Career move to Indy (Indianapolis, Marion: teaching jobs, theatre, school districts)

[purpledarling75]

Hi there! My husband and I have been eyeing Indianapolis for some time now, and I am heavily leaning towards Indy as far as raising my son (and hopefully one more someday soon). It won't be for some time because the husband and I are currently going back to school in Michigan for teaching degrees ( I am wrapping up my associates and will start on my bachelors immediately after that, double minoring in Early Childhood Ed and Language Arts, he is still working on his associates, going to his bachelors in Political Science) so I will guesstimate it might be another 3-4 years before we can even move. The education field looks very rough out there but I have faith by the time we are done it will be somewhat stabilized. Pardon my long winded-ness.

I would like some feedback on the environment in Indianapolis, as far as schools, things to do, cost of living, etc. I would also like to know how friendly everyone is. I am a very friendly person and will befriend almost anyone I meet, but I have yet to find anyone I could call a good friend. I am so stoked about this and the actual move is way down the line! I would move tomorrow if we could afford it! Thank you in advance for your input.

[msamhunter]

Originally Posted by purpledarling75

Hi there! My husband and I have been eyeing Indianapolis for some time now, and I am heavily leaning towards Indy as far as raising my son (and hopefully one more someday soon). It won't be for some time because the husband and I are currently going back to school in Michigan for teaching degrees ( I am wrapping up my associates and will start on my bachelors immediately after that, double minoring in Early Childhood Ed and Language Arts, he is still working on his associates, going to his bachelors in Political Science) so I will guesstimate it might be another 3-4 years before we can even move. The education field looks very rough out there but I have faith by the time we are done it will be somewhat stabilized. Pardon my long winded-ness.

I would like some feedback on the environment in Indianapolis, as far as schools, things to do, cost of living, etc. I would also like to know how friendly everyone is. I am a very friendly person and will befriend almost anyone I meet, but I have yet to find anyone I could call a good friend. I am so stoked about this and the actual move is way down the line! I would move tomorrow if we could afford it! Thank you in advance for your input.

I would say the people in Indy and Central Indiana in general are pretty friendly. I will say though, if we feel you are being phony, you will have issues here and I think everyone who responds to this will concur. Other than that, low cost of living compared to a lot of other places. The school systems are like anywhere else as far as good/bad. The largest system, IPS is the worse (in the state actually) but they have the most available resources. The township and suburban school districts are all better from top to bottom. It's basically your urban school district vs. suburban school district debate. Goes on in every major US city.

There should be plenty of things to do here especially with children. You'll have the Zoo, Connor Prairie, Children's Museum and a bevy of other things. For adults, there's plenty of theatre both local and those on the national circuit, concerts, orchestras and if you are still into the club scene, you'll find plenty downtown, Broad Ripple, some on the NW side and South side. You shouldn't have a problem here in the city.

[purpledarling75]

Originally Posted by msamhunter

I would say the people in Indy and Central Indiana in general are pretty friendly. I will say though, if we feel you are being phony, you will have issues here and I think everyone who responds to this will concur. Other than that, low cost of living compared to a lot of other places. The school systems are like anywhere else as far as good/bad. The largest system, IPS is the worse (in the state actually) but they have the most available resources. The township and suburban school districts are all better from top to bottom. It's basically your urban school district vs. suburban school district debate. Goes on in every major US city.

There should be plenty of things to do here especially with children. You'll have the Zoo, Connor Prairie, Children's Museum and a bevy of other things. For adults, there's plenty of theatre both local and those on the national circuit, concerts, orchestras and if you are still into the club scene, you'll find plenty downtown, Broad Ripple, some on the NW side and South side. You shouldn't have a problem here in the city.

I dealt with phony people all of my life; I would never be that way, I'm too nice for that. I was told I was nice to the point people can take advantage of me, but I am pretty good as far as reading people, so I can also pick out the real from the fake. Thank you for the rest of the information you provided for me. I googled Broad Ripple and that is where I think I want to live. All I have to do is convince the hubby because he is determined to live downtown, no matter where we end up. I don't think it makes a difference where we live in Indianapolis, as long as we are there.

