Moving to Mobile, AL (36695) (Cleveland: middle school, to live, ferry)

[kevin_1975]

I am near Dawes and Cottage Hill. We have MediaCom and Comcast in this area. This area has EXPLODED with growth since we bought our house in 1999.

What area will you be in?

They just opened the new Wal Mart Supercenter at Dawes and Cottage Hill a couple weeks ago. Other than the one at Schillinger and Airport Blvd and the one at Moffet and Schillinger, where is the one going towards Semmes?

[southernnaturelover]

Originally Posted by kevin_1975

They just opened the new Wal Mart Supercenter at Dawes and Cottage Hill a couple weeks ago. Other than the one at Schillinger and Airport Blvd and the one at Moffet and Schillinger, where is the one going towards Semmes?

Intersection of Shillinger and Moffat Rd.

[glued2paper]

Kevin... I've contacted both Comcast and Mediacom... neither provide cable or DSL service at the address we are moving to.

I've contacted a wireless provider and I think that's what we'll end up using... although I would rather have cable or DSL.

Osunshine... I'm looking for a fulltime preschool for my 3 year old.
And my 5 year old will attend public school. I believe the closest is
Hutchens Elem. Anyone know if you get to choose the school
or do your children attend the school based on zone or district?
I guess I should just call the county school system.

[osunshine]

Your kids attend the public school that is in your district. You can choose which private school though.

Good Luck with your move.

[downtowndoll]

My children also went to preschool at Christ United Methodist(when I once lived in the county) and then Ashland Place Methodist (when we moved to Midtown). But yes, these end at 1 p.m., which I personally liked. There were no more than 10-12 students in the upper preschool classes.

I can't say that I like daycare-type operations with preschools. I know they are a necessity, but I've been happier in the Mom's Day Out preschools. Or private school preschools. Big thing to check: class sizes! There are several private schools out there that pack them in too much, and they aren't good schools.

I have a friend whose children go to Hutchens Elem., and she has used a full-time preschool at a Baptist church with a daycare in that area. It's on Schillinger just South of Cottage Hill. She was pretty happy with it. Not super happy, though. West Mobile Baptist on Schillinger has a preschool- I had a friend who had his son there- they were happy with it.

Another private school with a preschool that I've never heard anything bad about (and knew a lot of people that attended) is Covenant Christian, on Cody Road just South of Airport. These are the same people who run Integrity Music. So there will be a lot of Christian music kid videos!
It will be fine for preschool, then you will go to public .

It is fine at Hutchens. I know my friend is really happy there, and she was very anti-public school previously. Public school actually is pretty good if you are in a good school area, which you are. I recommend public ( class sizes are low by law- my K-5 child had only 15 in her class) in West Mobile over the many Christian private schools in West Mobile, unless you really want that Christian influence. Personally, for me, academics is equally important, and I think some of those schools sacrifice academics. Here are the class break-downs for public so you will have something to go by: 1st,2nd, - up to 18 students; (can't remember about 3rd grade- it may have been 18, too) 3rd,4th grade- up to 23 students.

If you aren't happy with your school area, it is possible to apply for a transfer (hardship reasons) in April before the next school year, as long as the school has room. Really, though, yours should be great.
The West Mobile public schools are desirable so don't usually have room,except for students who are trying to get out of the poor scoring inner city schools. Sometimes, moms who work in Mobile will apply for hardship transfers to schools such as Mary B. Austin(Spring Hill) or E.R. Dickson (can't remember name- in another section of Spring Hill). Then there are the magnet schools like academic Council Traditional, arts Old Shell School, and a Math & Science one. These are all in town so you probably wouldn't be interested in them because that's quite a drive! That is decided by a lottery system in February before the next year. People who live way out have an advantage, typically.

Feel free to PM me for specifics on other schools in that area. Mine went to Allentown (public), which was truly a special place!

[Bama`s Port]

My little sister is a 5th grader at Allentown, that school has a lot of parent support .

[glued2paper]

Thank you to all that have replied. The information about the schools will prove to be very helpful in the near future.

