RTP area of NC

[dejr_8]

I'm looking to move from a town North of Boston to the RTP area (of course to be closer to WDW - the 22 hour drives are getting old) Any comments about the region would be appreciated. Desirable towns, undesirable towns, etc.

One specific question is - Do houses in this area typically have full basements or crawlspaces?

 

[tar heel]

Wonderful, wonderful area with three of the nation's best universities. Half day drive to the mountains or the beach and a whole day to WDW. Best towns: Chapel Hill, Cary, Raleigh. I would probablyl not live in Durham if public schools are an issue. It's expensive by North Carolina standards, but shouldnt' be to you since you're in the Boston area.

Crawl spaces, however, basements are becoming more common, probably b/c of the influx of people from the North.

 

[kellyann]

It is a nice area here. Nice homes, lots to do, good location. But the issue to watch out for is the public school system, if you have kids. The schools are run by the county, not the town. Down here, they like to bus you around in the name of "diversity". In our situation, it means that since we make enough money to pay for our own lunch (no free/reduced lunch), the county school system thought that instead of us going to one of the 5 or 6 nice schools right around us, it would be best to bus kids in our neighborhood into a depressed area with lousy scores and ratings to help even out the numbers. And they reserve the right to "re-assign" you to a different school every year to keep the statistics looking good across the board. Because the schools are run by the county (Wake county -where Raleigh, Cary, Apex, etc. are) you can be assigned to a school that is not even in your town. They are already planning on re-assigning thousands of children for the next school year. So if you make decent money, be prepared for a potentially lousy school assignment one of these years.

Or you can try to get into a year-round school via lottery, and your kids won't be re-assigned anymore, but try explaining the merits of this to them when they are going to school through the summer and the other kids are having summer vacation.

Bottom line for somebody who has been in New England and down here, it is a nice place to live and work if you are on your own, but if you have a family I think you would be better off to raise them up north. We are going back, where you can go to your neighborhood school with your friends. I don't want my kids to be victims in a socialogical experiment. They are only kids once.

 

[pirateofthecarolinas]

Chapel Hill has an excellent public school system but cost of living is very expensive. Cary is outside of Raleigh and is a popular area. I also would stay away from Durham.

Lori

 

[stormi65]

My two children are in the Wake County Year Round Schools. They have been there since kindergarten. Otherwise, they would have went to low scoring schools. Now we are possibly going to be reassigned because of a major shuffle, so they are doing this to the year round school too. The school system is a mess.

 

[disneyjunkie]

Originally posted by kellyann
It is a nice area here. Nice homes, lots to do, good location. But the issue to watch out for is the public school system, if you have kids. The schools are run by the county, not the town. Down here, they like to bus you around in the name of "diversity". In our situation, it means that since we make enough money to pay for our own lunch (no free/reduced lunch), the county school system thought that instead of us going to one of the 5 or 6 nice schools right around us, it would be best to bus kids in our neighborhood into a depressed area with lousy scores and ratings to help even out the numbers. And they reserve the right to "re-assign" you to a different school every year to keep the statistics looking good across the board. Because the schools are run by the county (Wake county -where Raleigh, Cary, Apex, etc. are) you can be assigned to a school that is not even in your town. They are already planning on re-assigning thousands of children for the next school year. So if you make decent money, be prepared for a potentially lousy school assignment one of these years.
Or you can try to get into a year-round school via lottery, and your kids won't be re-assigned anymore, but try explaining the merits of this to them when they are going to school through the summer and the other kids are having summer vacation.

Bottom line for somebody who has been in New England and down here, it is a nice place to live and work if you are on your own, but if you have a family I think you would be better off to raise them up north. We are going back, where you can go to your neighborhood school with your friends. I don't want my kids to be victims in a socialogical experiment. They are only kids once.

I went to college in Raleigh (St. Augustine's) and I lived there for 9 years. The whole busing issue was one of the major reasons I moved back to New York. My son and I lived in southeast Raleigh, very close to some excellent magnet schools. However my son could not get into most of them. The reasons we couldn't get in were because we're black and we lived in an area were many children were on the free/ reduced lunch program.

He would have been able to get into one of the year round schools, but I wasn't interested in those.

One thing you'll notice about Wake County is that most of the magnet schools are in areas that are mostly black and the year round schools are in areas that are mostly white.

I have several friends in Raleigh that live near some excellent schools but their children have to attend school on the other end of the county. It's not uncommon for kids that live in Raleigh to be assigned to schools in Cary, Apex, or Garner.

Some of the areas around the schools are zoned to attend the magnet schools but these students are not "magnet students". That means their parents don't know what school they will attend from year to year.

