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After 20 years in North Raleigh, maybe I can help. A few random points.
First, pay scales in ONLY a few areas are really good. If you are not in one of those, you may wind up living a very frugal life here.
Second, there are quite a few nice things to do here, but it's not a major city like where I once lived (NYC & LA).
Third, transportation stinks. No lighting on interstates. No mass transit even remotely comparable to many areas.
Fourth, most apartments have great pools for your summer pleasure. Instead of a 2 hour trip to the beach in Raleigh or NYC, I walk 200 feet to the clubhouse for a nice olympic pool and 24 hour fitness facility.
Finally, building/fire codes are a sick joke catering to builder greed. A lot of the new homes will be slums in 5 years unless the owners pour enormous maintenance money into them.
So, there are reasons to come here and reasons not to come. You need to visit and evaluate your own personal situation.
For me, the bubba life is great and I plan to die here.
There may be good reasons not to move to Raleigh, but one of them is certainly not that “the school system is a mess.” This statement is prompted by the annual reassignment of students, mostly to fill new schools built to accommodate the area’s rapid growth. The reassignment was especially large this year.
But how many students were actually reassigned? 6,464. How many students attend Wake County schools? 134,002. So what percentage of students were reassigned? 4.8%; fewer than one student in 20.
Wake County has an excellent school system, as evidenced by our high test scores. The average SAT score for Wake seniors in 2007 was 1562, compared to an average score of 1511 in the U.S.A. and an average score of 1486 in North Carolina. WCPSS scores were significantly higher than other large North Carolina school districts. Charlotte Mecklenburg students' scores averaged 1481; Durham, 1456; and Guilford, 1464. FURTHERMORE, a much higher percentage of Wake’s seniors took the SAT test. Wake had a participation rate of 78.6%. The national participation rate is 48% and the North Carolina participation rate is 71%. Charlotte Mecklenburg’s rate was 68.6%; Durham, 72.8%; and Guilford, 70.7%.
Your child will get an excellent education in the Wake County Public Schools. Odds are good that he or she will never be reassigned, unless you move to an area of the county that is experiencing rapid growth.
There may be good reasons not to move to Raleigh, but one of them is certainly not that “the school system is a mess.” This statement is prompted by the annual reassignment of students, mostly to fill new schools built to accommodate the area’s rapid growth. The reassignment was especially large this year.
But how many students were actually reassigned? 6,464. How many students attend Wake County schools? 134,002. So what percentage of students were reassigned? 4.8%; fewer than one student in 20.
Wake County has an excellent school system, as evidenced by our high test scores. The average SAT score for Wake seniors in 2007 was 1562, compared to an average score of 1511 in the U.S.A. and an average score of 1486 in North Carolina. WCPSS scores were significantly higher than other large North Carolina school districts. Charlotte Mecklenburg students' scores averaged 1481; Durham, 1456; and Guilford, 1464. FURTHERMORE, a much higher percentage of Wake’s seniors took the SAT test. Wake had a participation rate of 78.6%. The national participation rate is 48% and the North Carolina participation rate is 71%. Charlotte Mecklenburg’s rate was 68.6%; Durham, 72.8%; and Guilford, 70.7%.
Your child will get an excellent education in the Wake County Public Schools. Odds are good that he or she will never be reassigned, unless you move to an area of the county that is experiencing rapid growth.
GREAT stats, misterbrown, do you mind sharing where you got them from?
Having lived in MA for sometime, i miss taking the T and hanging around in Quincy market. There's so much to do in Boston. I don't find that here. I guess these mild winters are great but at times, i long for the snow. Its been a while since i built a snowman.
There may be good reasons not to move to Raleigh, but one of them is certainly not that “the school system is a mess.” This statement is prompted by the annual reassignment of students, mostly to fill new schools built to accommodate the area’s rapid growth. The reassignment was especially large this year.
But how many students were actually reassigned? 6,464. How many students attend Wake County schools? 134,002. So what percentage of students were reassigned? 4.8%; fewer than one student in 20.
