Moving to Raleigh

[taylor3297]

How exactly is the school system set up? I currently live in a rural area so for the most part the schools are all town based. Also, growing up in NJ by the time I hit 5th grade the entire town was going to the same school. I'm somewhat confused by the reassigning that has been talked about here.

Currently, you are assigned a school on your address. Wake County has seen a huge population growth and some schools have been way over crowded due to this.

Also, for awhile we have had busing based on socio-economics trying to keep the school balanced for free/reduced lunch. In theory this is supposed to help keep all schools at a level playing field.

All the reassignment has not affected my family as we live across the street from our elementary school and were residents before the cap was put in place. My dd is in 4th and ds is in K. The school has been capped since she was in K. So there have been a few families who have moved in our neighborhood and could not attend the school across the street due to the over crowding. We aren't talking just a little overcrowding, we are talking several hundred kids too many.

Someone else mentioned moving to Knightdale and Wake Forest. Why did you choose those two especially if you were commuting to downtown Raleigh?

 

[SAT887]

Currently, you are assigned a school on your address. Wake County has seen a huge population growth and some schools have been way over crowded due to this.

Also, for awhile we have had busing based on socio-economics trying to keep the school balanced for free/reduced lunch. In theory this is supposed to help keep all schools at a level playing field.

All the reassignment has not affected my family as we live across the street from our elementary school and were residents before the cap was put in place. My dd is in 4th and ds is in K. The school has been capped since she was in K. So there have been a few families who have moved in our neighborhood and could not attend the school across the street due to the over crowding. We aren't talking just a little overcrowding, we are talking several hundred kids too many.

Someone else mentioned moving to Knightdale and Wake Forest. Why did you choose those two especially if you were commuting to downtown Raleigh?

Just out of curiosity, when we move we are going to rent at first due to it being such a change from our current location (which was originally a big change, and we made the mistake of buying before finding out what we really wanted in a town) however what is the best way to figure out schools in Raleigh. We have no idea where we will end up for work (20 or so locations DH can be transferred to) but do you contact the local schools etc?

 

[taylor3297]

Just out of curiosity, when we move we are going to rent at first due to it being such a change from our current location (which was originally a big change, and we made the mistake of buying before finding out what we really wanted in a town) however what is the best way to figure out schools in Raleigh. We have no idea where we will end up for work (20 or so locations DH can be transferred to) but do you contact the local schools etc?

Choose an address of a house like. Go to wcpss.net and enter the address in the school assignment section of the website and that will give you assigned base schools, magnet options, and year round options.

If you have more questions, send me a pm and I will help you.

 

[SAT887]

Choose an address of a house like. Go to wcpss.net and enter the address in the school assignment section of the website and that will give you assigned base schools, magnet options, and year round options.

Year round options? What's the deal with that? Thank you for that website - definitely getting bookmarked!! Sorry for all the questions - honestly I have a feeling we will move sooner than we think We made so many mistakes with our last move, this time we have kids and don't want to do that again....

ETA: I didn't send a PM on this one because I figured I might get some varying opinions/info on the year round schools...

 

[Tarheel girl 1975]

We live in NE Raleigh and my children go to school in Knightdale. We are very happy with our school. Our area of Raleigh has not seen as much population growth and we have not been as affected by reassignments. The school district here is county wide and Wake County is very large. And there is a lot of growth. I grew up in Wisconsin and I don't think that the schools here are any better or worse than the ones I grew up with. And while they aren't dealing with reassignments there, the population is stagnant or shrinking.

 

[yankebabie]

We will be looking to rent a house also. Are all the rentals in subdivisions and is there a process involved or can we just come down and find a house we want, pay the security and move in on first of month like in ny?

 

[SAT887]

We live in NE Raleigh and my children go to school in Knightdale. We are very happy with our school. Our area of Raleigh has not seen as much population growth and we have not been as affected by reassignments. The school district here is county wide and Wake County is very large. And there is a lot of growth. I grew up in Wisconsin and I don't think that the schools here are any better or worse than the ones I grew up with. And while they aren't dealing with reassignments there, the population is stagnant or shrinking.

Our school system in our town is very poor... Currently the elementary school is good (not great) but DD3 only attends preschool so I have a little time. Apparently Kindegarten only became mandatory in recent years and the high school isn't even accredited and has a terrible drop out rate. When we moved here, we weren't thinking about kids, in fact had them a few years earlier than we anticipated. However, we are looking for a warmer climate, family and NC fits both those options. I have don't know anyone with kids in NC so this thread has been super useful.

