Moving from FL to Atl area (I've read Sticky) (Atlanta: appointed, house)

[Ranae319]

Thanks for the info in the Sticky...very helpful. I'm a English/Reading HS teacher with ESOL endorsement and I'm interested in finding out about HS and Comm Colleges in the metro area. In my research, I've viewed the areas surrounding the city of Atlanta, but not sure which area to select (Marietta, Lawrenceville, Alpharetta, Lithonia, Norcross, etc.)
I would like to escape high traffic if possible for daily commute, but safe living area is higher priority. If anyone has advice on best public school district, I'd appreciate it. (not particular about high or low level academic students....I've taught both and they are about the same, it's all in how you present the material and scaffold upwards)

Thanks for any help you can give!

[cqholt]

I've viewed the areas surrounding the city of Atlanta, but not sure which area to select (Marietta, Lawrenceville, Alpharetta, Lithonia, Norcross, etc.)
I would like to escape high traffic if possible for daily commute,

None of those areas offer an escape from high traffic, you'll be hard pressed to find any are that escapes traffic unless you can find a job and house close to a MARTA station. There are safe living areas to be found in the City of Atlanta, but I don't think you can afford them. Your best bet is to look at Cherokee or Forsyth Counties, something on the edge of the metro area, where homes are cheap and not a lot of people to worry about. Of course the commute, unless you can find a job close will be AWFUL!

[ATLTJL]

As long as you live relatively close to whatever school you pick and you have a route to and from that is mostly neighborhood roads, you should be fine.

[FromGA]

Not sure what you exact question is. But if you are going to come to Atlanta metro and then look for a job, you could start off living at the Perimeter area (intersection of I-285 and GA-400) which is centrally located for the metro, and look around.

[bryantm3]

i mean, if you're not going to live near where you're working, your commute is going to be horrid. your only options to avoid a bad commute are to live close to where you're working, live somewhere really far out of town and commute to somewhere that's just as far out, or live near a marta (subway) station and limit your commute to inside the perimeter. traffic is really bad here, it's just a part of life unfortunately.

there are a lot of safe areas around town, you'd probably want to narrow down your options before we get into specifics.

you know what, on second thought, you might be interested in whittier mill village. it's a small historic mill town (the mill is no longer there of course) located along the chattahoochee river. traffic there is really light, and since it's close to cobb county and atlanta, you could commute to either without a lot of hassle.

[BobKovacs]

Find a job first, then figure out where to live. You may be sorely disappointed in the small number of positions available, though the ESOL may help a bit.