Decatur/Madison Al area (Huntsville, Triana: new home, transfer, construction)

[lchaille]

Hi! my husband is looking at a job in the Decatur area, but I think we would want to live in Madison from what I hear. I am very social and have two young kids. I want to be near good schools public or private and have lots of activities for them to do. We are living in Gainesville Fl right now and love how family friendly it is. My husband however is concerned about the "commute" from Madison to Decatur. Mapquest says its 20 min., he would be on call and need to be somewhat close to Decatur General. Could someone who is familar with the area let me know how long it really takes to get between the two cities and if the traffic is normally bad?

[Southlander]

Please don't count out Decatur! Take a look, please.

Our schools score lower because we have more Hispanics, but children can get a very good education here, especially if parents are involved. We have excellent magnet schools, and the second International Baccalaureate program in the state for high school. New home construction can be found around Burningtree, and Pointe Mallard Estates is a popular place to live, and only 5 minutes from DGH and next door to our water park. We're right on the river. Housing in Decatur is a little less expensive than in Madison.

We also have a very active Newcomers Club. If you are a Junior League member, you can transfer your membership.
We have a small art museum with lots of activities for youngsters...lots of youth ball leagues...churches have active programs for kids. It's a great place for families!

[rnc76]

Sorry, but the Hispanic excuse is pretty lame. What was the excuse 20 years ago before the Mexican influx? Schools weren't particularly good then either.

[ionlife]

As I mentioned before--Decatur schools did disappoint another newbie

[boilrmkr]

My husband works in Decatur and we live in Madison. He has been here since April and the kids and I just moved here last week. Of course the drive is going to depend where exactly you are going to live in Madison and where your husband is going to work in Decatur.

We live off of Wall-Triana and he works off of Point Mallard Dr. He says the drive is 20 minutes in the morning. There is no traffic going into Decatur. The drive home is @35 minutes with most of the traffic being in Decatur. He leaves work between 4:30 and 5:00.

[lchaille]

Thanks boilrmkr for the reply do you happen to be a Purdue Boilermaker? We are from Indiana originally and went to IU.
My husband would be working at Decatur General Hospital and I am assuming we would live in the Southwest side of Madison if we could find a house there.
As for the schools in Decatur, I didn't mean to offend anyone I have no idea of the test scores of Decatur vs Madison. I only have heard of Madison's public schools and I was even thinking or talking mostly of the Catholic school in Madison. Since we are Catholic I figured our kids would go there and I wouldn't want to commute from Decatur to Madison for school.

[boilrmkr]

My husband is a Purdue boilermaker. His family lives in Ft.Wayne. I hear nothing but good about the Madison schools and am excited to send my kids there. We moved here from Savannah and the schools were awful. We also need to stay on the south/southwest side of Madison so the commute to Decatur is not too long. We are in temp. housing waiting for our house is Savannah to sell. So far we really like living here.

[ionlife]

Madison Schools -- have heard only positive stories about the schools in Madison. Also the Catholic School is good as well, but a lot of the students opt to switch to Madison public schools around high school age. Bob Jones HS is a national highly ranked school and is the largest in the state. The art dept. is amazing as is the culinary school. It received over 25 million in scholarships for about 40% of its students vs. 36million for all 7 of the HS in the Huntsville School district. Over 95% of graduates from BJ go on to colleges.

I do not know what Decatur's numbers are in that dept., but that is what I would look at as part of making my decision. Some people don't care about the numbers and at times it seems as if looking at statistics as part of the decision making process is frowned upon. But numbers are solid and they represent real outcomes. They are certainly a good place to start. I visited the schools in Madison and in Huntsville SE (Grissom) before making our decision. Not sure how old your children are, but my daughter (turning 14) was a part of the decision as well. She has to attend the schools and so she toured the schools and we listened to her feedback about the pros and cons as well. School starts August 6 here. Madison schools pick up their schedules next week. You might be able to tour the schools at that time.

Good luck.

[lchaille]

Do homes in this area have basements?

[Southeastern]

Originally Posted by lchaille

Do homes in this area have basements?

Very few homes have a basement.