 

[taylor3297]

Year round options? What's the deal with that? Thank you for that website - definitely getting bookmarked!! Sorry for all the questions - honestly I have a feeling we will move sooner than we think We made so many mistakes with our last move, this time we have kids and don't want to do that again....

ETA: I didn't send a PM on this one because I figured I might get some varying opinions/info on the year round schools...

Our school system has 3 calendar options; traditional, year-round, and modified.

Our year round is the 4 track model. There is always one track that is tracked out. Right now track 4 is out and will go back to school tomorrow. So tomorrow track 3 tracks out for 3 weeks. The students go to school the same amount of days as traditional calendar, but instead of getting one long break from mid-June to mid-August, that time is broken up throughout the year. The website I gave you will let you look at the different calendars.

I pretty much grew up here in the Raleigh area and I also have taught at 2 different middle schools here. One was year round and the other was traditional.

 

[taylor3297]

We will be looking to rent a house also. Are all the rentals in subdivisions and is there a process involved or can we just come down and find a house we want, pay the security and move in on first of month like in ny?

Some subdivisions due allow rental homes. In order to rent, you may need to go through a realtor. If you do rent in a subdivision, most have HOAs. So this mean you will have to abide by the HOA rules. As to paying HOA dues, most people include that in the cost of the rental each month.

The subdivision I live in only allows so many rental properties. Right now we only have on house that is a rental. The max we have had is 2.

 

[SAT887]

Our school system has 3 calendar options; traditional, year-round, and modified.

Our year round is the 4 track model. There is always one track that is tracked out. Right now track 4 is out and will go back to school tomorrow. So tomorrow track 3 tracks out for 3 weeks. The students go to school the same amount of days as traditional calendar, but instead of getting one long break from mid-June to mid-August, that time is broken up throughout the year. The website I gave you will let you look at the different calendars.

I pretty much grew up here in the Raleigh area and I also have taught at 2 different middle schools here. One was year round and the other was traditional.

Thank you I was looking at the calendars and now the white blocks make perfect sense! That is was I had assumed when I read the 45/15 as the break down. Now, is it hard to get kids on the same track if they are different grades? Also, as a teacher do you feel that either was beneficial, or in the end had similar learning results?

 

[taylor3297]

Thank you I was looking at the calendars and now the white blocks make perfect sense! That is was I had assumed when I read the 45/15 as the break down. Now, is it hard to get kids on the same track if they are different grades? Also, as a teacher do you feel that either was beneficial, or in the end had similar learning results?

The school system does try to their best of keeping all siblings on the same track. There have been a few instances where that didn't happen, but most of those cases were due to one child needing specialized services that was offered on another track.

Advantage for year round is being able to take vacations at the off times of the year. Also, I felt like I didn't have to review concepts as much because there is a shorter break between school years.

Disadvantage is that once they reach high school, you may have one child on a year round but the high schools student will be on traditional. We don have one high school that is on modified.

 

[North of Mouse]

We'll have to agree to disagree. I lived in Cary and am very familiar with WCPSS. West Cary/Apex would be the only place I would live in Wake County if I needed to use WCPSS.

So that makes you an expert on *all* the schools in Wake County because you lived in Cary? That's quite an accomplishment. We had a child go through the 3-12 grades in N. Raleigh/Wakefield area and graduate with honors, and a free ride as a *merit scholar* to a choice of 5 out of state universities. But, I guess, according to you the schools he attended were inferior.

Congratulations on the knowledge you have of Wake County Schools, especially since you are so familiar with their achievements - or lack thereof. I am glad that you pointed out that the only place to live in Wake Co. would be Cary. I'm sure most people would agree with you.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

Just wanted to say "Hi" to all my fellow NC DISers!

I grew up in Raleigh, moved to England then CT and returned 'home'. Now we live in Wake Forest. I don't have any experience with the schools (from an adult perspective) as DD is homeschooled.

The Raleigh Area is a GREAT place to live!

 

[njmom47]

My BIL and SIL (and their son) moved to Raleigh and seem to love it. They are Jerseyans through and through, and have nothing but good things to say. DNephew is a coach at Leesville Rd HS.