Best School Districts (Raleigh, Cary, Chapel Hill: real estate, apartment, rentals)

[staysha12]

I'm hoping you all here can help me. My husband and I are considering relocating from Florida to NC sometime in the next few months. We have no idea on what area specifically. I've heard that alot of the school districts are not so great, but none mentioned specifically. I was hoping anyone that has any knowledge on this could help me. I'm wondering what countys have excellent schools and which areas to stay away from as far as schools are concerned. I have 2 small children, one entering kindergarten, so I'll be focusing on elementary schools for now. Thanks!

[spark71]

Hello! My family & I are moving to North Carolina this summer and the best place we found for general school breakdown and advice for all schools is [url]www.greatschools.net[url}. It allowed us to compare schools by city, county, region, etc. As well as breaking down by academics, student/teacher ratio, economic standing, etc. Good Luck to You & Us All.

[lovemaine]

We are relocating to the Raleigh area in April. After having done lots of online research and talking to a local realtor, it seems like the Wake County school district is considered the best, or at least one of the best, in the state. We visited Raleigh last month and really liked it. We're thinking of settling in Apex, but have decided to rent first so that we can really check out the whole area before buying again. A lot of rentals offer 6 month leases, which will be a good time frame to house hunt and get familiar with Raleigh and the surrounding areas. A good source to find rentals is Apartmentguide.com.
Good luck with your move!!!!

[spark71]

Hello again! Another site my wife and I have found very informative was [url]www.ncreportcards.org/src/[url] This site also had a lot of great information about the schools and the breakdown by county. I agree with the last post about "Wake Co" having one of the best systems in the state and they too have their own website, just search "wake county nc public school system"...Good Luck!

[Robojudge]

Chapel Hill-Carrboro School System has one of the most highly-rated school systems in the State. It's high schools are consistently ranked among the best in the nation. Chapel Hill, because of the University, is a community that places great emphasis on education. Chapel Hill is located in a county adjacent to Wake County. Chapel Hill is located in Orange County, but they have separate school systems. From Chapel Hill to downtown Raleigh, depending on starting point, is a 25-45 minute drive.

[DebbieF]

I'm not sure who was telling you anything bad about our school systems and where they were talking about but Wake county has one of the best school systems. I moved here from Upper state NY and originally from Conn. My children loved it here as did my husband and myself. I decided when I came here to have a first hand at working in the school system myself and was truely impressed. I love NC so much I am proud to call this area home. I live in Raleigh but there are surrounding areas that are just as wonderful. One of those areas being Cary which gives you that small home town feeling but has everything you need there. We have the best schools,colleges,shopping,churches and not to speak of how great I think the people are. I went and got my real esate license just to learn every bit of the area and get people just as excited as I am about living here. I would be thrilled to show you anything you would like to see and if you ever need me to send you any info on the schools etc... Just let me know and I would love to help in any way. Check out the www.wcpss.com site and you can click on any school homepage and check them out. The teachers here are really involved and love what they do

[Agent Maxwell]

Forsyth County Schools are Great

[DebbieF]

I taught in the Wake County school district. One of the best counties in the state. Moved here from Conn and raised my children here. I can help you with your real estate needs. [moderator CUT]

[pegmomof4]

One of the questions that I wish I had known to ask 6 years ago when we moved to North Carolina would have been:
"Does your school district punish children with the use of corporal punishment?" I had no idea that this still existed, but it does.
Had we fathomed that in the year 2000 this was still going on, we would have steered clear of any system that embraced it. The type of school culture that exists in an area that believes it is a good idea to have staff pick up a wooden plank and beat children is just unbelievable. we moved to Union County, NC for the "great schools" and have stayed despite its shortcomings. I have chosen to work to make positive changes.
The Office of Civil Rights does track this data, and an online survey is available to see what districts have used corporal punishment. You can see the number of children hit by race and gender as well. Minorities, boys, and disabled children are hit at higher rates.
If this is not something that you are for, I would really check out the school district that you are considering. Again, it is more than the paddling, it is a culture. It speaks volumes for the mindset of the school district. The mentality is backwards, and we have found that this culture is backwards in so many other aspects of dealing with parents and children.
Roughly 70% of all counties in North Carolina still have this on the books. Beware. I would definitely ask.
Thanks,
Peggy

[suzmyers]

If you look into it, many of the states in our union still use spanking as a tool. All you have to do is write up a statement stating that you do not want your child spanked or even threatened of spanking. Sign it in front of a Notary. Your worries are over. I did this before in Mississippi. And when the Vice Princip al told my daughter she was going to get the paddle out because she incorrectly thought my daughter did not do her classwork, My daughter calmly told her "no you won't, my Mommy won't let you". Of course, after I threatened them back with a call from my attorney, it never happened again.