Relocating to Elizabethtown (Louisville, Hardin: apartments, to rent, house)

[twoplusfive]

My husband has taken a position in Elizabethtown. He is moving ahead of the kids and me at the start of the year and is planning to rent an apartment or small house until the school year is over unless our home sells quickly. Are there apartments/areas we should avoid? Ones we should gravitate to?

I'm hoping his going ahead of us will give us a better idea of preferred areas/neighborhoods for our family. Any insight on that would also be helpful. We have a large family, so we need some outdoor space but still want an opportunity to be connected and get to know our neighbors.

We're moving from a tiny city in VA, so I don't feel like we'll have culture shock, except in housing prices for our family size. (I'm ecstatic there's a Target and Home Depot!)

Any insight on Special Ed in the city schools? I'm spoiled with fantastic relationships with the teachers where we are now, so I'm hoping for a positive adjustment.

Thanks so much!

[flashfearless]

What age is your special ed needs child? I know several teachers in the E-town school system.

[twoplusfive]

I have three kiddos in special ed. One is 4th grade (11 yrs), one is 9th grade (15 yrs), and one is already 18 but still in HS under IDEA. Thank you!!

[Oldhag1]

Originally Posted by twoplusfive

I have three kiddos in special ed. One is 4th grade (11 yrs), one is 9th grade (15 yrs), and one is already 18 but still in HS under IDEA. Thank you!!

When I taught in the vicinity about 10 years ago Hardin County Schools were MUCH better about serving the needs of special ed students than Elizabethtown Independent. So were all of the surrounding counties such as Larue and Nelson. At that time E'town was considered non-special ed friendly, although a decade is a long time in the world of education so that may have changed since then.

[flashfearless]

It's funny, I heard the same sentiment from someone I know who said that it was a long time ago, but at the time the county schools were better set up for dealing with it.

I would ask EISD about it. The neighborhood you mentioned in your PM is in the EIS school district. Here is a link to the EIS web site.

Home - Elizabethtown Independent Schools

[twoplusfive]

Oldhag1 and flashfearless, that is very helpful, thank you! I'll call both districts and see if things are still the same or if the city has improved. How the schools are equipped to meet the kids' needs will play a huge factor in where specifically we land. Thanks for the link and for the confirmation of where the neighborhood I mentioned is located!

[Oldhag1]

Originally Posted by flashfearless

It's funny, I heard the same sentiment from someone I know who said that it was a long time ago, but at the time the county schools were better set up for dealing with it.

I would ask EISD about it. The neighborhood you mentioned in your PM is in the EIS school district. Here is a link to the EIS web site.

Home - Elizabethtown Independent Schools

It had nothing to do with being set up to deal with special education, it was the district's CHOICE to not be set up to deal with it. Because of the funky way Kentucky independent school school districts are set up they were able to transfer all their special education students, along with the expense of education those students, to the county system. During that same time EIS was also recruiting county desirable students who excelled at either academics or athletics. It all came to an end through a combination of No Child Left Behind and Hardin County getting a very stubborn superintendent who recognized what was going on and in his battle to end it finally made public the incredibly unfair financial burden it created for the county.

As someone who was knowledgeable about local/state education but personally uninvolved with either district, it was fascinating to watch it all unfold. When everything was said and done Hardin County quit taking all E'town's special ed students, the number of out-of-district students E'town could take was capped with those taken chosen through random drawing unless the parents paid tuition, educational guardianships were no longer allowed, E'town had to scramble to set up a special education program. The Hardin County superintendent left before it was all finalized, but several new county school board members refused to let it fall by the wayside. EIS's school board couldn't understand why their high school stopped being an athletic powerhouse or why their test scores, which did remain respectful, were no longer as high.

I suspect by now the district has adjusted and are probably doing fine, but it's a lot easier to be a superb school system when you can cherry pick your students.

[twoplusfive]

I can absolutely imagine the same scenario playing out a decade ago where my family is now. Fortunately, the teachers and administration in place now are incredible. A long ways from full inclusion, yes, but on the road to it and in some ways better. I’ll be calling both school systems at the start of the year to try and get a feel for where we want to be. Any idea if there are Special Ed classes at each school or if one school per district is used? We’re currently zoned for one elem school but my 4th grader attends the other since Special Ed is there. My HSers attend the only high school in the city.

Thank you again for the information, it’s helping me with my questions to ask!

[twoplusfive]

One other question: what does it mean for Elizabethtown that’s it “moist?” I get dry and I get wet, but I don’t know what it means specifically for where to buy a bottle of wine. I can pop into any grocery store here and buy anything except liquor, and there are two liquor stores in the county (none in the city). How does Etown differ from that?

[Oldhag1]

Originally Posted by twoplusfive

I can absolutely imagine the same scenario playing out a decade ago where my family is now. Fortunately, the teachers and administration in place now are incredible. A long ways from full inclusion, yes, but on the road to it and in some ways better. I’ll be calling both school systems at the start of the year to try and get a feel for where we want to be. Any idea if there are Special Ed classes at each school or if one school per district is used? We’re currently zoned for one elem school but my 4th grader attends the other since Special Ed is there. My HSers attend the only high school in the city.

Thank you again for the information, it’s helping me with my questions to ask!

Depend on your child's level of disability.

It used to be the city schools (EIS) had self contained at only one elementary, and that may or may not still be true, but distance wise the schools are very close together so it isn't a huge deal. The city only has one middle school and one high school, so they will by necessity be there, unless your child's needs are high enough that they will need to do a private placement. Last I heard inclusion was limited.

My understanding is that the county schools do a decent job of inclusion. They have self contained classes in each school for those that are classified as mild to slightly moderate. They have moderate classes at several elementary schools that will serve a group of 3-5 elementary schools, and I believe profound classes at two elementary schools, one on each end of the county. The same is true at the middle school level and each high school has services. EBD services vary depending on population fluxes but when we were leaving the area they were attempting almost complete inclusion at the middle school/high school level and were putting them in an alternative setting if they couldn't hack it - that, too, may have changed. Like I said, 10 years is a long time in education trends.

Originally Posted by twoplusfive

One other question: what does it mean for Elizabethtown that’s it “moist?” I get dry and I get wet, but I don’t know what it means specifically for where to buy a bottle of wine. I can pop into any grocery store here and buy anything except liquor, and there are two liquor stores in the county (none in the city). How does Etown differ from that?

Haha.... yeah, I get that confusion. It means no stand alone bars, eating establishments can serve alcohol provided most of their income/business is derived from food sales, and there are restrictions on how and where alcohol is sold for home use. You will not be buying wine at the grocery store, at least you couldn't last time I visited. E'town was dry until shortly before we moved, unless you were a big drinker all it meant was buying your liquor when you drove up to Louisville to do other shopping and that there weren't a lot of chain restaurants. I didn't have an issue with it but a lot of people who moved into the area from other places did. The "moist" vote was a compromise because they couldn't get "wet" passed and they wanted more national chain restaurants.