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Old 08-06-2016, 11:49 PM
 
Location: Shreveport, LA
1,609 posts, read 1,589,355 times
Reputation: 995

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I am training to become a middle school teacher and I really, really want to get away from all of the humidity, religious fundamentalism, heat, mosquitoes, and appearently neverending summer I face down here. I have only limited experience with other areas, but I'm looking for a place that is fairly liberal, somewhat cheap, cold and snowy at least part of the year, and very dry. I went skiing once and liked it, so if you can throw in a mountain nearby, that's a huge plus.

What does the market look like for school teachers in Aurora?
Is there a lot of fundamentalism in Aurora?
Are the schools good there?
How is the crime rate?
Is it safe enough for a nightime stroll?
Can a school teacher afford Aurora?
Can you ever see Auroras in Aurora?
How bad are mosquitoes compared to the swamps of Shreveport?
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Old 08-07-2016, 07:25 AM
 
Location: Denver, CO
331 posts, read 462,160 times
Reputation: 591
According to this comprehensive data page, which I urge you to review at leisure, Aurora's COL is 8% higher than the average COL in the US. There goes "cheap" although of course IMO a person can live frugally anywhere.

Aurora's a big sprawling suburb of Denver, i.e., a part of the very large Denver metro area. Some of Aurora is in Adams County, and the rest in Arapahoe County. It has some sketchy crime-ridden areas and many new/ish housing developments in other areas (mainly to the South side of things).

Aurora's population is culturally and racially diverse, but don't assume that "diversity" is just about "black and white." There's a large Latino population, and some communities of immigrants from Somalia (and I think some other countries which I can't remember off the top of my head). Aurora, Colorado, to launch immigrant integration plan Sept. 29

Colorado is not bug-free, but has very few flying and crawling insects as compared to Louisiana. I moved here from Houston long ago, and deeply appreciate the scarcity of bugs here. That said, there are mosquitoes and other bugs, just not nearly as many. You don't see flea collars on dogs and cats, for instance, although vets here tell me we're no longer 'flea-free' and my dog gets heartworm preventative meds as a precaution. Colorado reports a few cases of mosquito-borne West Nile Virus every year, so depending on your outdoor activities you may need to use insect repellant during warm months.

Aurora Public schools website: Aurora Public Schools – Aurora, Colorado | 303-344-8060

Colorado Education Dept requirements for initial teacher licensure: Requirements for a Colorado Initial Teacher License | CDE

Edited to add: politically, Colorado is a "purple" state. Voter registration is roughly 1/3 Democrat, 1/3 Republican and 1/3 unaffiliated. I suppose it depends on who you interact with, but generally I've found people in the Denver area to be pretty much "live and let live" when it comes to politics and religion. This is definitely not the Bible Belt South (thank God). After all, we legalized teh weed, heh.
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Old 08-07-2016, 08:26 AM
 
50 posts, read 56,211 times
Reputation: 56
Schools in Aurora suck. Being a teacher there is rough since it's a poor district. My friends that work in the district live far outside of it.

I'd not live in Aurora. It's not Shreveport ****hole (admit it, most of Louisiana isn't nice), but it's got rough edges. There are pockets of gentrification or suburbia.

No Auroras being seen (seriously? Google that).
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Old 08-07-2016, 09:27 AM
 
Location: Shreveport, LA
1,609 posts, read 1,589,355 times
Reputation: 995
Quote:
Originally Posted by Suzatlarge View Post
According to this comprehensive data page, which I urge you to review at leisure, Aurora's COL is 8% higher than the average COL in the US. There goes "cheap" although of course IMO a person can live frugally anywhere.

Aurora's a big sprawling suburb of Denver, i.e., a part of the very large Denver metro area. Some of Aurora is in Adams County, and the rest in Arapahoe County. It has some sketchy crime-ridden areas and many new/ish housing developments in other areas (mainly to the South side of things).

Aurora's population is culturally and racially diverse, but don't assume that "diversity" is just about "black and white." There's a large Latino population, and some communities of immigrants from Somalia (and I think some other countries which I can't remember off the top of my head). Aurora, Colorado, to launch immigrant integration plan Sept. 29

Colorado is not bug-free, but has very few flying and crawling insects as compared to Louisiana. I moved here from Houston long ago, and deeply appreciate the scarcity of bugs here. That said, there are mosquitoes and other bugs, just not nearly as many. You don't see flea collars on dogs and cats, for instance, although vets here tell me we're no longer 'flea-free' and my dog gets heartworm preventative meds as a precaution. Colorado reports a few cases of mosquito-borne West Nile Virus every year, so depending on your outdoor activities you may need to use insect repellant during warm months.

