schools in wilmington? (Raleigh, Cary, Asheville: neighborhood, school district, living in)

[hug631]

are schools in wilmington having the same problems that the wake schools are having? anyone?

[RaleighRob]

As in overcrowding? I don't know hardly of any urban or suburban county in NC that isn't these days. I'm sure it's not quite to the extent, though.

[scjj]

We lived in Wilmington for 11 years, moved from there in 2003. My son had class for two years in a row in the same portable trailer in the 2nd and 3rd grade. Class size was anywhere between 30-35 students. Since we have moved from there the population has swelled even more, so I would assume also that the schools have too.

[hug631]

what other experiences did you have after that? where else did your son go? Did we think about private schools? expensive?

[scjj]

In the 4th grade he went into a regular classroom. Actually the 4th grade was probably his best year. We moved after that.

I do have a daughter who went through grade school and middle school and one year of high school there also. We took her out of the public schools in the 2nd grade and put her in a private school because the teacher was doing more disciplining of the troublemaking students than teaching. The private school ended up being worse than the public school!!! It was such a frustrating year for her and us. The kids in the private school were a bunch of raunchy mouth bullies to be blunt and this was 2nd grade! She finished up the year and we put her back in the public schools. Oh, let me add, she used to get stuff stolen all the time. Her supplies, books, money, glue (yes GLUE LOL, pretty sad actually) just about everything and anything. She was also in a trailer in the 2nd grade at the public school. Middle school was okay but it could have been better. I was probably more irritated with middle school than she was. Whenever I had to go into the office for something I would hear the way they would talk and treat the students. They just seemed to be so nasty to them. Now when I think back I am so glad both my kids are out of that environment. I believe there was an article in the paper there recently that the schools in Wilmington are not making the grade. Brunswick County is supposed to be better. You might want to research that more.

Sorry, I'm not trying to scare you. I'm just giving you my honest experience on the schools there and if I was moving there I would want to know. My kids had some good teachers along the way but I have to say they had some real doozies too. Now we are in SC and in a better school district with higher standards. My kids struggled the first year here and both had to attend summer school. My daughter has just graduated and my son is in the 8th grade now and has pretty much caught up to the level he needs to be at for the schools here.

[hug631]

Thanks for your live story...It makes me think and think and think about moving to NC. Can we find the ideal School Distric in NC? Maybe not! It looks like all the counties are suffering! I was thinking that the Cary area would have less problems but it looks that it is not that way...Wake County?
I have two kids, 14 and 2, and their education is #1 on my list.

[RaleighRob]

Ideal school district? Probably not.
You either get A) urban or suburban county with huge, fast growth. Teachers are good, but the growth causes overcrowding. or
B) rural county with little growth so crowding is less, but funding for good teachers, computers, science labs, etc, is paltry compared to those in (a).

So....there's your NC choices.

If you go for (A), you could avoid the reassignment juggling somewhat by living in an older, urban neighborhood in the core of the city where rampant growth doesn't occur that much, and there's a balance/mix of families with schoolage kids vs. singles & childless couples. Schools in those areas usually have a more "fixed" base area that doesn't get affected by reassignments or overcrowding as often. At least, that's the case here in Central Raleigh vs the rest of Outer Raleigh/Wake County.

[EnglishCream]

Lived in Wilmington area (New Hanover County Schools) from 1997-2002. My son spent 2nd and 3rd grade at Carolina Beach Elementary, 4th and 5th at a Wilmington elementary school, and 6th grade at Trask Middle School. I would not recommend this school district. The location of the school he attended in 4th and 5th grade required me to drive through the absolute worst neighborhood in town (Creekwood) to pick him up. It was scary driving through there and on one day there was a driveby shooting literally an hour before I had to drive through. On top of that, the schools were very crowded, and he had some teachers that left a lot to be desired. He went to Kindergarten and first grade in Minnesota, and when we moved to Wilmington he was way ahead of the rest of the students. It was almost like having to repeat the first grade Minn. curriculum in 2nd grade in Wilmington. We moved to Asheville in fall 2002 and the schools here are much better.

[49flyers]

I would be curious to know where in SC scjj moved. I am flexible and looking for a nice southern city with good schools and reasonable cost of living.

[govols]

Are there any public or private schools that do not do the block scheduling? I just think four classes for 1.5 hours is not the ideal learning environment. The school system does this to save money. Kids can go several months before revisiting the same subject again. What a wrong move!