Moving to Flagstaff-- schools, neighborhoods?? (Phoenix, Tempe: for sale by owner, apartments, rentals)

[Neubian]

I am a single mother moving from Texas to Flagstaff in a few months with my 12 year old daughter. Any recommendations on which zip code to live in? Can someone tell which intermediate and middle schools are the best? I am also looking for an apartment or townhome to rent that is pet friendly as I have a dog and a cat that is coming with us? How are the relationships there between people of different ethnic backgrounds? Any information would be helpful

Thanks,

Neubian

[robabeatle]

look up BASIS Flagstaff

[leocharleston]

Originally Posted by robabeatle

look up BASIS Flagstaff

What does look up BASIS Flagstaff mean?

[observer53]

BASIS is a chain of schools, popular with some people. If you do a search on BASIS here, you'll find some other threads. Here is the Flagstaff website:

https://www.basisschools.org/index.p...165&Itemid=290

[nowannamove]

Originally Posted by Neubian

I am a single mother moving from Texas to Flagstaff in a few months with my 12 year old daughter. Any recommendations on which zip code to live in? Can someone tell which intermediate and middle schools are the best? I am also looking for an apartment or townhome to rent that is pet friendly as I have a dog and a cat that is coming with us? How are the relationships there between people of different ethnic backgrounds? Any information would be helpful

Thanks,

Neubian

Schools - imho AZ has some of the worst public schools I've come across (and we have lived all over the nation). That said, the charter schools are awesome. Look into BASIS, NPA, FALA, the montesorri schools. We have lots of them here in Flagstaff and they are all good. The only charter school I've heard negative things about is BASIS. I hear they are very rigid,R but that is just one persons opinion.

Homes - renting in Flagstaff is tough. Due to the fact that it is a college town most rentals are dumpy and expensive. However the housing market has crashed here so the rentals are getting better. When I first moved here I was not happy with any available rentals. What I did was look for for sale by owner homes. I ended finding a brand new, never been lived in 3,500 sq ft custom home for 1700 monthly. We rented for a year (with dogs and kids), then bought a house. I don't think you can find a livable rental under $800/month. I know that there is a large apartment community near the ponderosa area.... I think it is called the oaks. They allow pets, I think. The apartments are decent, they have a gym and they charge about $800 a month.

Race Relations - Flagstaff really only has three groups - white, Mexican and Native. There really are no asians or blacks here. When my kids went to the public schools here there seemed to be a great deal of mistrust between the native kids, mexican kids and whites. The native kids are bussed in from the reservation. The racial tension does not seem to be a problem at the charter schools. Yes the charter schools are mixed, but the kids all seem to get along better.

If you have never been around a large native population there are a few things you should know. Historically the white folks in Flagstaff have been very racist against natives, and as a result some of the natives can be distrustful of non-natives. The natives are not overly effusive or smiley with folks they do not know. When I first moved here I thought this was rude, but soon learned that it is cultural and not intended to be impolite.

[nowannamove]

FUSD facing 50-teacher cut

The article above talks about Flagstaff's public schools losing students to charter schools

[buckeyenative01]

At least Flagstaff public schools are unified (K-12). The non-unified school districts in Phoenix drive me nuts because there's no cohesion between K-8 and 9-12.

For example, when I moved here in the 7th grade, I went to one of the Kyrene School District middle schools, then went to one of Tempe Union High School District's high schools. Most of 9th grade was spent trying to learn what we should've been prepared for in 8th grade.

[temp00]

Flagstaff in general is expensive. The utility bills here get high but not ridiculous though. I have 7 years living here and this is generally a college town mainly because of NAU. There are lots of Natives (largely Navajo and Hopi) as stated, Hispanics (mainly Mexico as origin) and Whites. The weather here is 75% cold, 25% hot. When it snows, it snows decently sometimes up to a a foot but quickly melts, making this city at 7000 feet elevation a nice place for cold loving people. Flagstaff does not snow like hell and sticks like upper northeastern states though. When Summer comes, it gets hot around 85 average maybe but then it feels really nice at night, making this place a cold-leaned area. I see this town as a retiring place, extreme green/environmental lovers with a NAU biology degree, a Native close to their families around all AZ reservations, or a Student who got accepted at NAU. There are two public High Schools, Coconino HS, and Flagstaff HS. Both HS are filled with the kids living here, expect all sorts of people like any other school really. I'd recommend a very good Charter school, NPA located in Country Club, right next to Sinagua Middle School (once a HS). A smaller school with around 400-500 students average with light use school uniform (khaki). Just depends how well your daughter needs to be in really. Apartments, there plenty with pets allowed, average price for 2 bedroom, $1000. Train passing can be heard all town, passing in the middle of the town, delaying traffic for 5 minutes. Shopping is average, no high brand stuff. Nights here die immediately, no activity. People say here less than 100k population which is a lie, to control the population here. It appears that they don't they want this small town to grow, awkward. Most expensive area is southern flagstaff past Coconino Community College where homes hit $1m with golf courses. East Flagstaff north highway 89, you'll encounter larger lands, bigger houses for those who love horses, dirtbiking, etc.. Homes get decent nice (normal). There was a flood in the east due to a huge fire on Mount Elden and San Francisco peaks which flooded all homes (not severely) and left all Eastern homes sometimes destroyed, value went down dramatically. I don't want to make this sound bad but heck, not generalizing though. Small town in general and most importantly... very hard to find jobs. One person might disagree because of the coincidental nature. In general it is very tight in jobs and prices are bit high here. 1:45hr to Phoenix.

[buckeyenative01]

How in the hell can you make it from Flag to Phoenix in an hour and forty five minutes?

Are we talking just the northern end of the metro (aka Anthem/New River)?

I'm lucky if I can get to the northern outskirts of Phoenix in two hours, and keep in mind I live on Lake Mary Road (southern end of town) and my average speed on I-17 is around 85mph...

But anyway, the tight job market can't be stressed enough. One of my favorite nicknames for Flagstaff is "poverty with a view." Look, I love living here and currently work for Coconino County (in my preferred field, no less), but I'd be lying if I said there haven't been times when I struggled to make ends meet.