May move to RI: Schools, Housing and Towns (Providence, Cumberland: homes, employment)

[pnmitchell]

We are looking for information on the best public schools in RI as well as the towns/housing in those same areas. We'd like an older home rather than new construction and a little breathing room.

Any suggestions would be great. Thanks

[Kaf]

I am also looking to move to rhode island. There is a website, greatschools.net, that will give you a chance to compare districts and schools. From my research, Barrington and East Greenwich are the top districts. Cumberland was recommended to me by some residents too. Good luck.

[pnmitchell]

Thanks so much for passing that on!

[giselle]

Downtown East Greenwich has older homes, as well as the east side of Providence. Get ready to pay top $$$

[ribby84]

Hi,
I am actually moving out of Rhode Island but Barrington and East Greenwich probably get the best ratings. I have friends in Barrington - it is a very competitive school (more parents than children). South County is very pretty and more open space. I don't know to much about the schools. I don't know how old your kids are but we have amazing Charter Schools. They are public but lottery. I tried to get my children in, but they didn't get in. We have about 12 I think. They offer a great alternative to traditional school. Portsmouth is anther area with good schools. I think housing is expensive all over new england right now.
Hope that helps.

[traceyr13]

Hi - I just moved to Austin, TX, but was a longtime Rhode Islander before that - I graduated from South Kingstown HS and worked at Barrington HS for 8 years - so I know something about RI education.

Only my opinion, but far and away, Barrington is the best district in the state. Yes, it IS competitive and can be snobby and elitist, but the education is fantastic. As an educator myself in the district, I only wish I could put my own children through it, solely on the education (I have other serious issues with the community, contributing to why we moved to Austin, but that's not based on the schools).

Beyond Barrington, East Greenwich is next best, but also it tends to be "old school" in curriculum - old fashioned with the basics and not much creativity in individualized learning (that is coming from colleagues within the East Greenwich system).

Beyond those 2, I would also trust Lincoln (Saylesville Highlands) and Scituate (the Greenville area).

South County is beautiful, but has really gone downhill in education. My mother loved the system for my sister and I (graduating in early-mid 90's) but now pays for private high school for my brother.

[giselle]

I'm curious what your reasons were for moving to Austin. We met someone at a wedding recently who was really bummed out for having to move from Austin to Maine. Is employment tough in Austin given there are so many UT graduates? We almost went to First Night in Austin this year, but ended up going to First Night in Portsmouth, NH instead.

[traceyr13]

We wanted to get out of Rhode Island for a variety of reasons, but were very openminded about where to actually go - we had a list of criteria that we were looking for, including a fairly good sized city (for my husband's employment, he needs a large law firm), liberal, friendly, lower cost of living, university town (for my employment), etc. We considered Portland, OR and Boulder, CO, but the cost of living was still higher than we wanted.

My sister is in Houston, and strongly recommended Austin. At first I thought she was CRAZY for mentioning Texas (aren't they all gun-toting, bible-beating, cowboy-hat wearing, conservatives?) but the more I researched it, the more I fell in love. We took a trip in April to scout it out, and just loved it.

We were lucky in that my husband was able to find a good job fairly quickly, and I (somehow) managed to score a job at UT - they are tough to come by, I applied to various positions for about 8 months before getting hired. The employment situation in Austin is not nearly as good as Dallas or Houston, but it's possible.

[Lula]

School reports for all RI at this link
http://www.infoworks.ride.uri.edu/2007/default.asp

Plenty of older homes all over RI. Some from the 16 and 1700's if you want to go that far back!