Cobb County- Best areas to live? (Atlanta, Sandy Springs: established neighborhood, high school, restaurants)

[Ycarrillo]

Hello all,

NYC Bi-lingual Social Worker relocating to work in cobb county schools. Not sure which schools yet. What should I know about Cobb County that would assist me in my search for a home.

requirements:

1. near public transportation (mom is coming with me and doesn't drive - don't want to isolate her)
2. good schools (elementary)
3. Diverse/established neighborhoods

Thank you!

[atlantagreg30127]

Hmm... tough one. As far as schools, others will have to go into that (there is a school rating thread at the top of the Atlanta room, too).

Atlanta's public transit service is called MARTA, and Cobb County does not have MARTA service in the county at all. Cobb operates it's own service called "Cobb Community Transit - CCT for short". Their web site is HERE, and you can see the system map and schedules. You'll note that they do not service all of Cobb County (the Western half is pretty much devoid of public transit). If your mother is disabled or meets certain other requirements, then they do offer a curb-to-curb paratransit service which you can find info on at that site as well.

Your best areas that have the best transit options will be in the Smyrna area (somewhat in the Cumberland Mall area), or certain areas of Marietta. Marietta has a nice square, with a park and some interesting shops and restaurants. A few areas near the square can be dicey, but there are other new areas about to pop up throughout that whole zone which will revamp several neighborhoods. You can visit "Move To Marietta - here" and read up on those.

I assume by "Bi-lingual" you mean English/Spanish. The fastest area that's seeing Hispanic growth is the Acworth area north of Kennesaw, but the transit options for mom would be much lower.

[lastminutemom]

Have you been hired by Cobb yet? Are you just unassigned? In many systems the social workers work at more than one school, is that your impression of what your situation will be?

[Ycarrillo]

Thank you for the transportation info atlantagreg, I wasn't aware that counties have their own bus system.

[lastminutemom]

Any chance you could end up in East Cobb? If so, you might want to consider Sandy Springs in Fulton County just across the River from Cobb County. Because it is in Fulton, it has much more extensive public transportation.

[Ycarrillo]

I'm interviewing with Cobb and I'm aware that they assign multiple schools. That's something that I will have to get used to. In NYC, I've been at the same Bronx High School for 4 years.

Unfortunately, I don't get to be picky since social work positions in Atlanta schools see, scarce.

[lastminutemom]

Be very careful of moving here without a job... school systems are beginning to hurt financially and this is just the beginning. 09-10 will be worse than this next year.

Why just Cobb County?

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by Ycarrillo

Thank you for the transportation info atlantagreg, I wasn't aware that counties have their own bus system.

Yeah, it gets covered regularly in the forums, but just so you'll know, only the areas in Fulton County (where Atlanta is) and Dekalb County have MARTA service, which consists of the rail (subway) and bus service. Cobb and Gwinnett Counties have their own very limited bus services, and Clayton County (which you want to avoid for a variety of reasons including a bad school system situation), has a limited service run by MARTA. Other than that, you have some "express" buses that hit a few suburban areas in the AM and PM hours and that's it. It's not NYC... it's the L.A. of the east, and people around here use their cars to drive to their mailboxes.

[Ycarrillo]

I've completed online applications for Cobb, Dekalb, Fulton, APS and most don't have any positions available. I've been looking since Fall 2007. Cobb called me this week to schedule an interview since they just posted a position.

I'm not moving unless I have a job. The truth is that in other settings positions are readily available for bilingual social workers. I want to remain in the school system because I have a small child. If I'm not offerred a position in the school system, I'll wait to relocate.