Wooster advice please (Canton, Wayne: fit in, cliquey, middle school)

[BlessingInDisguise]

Hi, I am considering a move to Wooster with my 6 year old daughter and I. I lived there for a few years as a young child and still have a few relatives there. We were there for a visit awhile back in the summer and I'm just still in love with the town and Buehlers!!!

Would love to hear what anyone can tell me about the elementary schools there, both public and private. Are they all good? Any you would recommend over others? How is bullying over there?

Being a small town, do locals welcome newcommers easily? i.e... hoping we will learn to fit in!!!

Overall, a good place to raise a child or???? Just really want opinions on anything and everything please.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help!

[amsherwo]

Originally Posted by BlessingInDisguise

Hi, I am considering a move to Wooster with my 6 year old daughter and I. I lived there for a few years as a young child and still have a few relatives there. We were there for a visit awhile back in the summer and I'm just still in love with the town and Buehlers!!!

Would love to hear what anyone can tell me about the elementary schools there, both public and private. Are they all good? Any you would recommend over others? How is bullying over there?

Being a small town, do locals welcome newcommers easily? i.e... hoping we will learn to fit in!!!

Overall, a good place to raise a child or???? Just really want opinions on anything and everything please.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help!

The elementary schools are for the most part great. I personally went to Wooster Christian, and while their science curriculum is painfully lacking, overall it is miles ahead of the public schools in Wooster...which I can say b/c in 6th grade I switched to one of the Wooster City public schools (Wayne Elementary), which was really good (especially in science, which I had previously never been exposed to), but was still very far behind where I was at Wooster Christian. There are a couple elementary schools to avoid (mostly Lincoln Way). I don't know if it's still bad, but it was when I went to school in Wooster City. As someone who grew up in Wooster (not that I'm very old now---25---but still ya get what I'm saying), I think it's a great place to raise kids.

[Mr Microphone]

Originally Posted by BlessingInDisguise

Being a small town, do locals welcome newcommers easily? i.e... hoping we will learn to fit in!!!

My wife and I moved to Wooster a month ago and we feel like we've discovered one of the best kept secrets in Ohio. Probably the most outstanding thing is how friendly folks are. You see it in the stores, on the sidewalks, even on the roads where driver courtesy seems to be a notch better than other places we've lived.

There is refreshing civility here. Something in the water? Dunno. But I speculate maybe it's because Wooster is far enough away from big cities that it really isn't a bedroom community for people who get caught up in the pressure and anger that seems to be connected with working and living in big cities.

Any time we've mentioned that we're new to Wooster, we've received nothing but warm welcomes. No place is perfect and we have encountered some grouches. But overall, Wooster is fitting like a comfortable old shoe. I'd expect it to be that way for you too.

Best of luck with your move!

[bower]

There a quite alot of riff raff at the schools, sit out at the middle school and see some of what comes out of there..or in the alternative see what sub life comes out of the Wooster walmart..Wooster has a drug problem that is swept under the rug for the most part. The schools are very large and very impersonal. Lots and lots of tatoos..if that is you, then you will fit in, if not...maybe not...

[amsherwo]

Originally Posted by bower

There a quite alot of riff raff at the schools, sit out at the middle school and see some of what comes out of there..or in the alternative see what sub life comes out of the Wooster walmart..Wooster has a drug problem that is swept under the rug for the most part. The schools are very large and very impersonal. Lots and lots of tatoos..if that is you, then you will fit in, if not...maybe not...

"Riff-raff"? What constitutes riff-raff exactly? And what do tattoes have to do with anything? Every town has its issues with drugs, and Wooster is no different, but I don't think that it's as big of a problem as bower seems to. The schools are not very large. The biggest class I ever had in any school in Wooster was BAND...and yeah, it was super huge. Otherwise, class sizes are very reasonable (I don't think I ever had more than maybe 25 in a class) and there are lots of ways to get involved. If your school experience was impersonal then you didn't make much of an effort to get involved, b/c there are many ways to have corrected that problem.

[Topohee]

Hi---

Just saw your post and don't know if you've solved this already but...

I've lived in Boston for the past 49 years but grew up in Canton. My son is currently a junior at College of Wooster and loves it. My wife and I are in Wooster at least twice a year, once to take him out and once to bring him back. It occurred to me there are often new faculty there with children who have moved recently and would be willing to give you the low down on the questions you ask. I'd suggest calling the College of Wooster and asking for someone to speak to. My guess is the Dean of Students office would be good for starters.
Good luck!

[truemuck]

Originally Posted by Mr Microphone

My wife and I moved to Wooster a month ago and we feel like we've discovered one of the best kept secrets in Ohio. Probably the most outstanding thing is how friendly folks are. You see it in the stores, on the sidewalks, even on the roads where driver courtesy seems to be a notch better than other places we've lived.

Any time we've mentioned that we're new to Wooster, we've received nothing but warm welcomes.

I lived in Wooster for a couple years and for the most part I'd agree, people are nice for the most part. I still have friends out there. I still do think there is a bit of disconnect there between "natives" and those who've moved in. Like any smaller town, it can be a little bit cliquey.

I think it would be easier to move their as a family man than as a single guy like I did. Its definitely a place to settle down rather than a place to have fun and meet women, so you may like it better than I did.

Wooster is a place of many contradictions to me. Its quaint, but like others said, there are drug issues there, but no gang warfare or anything crazy like that, the town is still very safe and you'd never think otherwise.
Also, the other thing I found is, most folks are either the biggest hippies you'd ever meet or so right-wing its not even funny. Its a weird place, but not a bad place.

[DSOs]

Originally Posted by truemuck

I lived in Wooster for a couple years and for the most part I'd agree, people are nice for the most part. I still have friends out there. I still do think there is a bit of disconnect there between "natives" and those who've moved in. Like any smaller town, it can be a little bit cliquey.

I think it would be easier to move their as a family man than as a single guy like I did. Its definitely a place to settle down rather than a place to have fun and meet women, so you may like it better than I did.

Wooster is a place of many contradictions to me. Its quaint, but like others said, there are drug issues there, but no gang warfare or anything crazy like that, the town is still very safe and you'd never think otherwise.
Also, the other thing I found is, most folks are either the biggest hippies you'd ever meet or so right-wing its not even funny. Its a weird place, but not a bad place.

I’ve been living here for 4 months now & your description is accurate to me. I’m finding out that cliquey is common (lived in 4 states) & really bothers my wife & I. In Wooster, because of the contradictions, the cliquishness doesn’t have a chance to ferment & spoil. Never have we lived anyplace (except LI) where people go about their own business than here in Wooster, Ohio.

The driving around here is like a well oiled/efficient machine. When a fellow Woosterian (correct me please) is driving behind me on a country road; they don’t b*t*h, they just speed up & go around.