Help me please!!!!!! (Fort Smith, Mansfield: schools, living in, moving)

[ArkansasTgirl]

Originally Posted by ccoutofsc

Friendly fella do you know about the schools in Ft. Smith? When looking on greatschools.net I only see a few schools with ratings of 8 or above.

I don't have kids so Its not something I pay attention to.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by ccoutofsc

Ok I didn't think there would be anything on the Ok side but I need to check.

I was thinking the same as what you are saying: I can't imagine anything on the OK side that would be satisfactory for a family with young kids. There are a couple of small towns with good ole country restaurants though.

Friendlyfella does know a lot about Ft. Smith, more than many of us, I just think he doesn't know people do commute between Fayetteville and Ft. Smith. The only way you will know is by having hubby try the commute a few times before you make any decisions and as for schools: remember, if your kids are taught the importance of school by parents and a love for learning, which it sounds like they have been, they will do just fine and continue to do well. You don't have to find the very best schools in the state. I know this from experience.

[ArkansasTgirl]

Originally Posted by nmnita

I was thinking the same as what you are saying: I can't imagine anything on the OK side that would be satisfactory for a family with young kids. There are a couple of small towns with good ole country restaurants though.

Friendlyfella does know a lot about Ft. Smith, more than many of us, I just think he doesn't know people do commute between Fayetteville and Ft. Smith. The only way you will know is by having hubby try the commute a few times before you make any decisions and as for schools: remember, if your kids are taught the importance of school by parents and a love for learning, which it sounds like they have been, they will do just fine and continue to do well. You don't have to find the very best schools in the state. I know this from experience.

Of course people do, I worked with some people in there early 20's who carpooled to Fort Smith from Fayettville 10 years ago. Its not the same as the people commuting from Fayyettville to Bentonville though.

[ccoutofsc]

Originally Posted by nmnita

I was thinking the same as what you are saying: I can't imagine anything on the OK side that would be satisfactory for a family with young kids. There are a couple of small towns with good ole country restaurants though.

Friendlyfella does know a lot about Ft. Smith, more than many of us, I just think he doesn't know people do commute between Fayetteville and Ft. Smith. The only way you will know is by having hubby try the commute a few times before you make any decisions and as for schools: remember, if your kids are taught the importance of school by parents and a love for learning, which it sounds like they have been, they will do just fine and continue to do well. You don't have to find the very best schools in the state. I know this from experience.

Very true about schools but I have also found from experience here that schools that score higher tend to have better parent involvement and higher expectations set for them. I don't want my kids in a school that isn't meeting goals. The school doesn't have to be a 10 but also not a 3 and I saw many that were a 3 in Ft Smith.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by ccoutofsc

Very true about schools but I have also found from experience here that schools that score higher tend to have better parent involvement and higher expectations set for them. I don't want my kids in a school that isn't meeting goals. The school doesn't have to be a 10 but also not a 3 and I saw many that were a 3 in Ft Smith.

you are right. I will however give an example of it not making a lot of difference; our greatgranddaughter, is very advanced for her age started 1st grade in a school in Lowell this past August. I won't mention the school. Anyway, they live in a middle class neighborhood, pretty much working class. They are both educated, granddaughter is a nurse practitioner and hubby an accountant, but when the relocated last year they couldn't sell their house in OKC and have student loans up the you know what: they couldn't find a decent rental so bought all they could afford. Long story, short: great granddaughter is in school with many kids who hardly speak English; luckily she had a teacher that knew how to deal with our Ggreatdaugher; she matured, learned, and is a very happy, well adjusted 7 year old. What helped a lot: good Grils scout troop: soccer team and church. yes, they plan on moving next year; no it isn't the perfect solution, but it can work.

[ccoutofsc]

Originally Posted by nmnita

you are right. I will however give an example of it not making a lot of difference; our greatgranddaughter, is very advanced for her age started 1st grade in a school in Lowell this past August. I won't mention the school. Anyway, they live in a middle class neighborhood, pretty much working class. They are both educated, granddaughter is a nurse practitioner and hubby an accountant, but when the relocated last year they couldn't sell their house in OKC and have student loans up the you know what: they couldn't find a decent rental so bought all they could afford. Long story, short: great granddaughter is in school with many kids who hardly speak English; luckily she had a teacher that knew how to deal with our Ggreatdaugher; she matured, learned, and is a very happy, well adjusted 7 year old. What helped a lot: good Grils scout troop: soccer team and church. yes, they plan on moving next year; no it isn't the perfect solution, but it can work.

I'm happy things worked well for your granddaughter and her family. Like you said though they plan on moving next year so I'm sure school has some bearing on it. We want to make our next move our last so we need to make sure that we not only like our area but also our schools. We have 3 children that will be in school.

[Dil'se]

Originally Posted by ccoutofsc

I wonder if anyone can help me. My husbands company has a plant in Ft Smith, he works for Mars, and we are considering a transfer there. We currently live in Columbia, SC but I am from California. I see so much good about Fayetville but don't want hubby to have a major commute. If anyone does it and it's not so bad please let me know. So my question is are there any cities between the two where we could live that would make driving to either city not as hard. We are a family of seven with kids ages 11, 9, 5, and 5mth old twins. Our boys play travel baseball and our 5 yr old is in gymnastics now but being that I danced my whole life I want good dance also. Of course good schools are necessary. This is just a little about us. Any city info would greatly help. We currently live in Columbia, SC and I am from California (born and raised) so this move will get us closer to family. I also have family in Little Rock. I want to have good outdoor things which Columbia doesn't have and more ability for walkability. We want to make this our last move so I need to know anything you can think of. We will make a visit before a move but unsure of when and we may have to make a decision before a visit.

Fayetteville to Fort Smith drive is very pleasant (scenic) and easily doable. My friend's family is looking into moving to Fayetteville since NWA has more to offer than Fort Smith. He has to drive daily to Fort Smith for work.

The one issue for driving could be during winter. If it snows hard or ice storm happens (happens rarely), he may not be able to drive (our state highway dept's snow removal effort took a lot of heat past winter). But he can stay put in Fort Smith for a day or two if that is ok with your family.

Officials To Meet On Icy Roads Following Controversial Photo | 5NEWSOnline.com

[Jethro145]

Ft Smith is a city of 78,000, they have anything and everything. If you want to live in a small town, there's lots of them in a 25 mile radius. If you want a teeny little town, then come to Branch, Ar population 357. We have all the stuff of the big city's, city sewer, water, gas and all other kinds of utilities. One store and no stop lights. Excellent school 2 miles from there, County Line High, my alma mater. The Marrs facility is a 25 minute drive and no hurrying. Very light traffic form Branch to there.

[Rock Climber]

Greenwood seems to be the "suburb" of choice for Fort Smith. Van Buren may be second.

[Chrissyclp70]

We are also relocating to the Fort Smith area. My husband is already living in Fort Smith temporarily. I took the kids out to visit and house hunt and I personally, can't see anyone wanting to commute from Fayettville every day. It was very pretty though. I think the farthest north we considered was Mountainberg, and even that was a good little drive.
I expected Fort Smith to be big and dirty and old, like a lot of big cities, but it wasn't. I thought it was very nice, but traffic could really back up during rush hour.
I don't know what you are looking for, but we are not city people and we found a house in Mansfield. It's about 30 minutes to his job, the schools are small but friendly and we liked the feel of it.
We also have a large family, and finding a house with enough bedrooms was tricky since we also wanted some land. Good luck! If you end up in Mansfield, give us a shout. We can be new together.