Might move to Cincy from Tri-Cities TN if I get teaching job (Loveland: transfer, school districts)

[CarpathianPeasant]

Originally Posted by WILWRadio

I should add that I've eaten a number of times in Terre Haute over the years and the food in their restaurants has been far better than anything I've ever had in Indianapolis or its suburbs. Not sure why but that has been the case.

They have relatives in Ohio.

.

[Rangerred]

Also Johnson City, where the OP is from, is a college town and regional medical hub so there are many transplants from around the country and world leading to a fairly progressive restaurant scene. The fact that the city is only 65k makes it all the more noticeable as everything is concentrated in a small geographic area.

Cincinnati has some pretty good restaurants in OTR and also scattered around UC but the suburbs are more or less dominated by chains. Is there any sort of farm to table or buy local movement around the Cincinnati area? I've noticed many of the best restaurants in JC, and other cities I've been to, really emphasize freshness and proximity of sourced ingredients and aren't afraid to think outside the box when it comes crafting menus. Basically there is a lot of fusion cuisine and both updating and weaving traditional Appalachian foods into various ethnic cuisine. Could the conservative nature that Cincinnati is known for be holding the city's dining scene back?

[WILWRadio]

Originally Posted by Rangerred

Also Johnson City, where the OP is from, is a college town and regional medical hub so there are many transplants from around the country and world leading to a fairly progressive restaurant scene. The fact that the city is only 65k makes it all the more noticeable as everything is concentrated in a small geographic area.

Cincinnati has some pretty good restaurants in OTR and also scattered around UC but the suburbs are more or less dominated by chains. Is there any sort of farm to table or buy local movement around the Cincinnati area? I've noticed many of the best restaurants in JC, and other cities I've been to, really emphasize freshness and proximity of sourced ingredients and aren't afraid to think outside the box when it comes crafting menus. Basically there is a lot of fusion cuisine and both updating and weaving traditional Appalachian foods into various ethnic cuisine. Could the conservative nature that Cincinnati is known for be holding the city's dining scene back?

NKY is not dominated by chains. At least not Covington, Newport, Bellevue and Dayton.

Not sure how politics could influence the restaurant scene unless a City Hall somewhere is influencing the development of a new restaurant or trying to force an existing one out of business.

Did you know that for many years Cincinnati had more 5 Star restaurants per capita than any city in the country other than San Francisco and NYC? I doubt Conservative politics had anything to do with that or with the recent development of national and regional chains.

[mimi in cinci]

The dining scene in Cincinnati is alive and well, thank you.There's much more than OTR & Downtown. Hyde Park, Oakley,Kenwood, East Walnut Hills and many more have great restaurants.

Yes, farm to table has been happening for many years in Cincinnati. The locavore movement has had it's trendy moment as has "fusion". Many places practice local sourcing. There are lots of ethnic restaurants. Everything from Mediterranean to East African. Real Italian and farmhouse French exist happily.There's even some pretty amazing Southern Fried Chicken at Son of a Preacher Man.

As the OP is discovering sometimes it's hard to be "hip" waaaay out in the 'burbs where the chains dominate.

Now if you'll excuse me, the goat tacos at La Mexicana are calling my name for lunch. ��

[TeacherinTN]

Okay, I think I'm just having a bad luck. We went to Sotto Italian restaraunt for our anniversary last night based on a recimmendation of a friend. The atmosphere was great. The Caesar salad and Goat cheese bread was really good. The entrees however were down right terrible. I ordered the
short rib cappellacci – shallot, amish butter, thyme. It was way over salted and saturated in butter. The people next to us ordered the same thing and I overheard them complain to the server on how salty it was. I didn't say anything. My wife got the Ragu. It really was bland and she agreed, kids meals at Olive Garden taste better. I won't be returning to that restaraunt that's for sure. I'm not saying this to bad mouth Cincy's food. We spent $80 on our meal (with waters). The place is popular for a reason so maybe it was an off night. However, I do feel I'm on a streak of bad luck.

[TeacherinTN]

Just wanted to update those of you who have commented or followed this thread, that I just accepted a teaching position much closer to home! I will be teaching for Great Oaks campuses and will be working at Amelia Middle School in the Eastgate/Batavia area. This will be just 14 miles or 20-25 minutes commute according to Google Maps. Also, no traffic heading towards KY on I-275.

As you know, I've been commuting from Miami Twp, Loveland to Bridgetown on the West side. Generally it's been 45 min commute in the morning and 50-60 in the evening. This was also compounded by a late school day of 8:30-4pm.

I was willing to take a pay cut to spend more time at home but I was shocked to learn I'll be making $10K more and that my early school day will mean leaving school around 3pm. So I'll actually have 2 hours or more at home every evening!

I'm curios on what people know about Great Oaks Campuses. Please share on my other thread.

[sunnyspring]

As you know I know nothing but congratulations! What great news! BTW I figure this is a good question for a teacher...when are elementary/middle/high schools considered large - attendance wise? I keep hearing about really big school districts in the Cincy metro and I think, like you, I would prefer if my kids could attend schools where they won't disappear. Most of the classroom sizes appear to be 18 students and up. Would you say this is accurate? If possible I would really like to find schools with a lower student:teacher ratio, but maybe I'm dreaming.

[sunnyspring]

Off topic but you'll know what I'm talking about...the high here today is 68, no sun, and showers. I bought my kids adorable 4th of July outfits and it was too cold for them to wear them. Ahhhhh, summer in Portland.

[SalamanderSmile]

Originally Posted by sunnyspring

As you know I know nothing but congratulations! What great news! BTW I figure this is a good question for a teacher...when are elementary/middle/high schools considered large - attendance wise? I keep hearing about really big school districts in the Cincy metro and I think, like you, I would prefer if my kids could attend schools where they won't disappear. Most of the classroom sizes appear to be 18 students and up. Would you say this is accurate? If possible I would really like to find schools with a lower student:teacher ratio, but maybe I'm dreaming.

Expect elementary classrooms of 22-25 kids regardless of district size, except Terrace Park elementary which I think is running 18ish kids. Anderson twp has two h.s. about 1200 kids each, Mason high school has btwn 3-4000 kids, Sycamore h.s. about 2000 kids, Mariemont, Wyoming, Madeira, Indian Hill are all h.s. Of about 600 kids. Big districts may have three or more elementary schools but then one junior high and one high school. Anderson twp weirdly has only one junior high but two high schools, so they smash em' all together only to tear them apart again. Mariemont has two elem. schools, one middle and one high. Wyoming has three elem, a middle and a high. Madeira, I think, only has one of each, like Indian Hill. You can look on their websites and Ohio Dept. Of Ed. Report cards for each district.

You should also look into Milford.

[sunnyspring]

Originally Posted by SalamanderSmile

Expect elementary classrooms of 22-25 kids regardless of district size,
You should also look into Milford.

Thanks again Salamander. You have done more research than I have been capable of fitting in. Do you know if an elementary classroom with 22-25 kids has at least one teacher's aid? I cannot imagine that many elementary kids staying in line with only one adult.

I have Milford in my search but very little is showing up there. I will respond to your comment on the other thread now.