Moving to Cushing..in Nacogdoches County (Tyler, Texarkana: credit, house, school districts)

[my3arabs]

Hi, we are moving from Castleford ID, about 600 ppl to Cushing TX, about the same amount of ppl, in three weeks. We are moving because my 7 yr old son is being picked on in school here due to the fact that he wasn't born here in the Twin Falls area.

My question to all is this: In general are the ppl of TX the same today as they were 20 yrs ago?

I spent 13 summers in TX as a kid and my last summer was the summer of '85 I have never ever been around nicer ppl in my life and I wanted to know if they are still the same way. I grew up in CA and my grandparents lived in the lil central TX town of Gustine. Not once was I treated poorly cuz I was from CA. Here in ID if you aren't from here and/or are not LDS they pretty much hate you.

Now that isn't to say that while I was in TX I wasn't made fun of cuz I was from Cali, LOL. I am and always have been a horse person and was on a horse when I was just a fat lil baby. But being from CA the ppl in Gustine didn't think that I could ride so they had a blast teasing me. Oh well all in fun and I showed them how to ride,

Any info on present Texans and the ppl in Cushing would be greatly appreciated!

Have a GREAT day!

[stargazer]

Hi there,
My mothers family is from Etoile, Cherino and Huntington areas. My mother actully spent her childhood in Etoile. Etoile is off of Sam Rayburn in Nacadogches county as well. Cushing is north it seems of the where my family hails from. My mother doesn't live around there anymore but my sister is in Lufkin. I myself spent ages 12- 15 in Groveton which in Trinity county. My dad's family hails from that area and it was brutal. I don't know if your child will be excepted or not. I have known some kids to go into small towns like that and be the center of it all but somehow I could never due to being extremely awkward. I actually as a child did better in suburban enviroments and found more in common with kiddos who went to larger schools. Strange too, suburban kids did ride horses and I had friends in the ffa. So this is not about being country versus being burban minded to me. I almost feel that you could be facing the same issues if you moved to that area. I think that the best thing to do is to go down there and check it out before committing to anything. Too remember if you move there for your child, remember that the education might not be the best. Many school districts in east texas still uses corporal punishment and that does not set well with me. Also the districts are so poor, they can't offer sometimes a great variety of classes that a surburban school has. I know when I was in school, there was no foreign languages, no choir, no drama class, no art, no upper calculas, upper biology. It was typing( I am sure computers now), homemaking, ffa and then vocational classes as electives. Cliques too run in East Texas but I don't know anything about Cushing per say. I would truly consider living out in an area that is close to a larger community to benefit your child. Just my 2 cents.

[my3arabs]

Stargazer...thank you for the info. I was expecting it to be like that there. The school here has threatened my son with spankings but I have told them to just try it. I don't put up with much when it comes to my children.

That is too bad about what they offer in school. The lil school here offers quite a lot but the kids leave a lot to be desired!

[etexbill]

I live near Tyler in the heart of East Texas, but I know Cushing and that area. Cushing in not bad but very small and not much to do. But, then Nacogdoches and Lufkin are nearby. The people of Texas are just as friendly as 20 years ago, (except for the big cities which are now full of California and Northeast "refugees").
Our state motto is Friendship and you will see the "Drive Friendly" signs on all the highways. Texas is great. Low taxes, no state income tax, great lakes and recreation in the East Texas area, and a good place to raise kids in the smaller rural areas. Do I sound like the Chamber of Commerce?? I love East Texas.

[etexbill]

Corporal punishment in the schools in East Texas?? Not that I am aware of. That wouldn't be permitted at all and is not (although sometimes I wish it still was in effect). LOL There has been a meth problem in the Lufkin area in the piney woods, but that is everywhere now. Poor districts?? You are forgetting the Robin Hood law which takes from the rich school districts and gives to the poor?? That has just gone out of effect but I don't know of any really poor districts even in the rural area. I happen to know that Cushing has a nice looking school. I don't know anything about their ratings but those are easy to find by googling the Cushing Independent School District. The high school has an enrollment of about 250, so there probably are many subjects that they don't offer. Visit the area and see what you think before making any drastic decisions.

[my3arabs]

etexbill...Thank you so much for the info!! I have seen the CISD site and have read all of the info that they have. They don't offer as much as we have here but they offer other things like the college credit classes and such. The school looks great and seems to be well taken care of.

Here at Castleford they do use corporal punishment on some of the students, I haven't heard of it hapening this yr though. The principal did threaten my son last yr when he and one of his lil friends thought it would be fun to stuff a toilet. I let the principal know what I thought of his threat and told him that I would rather my son, who was 6 at the time, be made to clean the toilets for a while than to be threatened. So that is what happen, boy did my son hate it!

