Oak Lea's a very nice subdivision. It's of the age where people are buying the houses and remodeling/updating the interiors. Some of the homes in that area, however, are fairly new. Lots of kids there, and neighbors of all ages, elderly to families with babies & toddlers.
AHS vs. DHS - Austin High is the bigger school. It is mostly one story, built in the late 1960s (and remodeled many times), except it has a brand-new two story building just built last year on campus. Band is HUGE at Austin. The student population is bigger than Decatur's.
Cedar Ridge Middle feeds exclusively to Austin. Good teachers. New school, built, oh, 8 or 9 years ago.
Decatur High's campus was built and opened in 1951, and remodeled many times, except for a couple of much newer extensions. Band is NOT huge at Decatur, but they do have an excellent band.
Oak Park Middle fees exclusively to Decatur. Good teachers, also. This middle school (and Brookhaven, whose students split between Decatur and Austin) was built in the 1970s as a "forward-thinking" design of no windows and no walls between classrooms. After a year, teachers were doing everything they could to put walls of any kind between the rooms - lockers, bookcases, stacks of boxes. So the building has been remodeled several times.
Both Decatur and Austin have their share of Merit Scholars, grads with scholarships to state universities as well as MIT, Duke, Vandy, and occasionally Harvard, Cal Tech etc.
Austin has a strong theater program. It also offers R.O.T.C. Decatur students can participate in the Austin R.O.T.C. program but have to travel to Austin's campus.
Austin and Decatur were once at opposite ends of the social scale, so to speak - Austin mostly newcomers, Decatur "old Decatur" families; Austin middle class, Decatur more upper class. But these differences are slowly dissolving. This year the two schools' robotics teams combined. The football/basketball rivalry, however, continues!
I can never remember which side of Spring Avenue that Oak Lea sits on, but if you are west of Spring, you go to Austin; if you are east of Spring, you go to Decatur.
Generally Decaturites are very welcoming to newcomers. You're much more of a novelty here than in Huntsville!
Please PM me if you would like more details.
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