Areas near Pascagoula (Biloxi, Ocean Springs, Moss Point: section 8, crime, hotel)

[adma845]

Hi. We will be moving to south Mississippi in the next few months for my husbands job. He will be working Pascagoula. We have an 8 year old daughter so I would like to find a nice kid friendly area to live. Any Suggestions? I am origianlly from North Alabama and have never been to South Mississippi so any info will be grealty appreciated.

[dailysounds]

Not much in Pascagoula, really. I live in Ocean Springs/D'Iberville area and it takes me about 20 easy minutes to get to work in Pascagoula. I don't have children but I hear schools are better in OS than Pascagoula.

[mccarley]

I would live in Ocean Springs and commute. Best schools and very nice town.

[adma845]

I keep hearing Ocean springs my only problem is child care. all the places i find for after school care you have to pick your kid up by 6 and not getting off till 530 im afraid we wouldnt make it to pick her up by 6. Oh the joys of moving LOL guess I can try to find in home sitters

[SuperDuperJay]

Gautier is the better choice. I lived in Ocean Springs for 7 years and I have NOTHING good to say about that little town. They claim to be crime free yet my home was broken into 4 times, my car once, had a truck vandalized......the Ocean Springs schools are grossly overrated.
Been in Gautier 4 years now, and LOVE It!
I shop in Gautier, Pascagoula or Mobile. Pasc. is 10 minutes away!
Trust me, Ocean Springs isn't a good choice.

[ck2007]