I myself can't live in a big city. I have to be out in the open where the nasty air won't hang around. I cannot be in smog or be around diesel or else my lungs close up. Here in Idaho the inversion during the winter just about kills me and that is the other reason for getting out of here. Plus my husband is working for a long haul co out of Texarkana and this is as close as I would get to there. I also have three horses, three dogs and several cats so I really have to be in the country. I actually got my gelding from Hutto two yrs ago and he was born in Texarkana, so he is coming home.

We have already comitted to a home there and have given our notice here so we are on our way no matter what. I'm not to worried about the school and what they teach it is just the reception that we will get is what worries me. Plus we have been trying to get out of Idaho for the past three yrs but something always came up. This time, knock on wood, nothing has come up and nothing feels bad about this move.

[etexbill]

I too have 3 horses, 4 dogs, several cats, 6 miniature donkeys, 21 or so registered Texas Longhorns, 6 miniature goats, 5 chickens, 6 ducks, and a few unwanted coyotes 14 miles north of Tyler, so I know what you mean about needing to be in the country. I have a long lost cousin and his elderly mom who just moved back to the area from Idaho, (Hope ID) previously in San Diego. They love it here. I'm sure you will like it here too.

[my3arabs]

It sounds like you have a petting zoo This past summer we were looking into moving to Kilgore, too close to the interstate for me. I grew up at the base of a dam in CA, Casitas, where I got to go fishing every day after school. Spent my summers in Gustine and Comanche TX, my brother is there with his family still.

It will be great to get away from the cold here. We went from living in Ashton ID where we got tons of snow to South Central ID where it is the cold cold wind. I can't wait to get out there and warm up. Ppl will think that I am strange cuz I will be in my shorts and sandles all yr LOL.

I hope to join TETRA when we get there as well as find the local Arabian Horse club. I would like to try to get involved in the community too. That is getting way ahead of myself! I just need to get out there first and I am not looking forward to packing up the house and horses and driving all that way.

[etexbill]

"Great to get away from the cold"

You will do that alright. We are just settling down into the mid 80's from 95 to 100's. Autumn is here. We are in the midst of a severe drought in case you haven't heard. Lake Tyler is down about 10 feet.

[stargazer]

Hey East Texas Bill, Yes corporal punishment still exist in the state of Texas. It is legal still and many schools do use it and only 2 to my knowledge have completely banned it, one being Frisco which I live very close too. Although corporal punishment is still legal and some schools have not officially banned it, many schools don't use it at all. However with it still being legal and on the books many schools have the right to hit kids. I don't mean any disrespect to you, I have seen your web site and I think you are such a neat person. Your jewelry is beautiful btw. I though don't agree with the spanking issue. The school Groveton I attended had not too long ago a child who was beat so badly that his bottom bleed and his mother took pictures of his behind. His name is Justin Michael Causby and because of a suit that his parents brought, he made national head lines and even made the Cooper Anderson news hour on CNN. I saw the pictures myself and saw where the boad hit his bottom,it was done so hard that it made inprints and bruised badly. On top of that, this little boy recieved more licks the next day. The federal courts which district is in Tyler ruled it as not being abuse when indeed you can see that it is. Groveton's reasoning is that the kid was FAT. I think most people have a little bit of fat on the bottom. The same people that punished him and had the rules are the same ones that were there when I attended elementary and jr. high there and I can still remember the fear that ran through me scared that I could slip up and get in trouble. They did not just hit you for misbehavior, they did it for not bringing maybe a pen to class which was my case once. I also was hit because I had a band trip one day and they delayed the time and I had to go to math. I had decided at 12 to work on it a bit more ( I was bad at math) and was glad that I had an extra day, well due to the bus trip being delayed I did not have my homework ready and as a result ended up in the hall and got 4 big swats and he hit me so bad that I could not sit down. I was so ashamed too and wanted to die. My brother too was hit badly. Another district that we attended, my youngest brother was hit every day because the teacher said he was not trying and she failed him at the end of his 3rd grade year. My parents decided to get my youngest brother tested and we found out that he had dyslexia. I also witnessed in that district the principal taking off his belt and throwing the belt across like a whip hitting a kid whereever he could. This prinicpal apolgozied to me for seeing it due to the fact my dad was a fellow educator ( this is why my parents too could not stop them from hitting my brother, fear of him getting fired). I can remember at age 10 just dumb founded and knowing it wasn't right. I can still remember that child's screams and asking him to quite and he would be good from then on. Also too my nephew was telling me in Diboll how one teacher had a rule that after the bell, if you were late to his class, you would go out in the hall and get licks. This is high school and my then 18 year old nephew was running in and missed it by a second. He told him to get out in the hall and my nephew looked at him and told him he was a grown man and he wasn't going to get none of that but since he was late he could help him in some way in the class room or to take the trash out, something but he wasn't going to get hit. The teacher laughed and thought it was funny and then told him he could help him load up his truck with some school projects( I have no idea what for) and he did.