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Nothing is definite yet, but it looks like I may be assigned to Beckley, WV. I really need some help here. I have read on numerous sites, that Beckley is a bad place to live. Specifically, that the city is racially diverse and has racial tension. Further, I have read that there is widespread poverty and crime. Like anything else, it is really hard to evaluate the accuracy of all of this unless you talk to someone who lives there. Can someone please fill me in on the real story with this place? If it is a problem, can you recommend any other towns that I can relocate to? If there are good areas of Beckley, where are they and where should I avoid? I have a 16 year old daughter who means everything to me. As such, I need to put her in a great school system, and must be relatively close to a 4 yr college. I am contemplating the Princeton or Athens area to the south of Beckley. I'm open to suggestions as moving to an unknown area is one of the hardest things to do. Thanks in advance for your response!
It is diverse, but there really isn't much tension, and if there is, the aggressor usually isn't from the town. Like the rest of WV, there is a bit of a poverty issue, but you are going to run into that everywhere you go, there are also some very nice parts to the town as well. Crime isn't too bad, just a bit more than whats in some of the small hamlets some of the people on here seem to be from.
Depending on income, you might want to check out Woodcrest (near the High School, nice, a bit pricier) or Maxwell Hill (nice, but a bit cheaper than Woodcrest). Also, if you want an older neighborhood, Woodlawn/ Granville is fairly nice as well and near the better of the two middle schools, however its near East Beckley, which is the poorer part of town. There is also Glade Springs (expensive, country club development) and Shady Springs/ Daniels located outside of the town. However, if you're working in town, the commute can be a pain, not because of distance, just overcrowding on the roads. This area is also less diverse than Beckley.
The local HS for Beckley, Woodrow Wilson, is large (~1400) and has AP, but not IB, also has foreign languages up to 4.
Shady Spring & Glade Springs go to Shady Springs HS (~900), which is probably the second best HS in the county, they offer many classes, but not as many as Woodrow.
For College, Concord University is located 30 mins south in Athens, WV, also there is UC- Beckley, which used to be Mountain State University. There is also a Higher Ed center near the airport, which offers classes from different colleges around the state. The local community college is New River Community & Tech.
Princeton has all of the same issues that Beckley has and Athens is kind of in the middle of nowhere, except for the college.
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