I seriously have to disagree with the last poster, ocean springs is far better than Gautier and pascagoula. I have lived in all 3 cities and have attended school in all 3. There is crime everywhere and it is worse in Gautier and pascagoula. If you want what's best for tour child please do no live in pascagoula or Gautier. First let me tell you about the schools, all of the schools in pascagoula and gautier are in the same school district, the pascagoula school district. I am in my twenties and went to school at Gautier elementary, Gautier middle, and Gautier high school. There are 4 elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school. The CURRENT principle at Gautier elementary school was arrested last year for ASSAULTING a woman with a gun, and did not lose her job and is still principle. The former principle of Gautier middle lost his job for drinking on the bus to a teacher workshop in Texas. But is serving as a member on the district school board. The former principle of Gautier high, which is now the school district superintendent had an affair with one of the teachers. Last year the Gautier high school band took their yearly trip to Disney world, well the teacher in charge paid for their bus and hotel, but not the tickets for Disney world, the students were STRANDED at Disney world and she LEFT them there and went somewhere else no one could find her, she embezzled their money and was later arrested. The principle of the high school also resigned. The students were not refunded their money, and the school district would not take any responsibility for it claiming it was not a at school function but yet the trip was put together and planned by the school and district. And in result, the district decided none of the schools would be allowed to have any kind of field trips for the students. These schools are like prisons, all of the schools in the district have a very strict uniform policy, khaki or navy blue pants, white red or navy blue shirts, you must wear a belt and shirts must be tucked in, and only white brown or black shoes. None of the clothing or shoes can have logos on them either, and sweaters jackets and coats must follow uniform color also. Yes these schools have high test scores and Gautier high school is a national blue ribbon award winning school, but trust me you do not want to send your child to any of theae schools, the zoning is screwed up also, you may live in a certain part of town with a elementary school 5 minutes away but with the zoning rules your child will be going to the school on the other side of town. Ocean springs schools are wonderful I attended 2 years of high school there and loved it. There is no uniform policy, and by that i mean no khaki and navy blue pants and red white or blue shirts which truat me can be expensive and hard to find if your child is picky about clothing. I had a much better learning experience at ocean springs also. Everyone was friendly where as at gautier there were all cliques and you couldn't even socialize at gautier you have to walk on a certain side of the hallway and not allowed to Talk or you will get in trouble. Ocean springs allows school field trips and all of the schools are in nice areas and not in bad areas like some of the Gautier and pascagoula schools. Ok so I've filled you in on the schools now for the actual living. Let's start with pascagoula, it is very seedy, there are no good parts of town and bad parts of town, you have good neighborhoods with bad neighborhoods or a project the next road over. There are not many resturaunts you have a few mom and pop places, and then you have a buffalo wild wings. That's it. There are several fast food places though. As for shopping, well there is no shopping, no mall no department stores. There is a Walmart but its very safe there have been tons of robberies in the parking lot. there are 2 grocery stores, a Wayne lees and a jerry lees, both located in run down parts of town. As for housing, please avoid anything off of telephone road, shortcut road, chicot st, most of the neighborhoods off market street and ingalls avenue. The neighborhood at the end of market street that is closest to the beach are fairly decent and your best bet. Oh yea please avoid living in moss point at all costs, go to Wikipedia.com and do a search for moss point ms and you will understand, i also suggest doing so for the other towns too. Ok so moving on to Gautier. There is no Walmart, so you would have to drive to pascagoula or ocean springs to go to Walmart. There are 2 grocery stores, both are jerry lees one is a big store and one a small store. there are 2 dollar generals, and a family dollar store also a dollar tree. There's a walgreens. As for shopping there is a mall, but I wouldn't even call it a mall most of the stores have closed and all that is left is a jcpenney, belk, and Sears. There is a hibbets sport store, claires, bath and body works, and that's about it. theres a movie theater but they are only open certain hours of the day. There's a lowes too. We also have a treasure hunt store too. There are 5 resturaunts, 2 Mexican places, 2 pizza places, a country gentlemen, oh and hucks which is on the water and has good food. And your several mom and pops. As far as living, anything off graveline and dolphin road are nice. Old Spanish trail neighborhoods aren't too bad. The westgate neighborhood isn't too bad. Stay away from college park, belville, anything on ladnier road, this is what we call ghettos lots of crime and mostly section 8 also stay away from Cambridge square and greenbriar. North of the interstate there is hickory hills which is very nice but its about a 10 minute drive to town depending on how far back you live, also not that its a big deal but dominos pizza will not deliver that far lol. And now for ocean springs, there is a Walmart, winn dixie grocery store and a rouses. There are seriously over a 100 resturaunts, several Mexican and Italian, there is a applebees, mellow mushroom, mcallisters, hartz chicken, aunt jennys, and plenty more along with tons of fast food. as for shopping there is a catos and several boutiques. downtown ocean springshas several nice shopping and dining. as for living the only place I suggest staying away from is park town, not that its a ghetto but its kinda iffy and run down. just about any neighborhood off of old Spanish trail and government street are good. gulf park estates, fort bayou, neighborhoods on halstead and hunter drive are nice. everywhere is nice. The st Martin community is nice also just stay away from anything off tucker road and cedar grove. diberville is a very nice and up and coming area. tons of shopping such as Kohls, dress barn, and several others. also the only Target in Mississippi is in diberville. tons of dining olive garden, chilis, newks, red lobster, foxs pizza den, buffalo wild wings, tgi Friday. the only place that's kinda iffy is forest cove. I know this was VERY long but I hope this helped! Good luck!

[ck2007]

About the child care thing, check into some of the local churches. The church next to Gautier elementary offers child care until I think 7. Also, st Martin elementary offers after school care until 7pm and its only like 6 dollars a month. Check out the ymca in ocean springs and the boys and girls clubs but avoid the one in Gautier (located in a bad area)

[TheFlagler]

The Last one is so true I used to go to different schools in the area Moss Point is not safe and its always crime Pascagoula has barely anything to do only Walmart people do get robbed in the parking lot the schools I went to were strict and your children have to were school clothes and Gautier does the same thing too and the history of the arrests but Gautier has an mall its an nice mall and its somewhat safe but I used to live in Ocean Springs I like that town its safe and beaches are near the school is excellent it met my standards and the downtown is accessible to US 90 which is close to Biloxi an great town in the next county and other areas like Gulf Hills its an great place outside of Ocean Springs but Vancleave is North of the town but be warned Moss Point is NOT an safe town to live in I would Recommend you to stay in Ocean Springs, Vancleave and Gulf Hills