Where do I Go? (Dallas, Plano: low crime, home, best schools)

[confusedchic]

My family and I may be moving to the Dallas area within the next 4 months.
I have been doing some research as to where we should live, but I am really getting no where!
My #1 priority is the schools. I want the best schools (public) for my child. Second on my list is safety, low crime rate.
I have looked into the Allen, Mckinney and Frisco areas. Which one of these towns should I really be concentrating on. Or, are there other towns in this area that I should be looking at?

Please help:

[socketz]

Where will you guys be working ? Dallas has alot of nice suburbs that meet your criteria. However, if you work further west at say the airport, all the areas mentioned are a bit too far away. If you go west Flowermound, Grapevine, Coppell and Southlake are all very nice as well. Again, it depends on where you will work.

[confusedchic]

Place of work will be in Plano. I believe on Coit Road (not sure about the spelling).

Thanks

[momof2dfw]

You have it right, Coit. Now Coit is a LONG road . All the way from Dallas down by 635-LBJ then north all the way thru Richardson and Plano.

Being in that part of Plano you have a LOT of options and not just "Allen, McKinney and Frisco". Depends on what type of environment you want to live in. If you want more of a country feel then you can head east towards Lucas, Parker, Fairview where you can find acreage. Still a decent commute but not terribly long in any way. If you prefer the environment of being right on top of everything and everyone then Frisco, McKinney and Plano fit the bill w/ some parts of McKinney not being as congested as the others. Then you have Richardson, Garland, Carrollton. Carrollton is not that great (grew up there) and has been going downhill. Richardson has many nice areas and the city itself is pretty much built out. Still can have that small town feel even though it is a large city. Garland, same as Richardson. These areas tend to attract less transient people as their growth has slowed w/ build out. Price range and age of home are also going to play a part of where you would want to look. All of the school districts in this area have good and bad points w/ one not being totally superior to others when you get right down to it. The areas you mentioned are all the fastest growing areas around and adding new schools left and right and in the process upsetting many parents since their kiddo's have to change schools when new ones get built. Same w/ safety and low crime. In these areas you are going to still see the petty crimes of vandalism (tends to involve teens more than any other age group).