Stillwater Area???

[Sunshinne]

I found the ranking by doing a google search. The site is Morgan Quitno Press. Having aids in the classroom is huge. I am all for that. I have a first grader, and the teacher asks for parent volunteers to come and help out, but she sends everyone to hang out in the copy room the whole time. The school district we live in won't spend the money on paid classroom aids, and the classroom size just keeps getting bigger and bigger. There are more kids here then there are schools to accomodate all of them. There are a ton of new schools, and they hire just about anyone with a clean background check and a degree to teach.

And what about air quality? How is the air quality up there in MN? We took one of my kids to the doctor yesterday for a double ear infection, and also to talk about the perpetual cough and wheezing that never seems to go away. The doctor said that the air quality is sooo bad here, that he recommend we see an allergist. There is no history of asthma in our family, and he said it is probably a problem associated with the air quality here. Nice.

Can you tell I am trying to talk myself into moving to the cold? You are right about having stuff to do in the cold. Here when it is 115, you can swim, and even then it is not advised to be in the pool during the hottest part of the day. I like AZ, it has been a very easy place to live for the past 13 years, but if we can move to be near family and have better schools, etc. then....

[golfgal]

For the most part the air quality in MN is fine. Sometimes there will be an air quality alert out but rarely. The worst is usually in the downtown area and the farther out you get you won't really notice that.

Our kids are in middle and high school now so past the 'aide' stage but when they were in elementary school they always had at least one aid even when they were in Catholic schools. Our DS15 had the full-time teacher, 2 full-time aides and one 1/2 time aide when he was in kindergarten for a class of 28 students. 28 is a lot of kids for kindergarten but it really works out to be a 9:1 ratio on the full-time basis and better when the part-time aide was there too.

[Sunshinne]

The ratio sounds great!

Okay, what about the tornedo factor? Should I be freaked out? How much of a concern is it really? I grew up with earthquakes, but tornedos sound so much worse to me.

[Lillietta]

We have tornado warnings; tornadoes are rare. No worries.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by Lillietta

We have tornado warnings; tornadoes are rare. No worries.

My parents tell me about the tornados that hit the Twin Cities in 1965, but I don't remember any of it. I was like two.

I've seen two wall clouds in the Atlanta metro in three years (no funnels on the ground, thank goodness), both on the south side of Cobb County. That's more than I saw in the Twin Cities during a MUCH longer period of time.

It's really freaky to look at a cloud and think to yourself, "wow, that looks strange... I wonder if it's a wall cloud", and then get home to find a tornado warning right where you saw the cloud front and rotation showing on the local TV stations' doppler radar.

[golfgal]

I have never been through a tornado in all my years here. They are very rare.

[Sunshinne]

Phew!! That's good to hear, thanks everyone.

[mgrjenny]

I am originally from cali and seen more earthquakes in my first 16yrs of life then I have tornados since I moved to MN 15yrs ago. If it worries u, Just be sure and buy a house with a basement to run too in an emergency, which basements are common here. I did live in many trailers for many years in trailer parks with no basement and even in that case, most of the parks around here have shelters just for that reason, and once I had to go to one, but it was nothing...They do give u alot of warnings just like any storms in any city...Like a power outage u keep radios and batteries and candles handy...Just remember this, all states have there issues with storms, tornados, hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, I wouldnt let it keep u from moving...I wouldnt live in AR cause of the heat, here its 90 on a bad day, alot of 80 perfect dregree days in summer, very bareable for summer fun....Honestly the snow scares me more now then tornadoes do, but I am a chicken to drive in it, and getting better now that I bought an SUV. Driving in the big cities use to scare me too, buying a GPS system helped cure that, no more trying to read printed out paper directions in rush hour, way too many turns to try and take to get around there, GPS is your friend near the cities and in new territory. Best 4300 bucks I ever spent, and helps for places to go for fun anfd food too when ur new in towns...I too am thinking of moving to stillwater, so if u beat me there, be sure to come back and tell us what u think, cause I cant decide where to move too near that area either. I am stuck between stillwater, red wing or hastings or even WI, I too am looking for a good middle school plus a pretty scenic area, love the towns in MN with bluffs and rivers....Good luck, and so u know, people in minnesota are VERY friendly, It still surprises me when people I dont know wave at me, I have to think twice and wonder if I knew them or if its just ur usual minnesotan being friendly as usual....

[Quagmire]

Sunshiine,

I have lived here 23 years, never seen a tornado.

Stillwater is a great place, but traffic downtown on the weekends is bad, it's a touristy kind of place.

Great place to raise kids I am sure.

[gatorinmn]

I am guessing Sunshinne (?) is beyond our advice now, as he/she started this thread more than 15 months ago.