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Old 12-18-2013, 02:00 PM
 
Location: Virginia
1 posts, read 3,802 times
Reputation: 11

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Hello everyone,
I'm new to this forum and glad I found it! My husband has been offered a great job opportunity in Newtown. We currently live in Virginia (we are both originally from Utah). We have 3 kids (ages 3, 4 and 5) and we currently live in a great neighborhood with great families we love very much. They offered to pay for my husband and myself to head out sometime before the new year to see the town and check out some houses. This is such a tough decision because, like I said, we love where we live and we would be sad to leave, but this is an incredible offer and we are leaning towards taking it. It will be hard on the kids because they have their friends around the neighborhood and my daughter (who is in Kindergarten) has her school friends and she loves her school and she's also in dance and she loves it.

Does anyone live or know someone who lives in or near Newtown? How is the neighborhood? Schools? Is it a family-oriented town (I've heard it is)? Are there things to do (i.e activities for the kids to participate in, like dance for my daughter)?

Any advice and/or information on the area would be great!

Thank you!!
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Old 12-18-2013, 04:24 PM
 
Location: Bottom of the Ocean
679 posts, read 1,192,428 times
Reputation: 141
Newtown has very good schools. The suburban schools in Fairfield Co are some of the best pubic schools in the country. They are smaller in size but offer a wide variety of activities and academics students can paticipate in. The town is very much made up of families and is relatively very safe. In terms of neighborhood activites, that's very restricted to the outdoors. The homes vary in size and value, but many are on large lots with property. You will not have any trouble finding a home for your family. My expertise is in the schools, as I graduated from region 9 (a high school the town over) not too long ago. Let me know if you have any more questions. Expect others on the forum to inform you in great detail as there are many forumers with beacons of knowledge.

Last edited by Tubeworm; 12-18-2013 at 04:33 PM..
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Old 12-18-2013, 07:51 PM
 
4,716 posts, read 5,968,854 times
Reputation: 2190
Welcome to Connecticut if you decide to relocate.

I'm sure your daughters will make many new friends in the coming years, if they stay in VA or move to CT.

Don't feel you have to limit yourself to Newtown, though. The towns in Connecticut are often fairly small and it may be a short drive 2-3 towns over to your husband's new work. Newtown has very good schools. Nearby Ridgefield would also be an excellent choice and offer even better schools. Other places to look would be Redding, Easton, Brookfield, Wilton and Weston. In terms of test scores, Weston is usually right near the top in Connecticut, with Wilton not far behind. All of them would be fairly short commutes to Newtown, though Wilton may get you upwards of 20 miles/30 minutes.

You'll probably find the towns I've listed to be pretty family & school oriented, with many activities available for your children.
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Old 12-18-2013, 08:59 PM
 
Location: Northern Fairfield Co.
2,918 posts, read 3,236,197 times
Reputation: 1341
Newtown is a great town, however I have heard many complaints recently from friends who live there about an unusually high tax rate hike this past year. If I'm not mistaken the town has a 35 ( or approaching 35) mill rate. That number is unusual for a town of that size and affluence. Not sure what's going on there, but you could probably save serious tax dollars by looking at neighboring towns: I.e. southbury, monroe, Oxford, etc.
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Old 12-18-2013, 10:12 PM
 
Location: Coastal Connecticut
21,783 posts, read 28,147,687 times
Reputation: 6711
Budget and house needs/wants?
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Old 12-19-2013, 06:01 AM
 
3,484 posts, read 9,428,190 times
Reputation: 2737
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stylo View Post
Budget and house needs/wants?
This.

In Connecticut your budget dictates where you can live. How much are you willing to spend and what kind of house (3 BR? 4 BR? 2 car garage? Square footage?)?
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Old 12-19-2013, 06:12 AM
 
4,716 posts, read 5,968,854 times
Reputation: 2190
Quote:
Originally Posted by mels View Post
This.

In Connecticut your budget dictates where you can live. How much are you willing to spend and what kind of house (3 BR? 4 BR? 2 car garage? Square footage?)?
Also, depending on where in VA they are, they might not have a basement.
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Old 12-19-2013, 10:27 AM
 
Location: Connecticut
34,962 posts, read 57,037,363 times
Reputation: 11229
Newtown is a beautiful, semi-rural suburban town. The homes there are pretty much all on larger lots to give it that feel. It has a lot of great areas and is very quite. Newtown is large in area but still has that small New England town character. There is most everyday shopping in town (grocery stores, hardware stores, hair cutting shops, etc.) but major shopping (like at malls and big box stores) are done in nearby Danbury. Schools in Newtown perform well, scoring above the state averages on the Connecticut Mastery and Connecticut Academic Performance Tests. You can find information on schools in Newtown and other towns in Connecticut at the website below. Jay

State Department of Education - CEDaR
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Old 12-19-2013, 01:51 PM
 
1,500 posts, read 888,714 times
Reputation: 2130
Quote:
Originally Posted by CS02 View Post
Hello everyone,
I'm new to this forum and glad I found it! My husband has been offered a great job opportunity in Newtown. We currently live in Virginia (we are both originally from Utah). We have 3 kids (ages 3, 4 and 5) and we currently live in a great neighborhood with great families we love very much. They offered to pay for my husband and myself to head out sometime before the new year to see the town and check out some houses. This is such a tough decision because, like I said, we love where we live and we would be sad to leave, but this is an incredible offer and we are leaning towards taking it. It will be hard on the kids because they have their friends around the neighborhood and my daughter (who is in Kindergarten) has her school friends and she loves her school and she's also in dance and she loves it.

Does anyone live or know someone who lives in or near Newtown? How is the neighborhood? Schools? Is it a family-oriented town (I've heard it is)? Are there things to do (i.e activities for the kids to participate in, like dance for my daughter)?

Any advice and/or information on the area would be great!

Thank you!!

My niece lives in Sandy Hook/Newtown..think it is a village within a town or vice versa..same town

You know of course of the massacre at SAndy Hook Elementary School Dec 2012 where 20 kids and 6 adults were killed....
They recently demolished that school ..since the massacre their kids have been attending school in Monroe..only 8 miles away...apparently it will be at least 3 years for a new elementary school to be built and ready in Newtown..so your kids will go to Monroe..as will all and any friends and neighbors you meet in Newtown..just so you know

It is a lovely area..very large lots and good sized homes..not sure of price in todays market..

Good luck..just thought you might need to be reminded of the school shooting and the current location of elementary school kids..

My niece loves it there
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Old 12-19-2013, 10:23 PM
 
Location: Coastal Connecticut
21,783 posts, read 28,147,687 times
Reputation: 6711
Sandy Hook is not the only elementary school in Newtown.
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