Aurora Public schools website: Aurora Public Schools – Aurora, Colorado | 303-344-8060

Colorado Education Dept requirements for initial teacher licensure: Requirements for a Colorado Initial Teacher License | CDE

Edited to add: politically, Colorado is a "purple" state. Voter registration is roughly 1/3 Democrat, 1/3 Republican and 1/3 unaffiliated. I suppose it depends on who you interact with, but generally I've found people in the Denver area to be pretty much "live and let live" when it comes to politics and religion. This is definitely not the Bible Belt South (thank God). After all, we legalized teh weed, heh.
Here is Shreveport, most people are very socially conservative "Dixiecrats". I'm pretty liberal on the environment and I'll say I'm center-left on economics, as in I supported Bernie but see TRUE socialism as destructive to the economy. I'm pretty libertarian on everything else, though. The bugs are so bad here they come and bite me inside my house, even when I keep the doors shut and stay in as much as possible. Schools in shreveport are pretty bad except this one magnet school everybody wants to get into. I wince at the COL, but I guess that is a case of getting what you pay for and one of the reasons COL in Shreveport is only 80% of what is average for the US may be because it is so bad here.

Is there a place that strikes a balance between crime and affordability in Aurora?
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Old 08-07-2016, 09:36 AM
 
Location: Aurora, CO
8,592 posts, read 14,775,747 times
Reputation: 15343
Quote:
Originally Posted by goofygrin View Post
Schools in Aurora suck. Being a teacher there is rough since it's a poor district. My friends that work in the district live far outside of it.

I'd not live in Aurora. It's not Shreveport ****hole (admit it, most of Louisiana isn't nice), but it's got rough edges. There are pockets of gentrification or suburbia.

No Auroras being seen (seriously? Google that).
Overgeneralization alert. Aurora is covered by 2 school districts. APS (not very good), and Cherry Creek Schools (among the best in the state).

Not all of Aurora is "rough around the edges." West of 225 and north of Mississippi is the worst part of town.

Montbello, Elyria-Swansea, and Globeville (all Denver) are worse than just about anything Aurora has to offer.
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Old 08-07-2016, 09:41 AM
 
5,110 posts, read 3,375,160 times
Reputation: 11546
Any particular reason you're focused on Aurora? As others have said, Aurora is huge. It has bad areas and nice areas. The nicer areas tend to be towards the south. There are two school systems that serve Aurora. The Aurora Public Schools (APS) system isn't rated highly and serves a very diverse population. The Cherry Creek School District (CCSD) is one of the higher rated districts in the area and serves parts of southern Aurora as well as other areas to the west. Aurora is mixed politically but tends to be a little more conservative towards the border with Douglas County.
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Old 08-07-2016, 11:43 AM
 
Location: Na'alehu Hawaii/Buena Vista Colorado
5,529 posts, read 12,591,377 times
Reputation: 6187
I, too, was wondering why Aurora? If you are interested in the Denver Metro area, there are five or six (?) huge school districts that cover many diverse areas. OP, you need to spend some time reading through the many threads here discussing the whole Denver area.
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Old 08-09-2016, 10:37 PM
 
Location: Shreveport, LA
1,609 posts, read 1,589,355 times
Reputation: 995
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dreaming of Hawaii View Post
I, too, was wondering why Aurora? If you are interested in the Denver Metro area, there are five or six (?) huge school districts that cover many diverse areas. OP, you need to spend some time reading through the many threads here discussing the whole Denver area.
I heard Aurora was one of the cheaper districts to live in, and it would be less of a budget shock to move to Aurora than another part of the Denver metro. Also, I have a half-sister in Aurora who was estranged but we recently began to talk on facebook again. She still hates my mom though, and my mom hates her. She is my sister, though, and I want to be neutral since besides my mom, my half-sister is the only other family I have, even if we didn't talk for 14 years.
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Old 08-09-2016, 11:01 PM
SQL
 
Location: The State of Delusion - Colorado
1,337 posts, read 1,186,382 times
Reputation: 1492
Quote:
Originally Posted by goofygrin View Post
Schools in Aurora suck. Being a teacher there is rough since it's a poor district. My friends that work in the district live far outside of it.

I'd not live in Aurora. It's not Shreveport ****hole (admit it, most of Louisiana isn't nice), but it's got rough edges. There are pockets of gentrification or suburbia.

No Auroras being seen (seriously? Google that).
If you think schools in Aurora suck, I think you need to get some perspective. Try going to an actual inner-city school in an actual bad city, like Detroit, and tell me how that compares to schools in Aurora.

As other posters have mentioned, there are a couple school districts that serve Aurora. Cherry Creek being one of them, and that is one of the best school districts in the state.
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Old 08-09-2016, 11:09 PM
SQL
 
Location: The State of Delusion - Colorado
1,337 posts, read 1,186,382 times
Reputation: 1492
Quote:
Originally Posted by bluescreen73 View Post
West of 225 and north of Mississippi is the worst part of town.
I'd argue that the worst part of Aurora is that which runs along Colfax and north of Colfax (particularly around Anschutz). But that can be said for most of the areas that run along Colfax, including Denver, Sheridan, and Lakewood.

Alameda and I-225 is basically Aurora's downtown, and there's a huge shopping center over there. I live near Mississippi and Havana area, and most of what's around me are newer developments. The Gardens on Havana is a revamped outdoor shopping center with tons of retail and restaurants. I'd consider all of those areas pretty safe, if not a bit busy and overcrowded at times.
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