Moving from Canada to Kettering,Ohio area (Columbus, Cincinnati: low income, spring break)

[christinen]

My husband is being transferred to Kettering Ohio, and we are looking to move around Jan, 2008. We have a son that is in high school here...grade 11. I would like to know about the school systems. Is it semesters? How does the school year run? Has anyone else made the move from Canada to the USA? We are really excited...but kind of scared. Which are the best areas to look around? When we went there to look around, everything looked so nice. Which are the better areas and school areas? We also have a son that is in grade 4 this year. Springbro and Kettering looked nice from what tiny bit we saw. We are looking for tons of information and pictures. We are trying to reassure our oldest son that this IS a good move. Any info would be so helpful! Thank you so much for any info!

[Crew Chief]

Christinen, I'm sure the usual "Subject Matter Experts" we here in The Dayton area have will weigh in, so I'll leave that to them. You can also look at the other Dayton-area threads to glean a lot of good info that's already been written. Wife and I live in Centerville/Washington Twp. just below Kettering. We love it here! Oakwood, Beavercreek, Kettering, Centerville, Springboro schools are all good! And the Tim Horton's Franchisee at the location on Far Hills Avenue just North of Whipp Road is retired from the OPP and a heckuva nice guy, so you all will have a touch of home when you get here! Welcome! I used to run Ontario when I was a long haul trucker. Especially Mississauga. Where in ON are you guys from?

[JefferyT]

Kettering schools have actually dropped a notch with the latest state report card (Ohio rates school districts), but are still pretty good compared to elsewhere in the area. For the south suburbs, Centerville and Oakwood have the best schools, as does Springboro.

I live in the Centerville area and it is a very nice suburb.

The places to be wary of in the south suburbs are the Wilmington Pike and Woodman Drive areas in Kettering...try to stay roughly west of Wilmington and south of David when looking in Kettering ( look more along the Far Hills and Bigger Road & Marshall corridors). The areas West of Far Hills in Kettering tend to be the most expensive, with homes of the wealthy and upper middle class.

As far as I can tell there is no real questionable areas in the Centerville area, except maybe that Chevy Chase area next to that public housing project.

[wrightflyer]

Crew Cheif covered the basic list of southern/eastern suburbs.

One other that I'd add is Miamisburg, which is in roughly the same boat as Kettering school and housing wise. The schools are good, but Centerville and Springboro next door outshine them. Also, there are older, cheaper homes in parts vs. newer, more expensive subdivisions in the south part of town. This is all just south of Kettering on Dixie Hwy.

Another school district and town up there with Springboro, Centerville, and Oakwood is Beavercreek. We are on the eastern border of Kettering in Greene County. I live here and until recently attended school here. Its a wonderful place to raise a family. The community is safe, growing, and benefits from Wright-Patt (major military research base with massive amount of its scientists and doctors living in Beavercreek with their families). Money Magazine recently ranked Beavercreek 84th in a list of top 100 communities to live.

Most neighborhoods are well cared for, even the older ones, but there will be the occasional unkept property. If there was an area to avoid, it'd be the neighborhood cut in half by I-675 just north of Indian Ripple. It's not low income housing as much as the decreased property value from the highway's disruption. I don't think Beavercreek has any low income housing sections like Kettering as we aren't part of Dayton Metro Housing Authority's jurisdiction.

There are numerous transfers from around the world here, mainly for the base. Many of the people I attended school with lived or were from places like Russia, Korea, Panama, England, and India. There are people from Ontario here as I've seen a decent number of cars with Ontario plates. I know that's not scientific but at least they are here.

Both the Fairfield Commons Mall and The Greene are here providing anyone with almost any mid to upper level chain they desire (Williams and Sonoma, Talbots to name a few). If you can't find it here, Columbus and Cincinnati are only +/- 1 hour from Beavercreek.

As for the schools themselves, they can be a little overcrowded. Yet so are Centerville (expanding) and Springboro (just expanded and still overcrowded). Hopefully, Beavercreek residents will pass a bond to expand our schools in November. Otherwise, the facilities were last updated/expanded in 1998/99 so it's modern. The high school has 2700 students with numerous clubs and activities at least one of which will hopefully appeal to your son. Also, because of military transfers, there are a number of students that move around in their high school years so he won't be the only new kid. As far as the elementary schools, a few of them are former winners of National Blue Ribbon Awards and one of the Middle Schools was a finalist.

Hope you find a house you love and have a stress free move. If you get a chance for a break in your searching, I'd recommend seeing the National Museum of the US Airforce at Wright-Patt. I don't think I've ever heard anyone who hasn't enjoyed an outing there. And it's free!

[nitneylion]

If schools are most important, Oakwood has the best not only in the area but in the state. Housing, however, is expensive. The next choice, in my mind, would be Centerville/Washington Township, good schools and good mix of housing. Then the others previously mentioned come in play.... Good luck in your move.

[SunSun]

Avoid Dayton at all costs. Kettering is ok, but I'd suggest Oakwood, Centerville, or Springboro if you can afford it. I'm surprised your husband is being transferred here. The job market is terrible. It's nearly impossible to obtain good employment.

[wrightflyer]

IMO, I'd chose either Centerville, Beavercreek, or Oakwood in any order since each borders on Kettering and is usally a notch above it in most repects. Centerville and Beavercreek are basically the same with exception to higher prices and more traffic in Centerville. Oakwood would be perfect if you enjoy older suburbia (upper-middle to upper class) with 1920's to 1950's era housing within walking distance to anything local.

Springboro is perfect, but you'd be farther away and have to fight the traffic of OH48/Main St in Centerville and Kettering to get to work. In the few times I've been on that road at rush hour, it seems to have one of the region's worst surface road traffic. You can find the exact same house in Centerville or Beavercreek for roughly the same price/schools/shopping/etc...

[christinen]

Thank you so much for all the info. We went down last weekend to take the kids to see the areas. We really liked Centerville. You can find just about everything there! Beavercreak and Oakwood I think would be on our search list also. We found alot of Tim Hortons! (feels like home already!) Being from Windsor, Ontario, we have one on every corner almost!
Should be hearing about the Visas in a bit, that will be the only thing holding us back now. I can't wait to get looking at all the wonderful houses. We certainly saw some beautiful areas.
Can anyone let me know how the school system works there? (semestered?) It started in August I heard..and runs til the beginning of June?
Thank you so much for all the info.

[Crew Chief]

Christinen, glad you all are starting to feel welcome; hope you like it down here as much as we do! The school year (for most districts, anyway) are two semesters per year, 180-185 days long (the extra five days are "calamity" days for weather, power outages and such. But we rarely have power outages!) This past year Dayton City Schools started in August and had to cancel school for several days running; it got up over 90ºF (38ºC) and most of their school buildings have no air conditioning. Our normal school holidays are:

Labor Day (1st Monday in September)

Columbus Day (1st Monday in October)

Thanksgiving (usually that last Thursday and Friday in November together)

Christmas (normally two weeks; covers both Christmas and New Year's Day)

Martin Luther King Day (2nd? Monday in January)

President's Day (3rd monday in February)

Spring Break (usually 1 week off around Easter)

Memorial Day (3rd Monday in May)

In addition, there are several "teacher work days for their professional development during the year; students stay home.

[AJC04]

kettering has good schools thety go by semester. the school year will end around first part of jusne to mid june. centerville is a cood place to live to and schools is excellent also along with oakwood schools also that is in that area that you wnat stay away from beavercreek adn dayotn schools along with fairborn. i used to live in dayton but have friends who have attended the schools there. i now live in springfiled, ohio