Wake County has an excellent school system, as evidenced by our high test scores. The average SAT score for Wake seniors in 2007 was 1562, compared to an average score of 1511 in the U.S.A. and an average score of 1486 in North Carolina. WCPSS scores were significantly higher than other large North Carolina school districts. Charlotte Mecklenburg students' scores averaged 1481; Durham, 1456; and Guilford, 1464. FURTHERMORE, a much higher percentage of Wake’s seniors took the SAT test. Wake had a participation rate of 78.6%. The national participation rate is 48% and the North Carolina participation rate is 71%. Charlotte Mecklenburg’s rate was 68.6%; Durham, 72.8%; and Guilford, 70.7%.
Your child will get an excellent education in the Wake County Public Schools. Odds are good that he or she will never be reassigned, unless you move to an area of the county that is experiencing rapid growth.
Do your own homework on this one. My family is planning on moving down and I read a lot of negatives from parents who's kids are in the school system. I also spoke with 3 personal friends - 1 lived in Apex and 2 live in Cary and they don't like the school system in comparing it to up in the NY Westchester County area. Do some searches on here about Wake County schools and see what the parents who actually send their children there say. Also, I found that all this "redistricting" is not just due to the large growth in a short time, but also it is being done to diversify the schools both racially and based on family income. Some children - even Elementary School age are being bused over 1/2 hour away - ridiculous. Also, I don't understand how these kids score so well on testing - yet look at any national study of top high schools in the country and Wake County schools are never in it. There are some in the area - but not Wake County. Trust me on this - DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH.
Having lived in MA for sometime, i miss taking the T and hanging around in Quincy market. There's so much to do in Boston. I don't find that here. I guess these mild winters are great but at times, i long for the snow. Its been a while since i built a snowman.
You could take a 3 hour trip to the NC mountains and visit snow there!
But how many students were actually reassigned? 6,464. How many students attend Wake County schools? 134,002. So what percentage of students were reassigned? 4.8%; fewer than one student in 20.
That's a deceptive stat. For one thing, ONLY elem students were moved (deliberate decision by the school board) so the total number of students is NOT 134,002 but actually 65,680 possible students, making the number closer to 10% reassigned.
Also, only ~2000 elem seats are to be opened in 3 new schools, so why reassign "for growth" more than triple that number?
Last year, the reassignment number was a whopping 11,000+ students.
Don't believe all the WCPSS sunshine -- do your own research, talk to parents, and make sure you know what you are getting into. I have since left Wake County PURELY because of the school issues.
Also, I found that all this "redistricting" is not just due to the large growth in a short time, but also it is being done to diversify the schools both racially and based on family income.
Lisa, you're about half right. Race is not considered in Wake County's redistricting policy. That would be illegal. Also, the school system does not look at the finances of individual families to determine where the children should go to school. The policy's goal is to make the schools more socio-economically diverse, so the socio-economic status of neighborhoods is considered.
Another thing to remember is that Wake County is the only school system in the area with this policy. There are plenty of other public school systems to chose from.
I think the climate is great. However...having lived many places, sorry but it just isn't all that different from anywhere else. Nice people? Check. Nasty people? Check. Transplants? Check. Natives? Check. Good schools? Chapel Hill, definitely. Wake, well, as long as you don't mind your kids changing schools all the time.
I'd just suggest thinking about why you want to move here. I moved here b/c we were transferred here. I like it and I'm not looking to move but I would not move here if not for the transfer. It's perfectly fine but so are most other areas of the country (assuming you're living in a nice part of whatever state you're in)!
I wound up here in 1989 after being laid off in New Orleans by the electric utility.
It turned out great.
Our 2 children got great educations in WCPSS, but that was before the overcrowding started to stress the schools. I know Dr. Del Burns personally and feel he's doing his best to cope as superintendent, but he's not being properly funded by upfront impact fees.
Raleigh is still nice but was better about 10 years ago and is sliding downhill.
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