Every January the school board would release the new school assigments in the newspaper. That was when parents would find out if their kids were staying put or changing schools in August. The county would hold several forums for parents to voice their opinion about the reassignments. They'd redo some of the assignments then post the final draft. Magnet students do not get reassigned.

When I lived in Raleigh, the only way I could have 100% say in which school my son would attend was to place him private school.

 

[KathiWithAnI]

WOW_- I live in Franklin county- Youngsville to be exact-- if you aren't familiar with the area we're sort of north east of Raleigh ( my hubby and I both work in Raleigh) anyway, we don't have any of that school shuffle going on here! My kids have always gone to the one nearest school we are zoned for-- except for the child I have in Franklin Academy-- I did have 3 there, but pulled 2 of them and my youngest will start at the public school next year. Pulling them is another long story-- if you want details, feel free to PM me.
I have been very happy with the education my children are getting here-- the teachers and staff are wonderful! I do stop into the school before or after the day frequently to make sure I have a fell for what is going on in the schools on a daily basis
I do have to agree with the other posters, avoid Durham if you have school aged kids.

Kathi

 

[dejr_8]

Thanks for the input.

It is interesting that a few of you said to stay in the Boston area for the education system. The local property taxes (which fund education) are killing us. My salary had stayed constant for nearly two years yet my property taxes are up over $2800. If we stay in New England for the school system I won't be able to afford any "luxury" items for the kids. It is a catch-22.

 

[Rock'n Robin]

This is very interesting as my SIL and her family live in Cary. My niece and nephew go to the year-round school and she can't stop singing its praises (knowing I teach at an "old fashioned" school up here in Ohio--with no air conditioning, BTW). She's been very secure about their placement; we will be in Cary this weekend and I'll ask her if they are in danger from this big shuffle.
Robin M.

 

[stormi65]

For the first time in 7 years being in Year Round Schools we received our intent forms for the following school year 2004-2005 and it said "school to be determined". The meaning behind this is they are shifting "traffic patterns" and reshuffling. We could possibly be assigned to a year round middle school as far as 20 miles away from our house. We are hopeful that we will remain were we are, but won't know for a couple of months yet. For diversity sake, the school district has begun forcing families that have children who receive free/ reduced lunch to go to the year round schools as a base population. They get no choice if they want a year round school, unless they move away. Before it was always optional.

I have always been thankful for the year round schools because I think they have recruited top notch teachers, and post higher test scores than the traditional schools in the area. I feel my children have gotten a good education in the public schools.


In a couple of years we may need to move to avoid going to a poor performing high school in the area that we may be assigned to. There has been crime and many problems at that high school. Private schools for 2 children are not an option for us.

 

[disneyjunkie]

Originally posted by stormi65
For the first time in 7 years being in Year Round Schools we received our intent forms for the following school year 2004-2005 and it said "school to be determined". The meaning behind this is they are shifting "traffic patterns" and reshuffling. We could possibly be assigned to a year round middle school as far as 20 miles away from our house. We are hopeful that we will remain were we are, but won't know for a couple of months yet. For diversity sake, the school district has begun forcing families that have children who receive free/ reduced lunch to go to the year round schools as a base population. They get no choice if they want a year round school, unless they move away. Before it was always optional.

I have always been thankful for the year round schools because I think they have recruited top notch teachers, and post higher test scores than the traditional schools in the area. I feel my children have gotten a good education in the public schools.

In a couple of years we may need to move to avoid going to a poor performing high school in the area that we may be assigned to. There has been crime and many problems at that high school. Private schools for 2 children are not an option for us.

Are you in Wake County?

It's sad that they are going to force parents to send their children to year round school. I've always heard great things about the year round schools in Wake County. I believe one the things that made them great was that ALL of the families wanted to be there.

 

[stormi65]

I have 1 child in elementary school and another child at Westlake Middle in Apex.

Two years ago a base population was assigned to the elementary school. The families were told they had to come to our school. Apparently each school is supposed to have a certain percentage accross the board of free/reduced lunch children. And perhaps ESL ( English as second language), not sure about that. I felt sorry for the families as apparently they were already in hardship if their children were on the free lunch plan, but then to add the difficulty of a multi track attendance. Many of these base plan children's parents could not speak english, so they were not showing up in July for school, but showed up after LABOR DAY. Year round school goes into session in early July! The elementary school has hired some bilingual staff to make all this work. The teachers at both of my chldren's schools are fantastic.

We have never gotten a "to be determined" for the next school year before. Also the message said if we weren't happy with where they determined the placement, we can return to our base schools. I don't know if that is going out to all the parents of all year round schools in Wake County, but I received notices for both my children, and every parent I have spoken with also has.