We plan to move at the end of May..... and I'm getting excited for my boys to have a big yard to play in. (and nice kids to go to school with)

Another question, are there nice public pools or parks on the west side of Mobile? Or anywhere in Mobile?

I'd like to find a pool and try to setup swimming lessons for my boys.

Thanks again ya'll!

[glued2paper]

Kevin, you asked what area... I'm not sure the "area" name.
I know it's Johnson Rd... that's about all I know.

[downtowndoll]

If you have to live way out, that's a good area to pick. But there's not much at all out that way, since it is so rural. It's growing to be sure but not in that way.

There is a wonderful park, Medal of Honor Park, on Hillcrest just south of Grelot. That will be a little far for you on a daily basis, but when we lived way out, we went to it sometimes. It has a huge playground that is really cool and big draw for the county in general.

Laveretta Park, in the Spring Hill Area, even further east from your location. They recently did a lot to that park, but not as amazing as Medal of Honor.

There are public pools in Mobile but not out that way. I don't know anyone who goes to the public pools, and I don't know where they are. Maybe someone can enlighten us. There might be an option to swim at Mobile high school pools through Community classes. I would think it would be best at the YMCA.

Mobilians tend to belong to a swim club or country club. These will pretty much all have a initiation fee and/or debenture, depending.

There is a private swim one out there on Snow Road. Just a bit south of Airport Blvd. That's about it that way. My friend who is out that way, thought it was overpriced and chose Amberly.

When we first moved to Mobile in 1993, we joined the Sportplex, which had fitness facilities and a pool. Then later we joined the YMCA, which is really reasonable ( I think we paid $45 a month for a family membership) and has everything! This is on Downtowner Blvd just off Airport almost to I-65. They have swimming lessons but so will these other clubs. We are now members at Heron Lakes ,but the Y was fine when we were in our 20's and broke! We didn't use the pool areas, though- we were mainly there for fitness.

I know some people join neighborhood pool association(even though they don't live in that "hood) because they just want a pool. They are pretty cheap, about $300. One is Amberly, again pretty far East from you. I have a friend who lives around the corner of Schillinger/Cottage Hill, and she drives to go to that one. I thought it was too crowded when I visited there,but it's still a great option for the money. Inverness, on Hillcrest, has one. Ask around- they usually need outsiders to the neighborhood to operate.

Heron Lakes Country Club has a great pool plus full-blown country club. But this is just west of I-65, on Government ,very far from you. It's a great way to meet people, and they do have a reasonable "house" membership where you pay extra to do golf but still can eat up there, etc. A lot of people drive into town to go there. This is going to run about $150 or more a month. They've got a great swim team and really a huge pool with slide, high dive, low dive. To get everything, monthly payments will be , depending on your age, $180 to $250 plus.

There is another tennis/swim club somewhere over there, around Cottage Hill area. Oak something- they had a good women's tennis team but I've never been there. Also Spring Hill Swim Club and Mirror Lake Swim and Tennis, but I think their member list is full.

There is a good one in Midtown, over by Rosswood. I can't remember the name but a lot of people from Midtown historic districts belong, since they just want a pool, not necessarily the expense of the country clubs.

[downtowndoll]

Originally Posted by Bama`s Port

My little sister is a 5th grader at Allentown, that school has a lot of parent support .

We really liked it, but I didn't want to send my son to Semmes Middle; we went to Phillips Prep, the academic public magnet school. I don't mean to say that Semmes Middle is bad, it's fine. We wanted to do Phillips and then Murphy's IB program. That's how we decided to move to Midtown Mobile. I got tired of the traffic on Schillinger Rd area- it's really bad now, way worse than when I started hating it. Also got tired of keeping up huge lot, dealing with giant snakes and turtles!

There are many parents who send theirs to not very good & inexpensive private schools in that area, and it's such a waste of money when you have a place like Allentown Elementary. If the whole school experience was like Allentown, we would have stayed, maybe. My husband loved living out for the most part, but I hated it. Plus wanted to save time driving so much. It was really pretty, though.