Moving to Roseburg, OR (Eugene: to rent, home, buy)

[nslafata]

So after much debate my family and I are moving Roseburg. It seems like a nice, small town to raise a family. I of course know that with small towns come small town problems like drugs etc. I have to school age kids, one will be in elementary school and the other will be in middle school. So, how are the schools there? Are their girl scout troops? Which schools are the better schools to get them into? They are both in private/parochial school now because the public schools where we live now are horrible, but the private schools in Roseburg seem a lot smaller and tuition is a lot higher than we pay now.

Any other tips you can provide will be helpful.

We are going to rent for awhile before we buy a home just so we can get a feel for the area.

[soarswitheagles]

You might get more responses in the general Oregon folder. Roseburg is 73 miles from Eugene.

[1bigblah]

As a teacher in this area, I will tell you the public schools here are a bit rough...little individual attention, government wanting students to memorize certain things and get high schools while completely ignoring their emotional needs, teachers underpaid and exasperated with children...you know, typical PS story. but I cannot really recommend the private schools either. Most of them are religious which you may not prefer. One that is not religious is Cobb Street School. the children in the school seem happy enough. they are much more well mannered the PS children...I have worked with both in the area and see a tremendous difference. I can highly recommend their middle school teacher. Keep in mind, the school is very very small.
they are close knit, the families stick together as both the two small private schools I worked for seem to do. depends if you like this sort of thing.
Drugs are a huge problem in roseburg. also, homeless people everywhere begging for money, although maybe this is a typical oregonian thing...I haven't lived on the west coast very long. I'm sure you could raise your children just fine here...but the schools are not the best and be very wary of drugs once they hit 9th grade. the world can feel very small in roseburg, its good to travel and remember the world is so much bigger, especially for kids. I hope some of this helps.