 

[2bemarried]

Hi!!
I first have to say that you're making a wonderful choice!! My grandparents, parents, and I grew up here in the state. I LOVE IT!!
I'll agree about the school system....overall it's a MESS!!! Granville County(specifically the town of Creedmoor) is where I grew up. It's growing like wildfire with new developments at the moment, but the school system still needs a face lift. It's one of the lowest scoring systems in the state. However...some of the brightest students live there. So there's hope for it yet. You'll want to consider that area if you want a REAL lawn and area for kids to play.

My husband and I live in Cary and look forward to raising kids here one day. It's one of the safest towns in the state and most likely Southeast states. Property tax is rather high but only if you live in Prestonwood(Country club area). We have a 2200 sq. ft home and property tax for the year is around $1100. You'll find that very few homes have a basement or crawl space. Flooding is the reason. So to combat that most homes have large attics for storage area. Our home also has a storage cubby over the garage.

Now....another concern that you may have is the job market. If your husband is in the technology field...I would stay where you are. Telecommunications and computer technology jobs here are few and far between. You shouldn't have any problems finding a public school teaching job. Good teachers are a high commodity. There are several private schools too.

Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions! Welcome to the state if you do decide to move.

 

[dejr_8]

2bemarried

Thanx for the input. Funny you should think that it was my wife posting. I'm in Biotech and we would only move if I found a position in the RTP.

As I said in a previous post the taxes in MA are killing us. We have a 2800 sq ft house and our taxes just went up to $6600 per year. The town I live in is under going explosive growth and the taxes just keep going up to pay for education. I can easily see my taxes being $8000/yr in a couple of years.

My kids are 5 and 2 and we think it would be a good idea to move before they enter school.

All the posts about the school system in NC have me worried. I did a search on the web today regarding private schools and they look relatively affordable (compared to MA).

 

[stormi65]

We too have a little over 2,200 sq. feet home on 1 1/2 wooded acres and paid 1,200.00 in property taxes. Not bad at all. It is a beautiful area, a couple of hours from the ocean, and a couple of hours from the mountains.

I am originally from Ohio, but have lived in the Raleigh area since 1985. It has grown by leaps and bounds, but we do love it. RTP area has many technology type companies like IBM, Nortel, Cisco, SAS, etc...

The weather is mild, pleasant enough winters.)

Wake County Schools has a huge website with school profiles, populations and test scores. Lots of information.

 

[2bemarried]

Thanx for the input. Funny you should think that it was my wife posting. I'm in Biotech and we would only move if I found a position in the RTP.

yah...when I think teacher...I automatically assume female. Although I had several male teachers. Just to clarify...cause my brain is fuzzy tonight...do you teach Biotech or was that your wife posting? Reason I'm asking...I work for a pharma company.

WOW.....okay...I would move too if our taxes were that high!!

All the posts about the school system in NC have me worried. I did a search on the web today regarding private schools and they look relatively affordable (compared to MA).

not trying to scare you...just trying to make you aware of the common problems we have down here. It is the home of three WONDERFUL universities...Duke University namely...so we're doing something right. University of Chapel Hill is still my favorite in basketball though
As for the private schools. A coworker's daughter went to Cary Academy and I believe it was 10K a year(she was a senior when I worked with him).

 

[kellyann]

From what I have read, the private school population here has exploded here over the last few years because of the public school situation. I guess you have to make a choice of paying high taxes and going to good public schools or paying low taxes and paying for private school. We currently have our two older children in private school and the tuition is about $7k a year for each child. I also have to provide transportation to and from the school every day for my children. I personally would rather pay higher taxes to know my children will be going to a good neighborhood public school. Unfortunately because of Wake County's assignment policies, we felt we had no other choice but to send them to private school.

 

[tar heel]

If you can afford Chapel Hill, you'll have the best public schools in the state and some of the best in the country. Almost all teachers have advanced degrees and assistants have teaching certificates or at least a college degree.

I consider the schools where I live to be very good, but they are not on the level of Chapel Hill-Carrboro -- I know that system very well because I covered it as a newspaper reporter. We moved away to go somewhere more affordable but miss it very much.

When you go to an area that is growing rapidly, you are always in danger of being moved, however. Our neighborhood's elementary, middle and high school are all new schools. The high school is closer to us than the old one, the middle school is about the same distance and the elementary school is much further away (six miles including crossing I-85 during rush hour vs. less than one mile). Funny thing about that elementary school is that once our child started there and it was wonderful, the distance no longer was an issue.

 

[dejr_8]

Another question...

We currently have a 3 acre lot in MA - are any new developments going it with lots this size?


What is a typical lot size?

TIA

 

[2bemarried]

Only way you're going to get a 3 acre lot is to buy in one of the smaller towns on the outskirts of Cary and Raleigh and Chapel Hill. Our lot here in the Cary town limits is .14 of an acre.