[Broadrippleguy]

Originally Posted by purpledarling75

I dealt with phony people all of my life; I would never be that way, I'm too nice for that. I was told I was nice to the point people can take advantage of me, but I am pretty good as far as reading people, so I can also pick out the real from the fake. Thank you for the rest of the information you provided for me. I googled Broad Ripple and that is where I think I want to live. All I have to do is convince the hubby because he is determined to live downtown, no matter where we end up. I don't think it makes a difference where we live in Indianapolis, as long as we are there.

well to answer your cost of living question. What state/city are you coming from? I can pull up a website and a do a direct comparison for your convience

[Toxic Toast]

Originally Posted by Broadrippleguy

well to answer your cost of living question. What state/city are you coming from? I can pull up a website and a do a direct comparison for your convience

It says in their post that they will be coming from Michigan. This one is being pitched right into your wheelhouse.

_______________________________________

My advice to the OP; you have 3-4 years according to your very own post. Indiana conveniently borders Michigan, come for a few visits. The schooling situation is not unique to Indiana, the suburban schools are held in higher regard and the urban schools are the pariah of online message boards. I know some teachers at IPS, and I know some teachers in the township districts in Marion County. They all have one thing in common, they all moved here because Indy was the only place they could find teaching work.

[Broadrippleguy]

Originally Posted by Toxic Toast

It says in their post that they are coming from Michigan. This one is being pitched right into your wheelhouse.

_______________________________________

My advice to the OP; you have 3-4 years according to your very own post. Indiana conveniently borders Michigan, come for a few visits. The schooling situation is not unique to Indiana, the suburban schools are held in higher regard and the urban schools are the pariah of online message boards. I know some teachers at IPS, and I know some teachers in the township districts in Marion County. They all have one thing in common, they all moved here because Indy was the only place they could find teaching work.

Well then ill do a comparison of Grand Rapids/Detroit (assuming they are from those areas)
Update with info: Cost of living in Indianapolis is 7.5% lower than detroit and your wage is on average 4% less. So if you make 100k a year as a family youll have 3.5% extra in disposible Income per year. Grand Rapids is 6.4% lower cost of living and 1% lower wage so a net gain of 5.4% disposible income.

[purpledarling75]

Originally Posted by Toxic Toast

It says in their post that they will be coming from Michigan. This one is being pitched right into your wheelhouse.

_______________________________________

My advice to the OP; you have 3-4 years according to your very own post. Indiana conveniently borders Michigan, come for a few visits. The schooling situation is not unique to Indiana, the suburban schools are held in higher regard and the urban schools are the pariah of online message boards. I know some teachers at IPS, and I know some teachers in the township districts in Marion County. They all have one thing in common, they all moved here because Indy was the only place they could find teaching work.

Thanks so much for that! We were actually planning an extended weekend next summer to visit, but going more than once does make sense, too. That is very interesting that as far as teaching, Indiana was the only state to go for that. I was doing some looking at Indianapolis classifieds and there is a little hiring going on in the Education field. I wish I could apply now but I'm nowhere near ready. It may be a blessing in disguise that it will take that long for me to be ready. The economy is so messed up right now. And besides, we are coming from Petoskey (top of the Mitt , near the UP) and there are NO teaching jobs to be had here now nor anytime soon!

[purpledarling75]

Originally Posted by Broadrippleguy

Well then ill do a comparison of Grand Rapids/Detroit (assuming they are from those areas)
Update with info: Cost of living in Indianapolis is 7.5% lower than detroit and your wage is on average 4% less. So if you make 100k a year as a family youll have 3.5% extra in disposible Income per year. Grand Rapids is 6.4% lower cost of living and 1% lower wage so a net gain of 5.4% disposible income.

Thanks so much! I wish we made 100k. We are both working part time jobs and our income total is under 20k. We are just setting aside what we can here and there plus what we get back in taxes for the next three to 4 years. As far as experience, I should have at least 6 months worth under my belt from the student teaching I will get in my last semester of school, then I will have to get certified here before I move. My hubby would have tutoring experience since he is doing that on his days off right now. I hope we are not over our heads with this move. I have a rough draft of what we wanna do, and I wanted to fill in the details as we go along.

Oh and we are coming from the Northern Michigan Area. Petoskey never shows up in comparison websites, so I think the closest city from us that pops up is Grand Rapids.