Relocating to Ohio from Mi (Columbus, Cleveland: 2015, amusement parks, low crime)

[Ccollins662]

Hello,

My family and I are planning to move to Ohio this summer, particularly around the Cincy, Dayton, or Columbus area. We are an African American couple with two small children. I'm looking for diverse areas with greats schools as well as jobs! I'm a educator, so I would like to learn about areas with great opportunity for teachers. Also, we love flea markets, dining, malls, and Wal Mart!! Lol..,
We visited a flea market in Monroe, and absolutely love it!!! Most importantly, we are looking for an area with LOW crime rates!! I know crime is everywhere, but I love to take my kids to a local park with no hassle. Any suggestions? Thanks!

[dxdtdemon]

It is really hard to find a job as a teacher right now. Because there were so many retirements 5-10 years ago, a lot of people foolishly expected the demand to continue existing. Some of the school districts in Delaware County just north of Columbus have been rapidly growing, so that's probably your best shot at finding a job. On the other hand, it is not as diverse there, but the crime rate is pretty low. Also remember that some teachers have to pass an additional section of the PRAXIS if they came from another state to Ohio, so possibly teaching in a Kentucky suburb of Cincinnati might be better for you.

[SWOH]

OP, I will admit I know nothing about being employed as a teacher. What I do know about is area communities.

Are you open to teaching in struggling districts? I'd be willing to bet AA teachers are in high demand in places like Dayton, Columbus, and Cincinnati city, Trotwood, Northridge Local, Middletown, Hamilton, North College Hill, Forest Park, Princeton, Whitehall, Reynoldsburg, etc. i.e. struggling school districts with a high AA population. Places like Middletown or Northridge in particular would be good targets because the AA population influx is relatively recent.

[dxdtdemon]

The Northmont (various northwest suburbs of Dayton) school district seems to be increasing in both size and diversity, and is a relatively highly rated district.

[DebexploresOhio]

Try checking out Zanesville Ohio. PLENTY of culture, and not as expensive as Columbus.

[kaseymc17]

Wow! We have a lot in common! I went to UM, moved to Zanesville in March, and was recently hired with a local school district.

Reciprocity in OH is AWESOME. As long as your current MI cert is up to date, you should be okay. I agree with looking to underserved districts. With experience, you could get hired very quickly. You'll probably take a pay cut, but struggling districts need teachers with experience...that's for another thread, right? :-)

I also received an additional license in OH very easily. Everything is online and you get information about the status of your certificate application very quickly. If you haven't done so already, you can create a teaching application through REAP. Not every district uses it, but many do and it's an easy way to apply to a lot of jobs, quickly. Be prepared to fill out some paper applications, though. A number of districts aren't quite ready for 2015... :-)

The pay varies DRAMATICALLY by district here. I was shocked. The average pay in some suburbs is $80,000, while the average pay in some smaller towns is $30,000. They've moved toward an evaluation system that is the same for every teacher in every district. The rubric in on the state's Education Department website. Check it out, if you haven't already. It does include test scores as a measure of your effectiveness.

I'm not sure where you are in MI, but the culture in Zanesville is nothing like Ann Arbor. Of course, few places are! :-) I like Zanesville, but I woudn't call it a "cultural" town. I also grew up in a very small town in SE Ohio. It's definitely better than my hometown, but...

A fellow UM student recently took a position in Columbus (60 miles west of Zanesville) and she LOVES it! She and her husband have lived in Boston, NYC, Chicago, and A2, and they shared that Columbus might be their favorite city! It has the cultural opportunities of the other cities, is fairly open-minded and safe, and has that Midwestern friendliness the other major cities lack. There are some really great sections in the city that are also affordable. This is great site to get some background: Columbus Neighborhoods - A Community Outreach Project for Central Ohio

Dayton has some great locations, too. A lot of people seem to like towns like Beavercreek, but I'm not sure the towns around Dayton are as diverse as the other cities you mentioned. I'll be blunt. I think it's pretty white...really white. The city of Dayton is fairly diverse and offers some great culture. It often gets overlooked because of the proximity to Cincinnati, but it offers a lot. I'm not sure about the safety of the town, but it's worth investigating.

I would not suggest living in Cincinnati. It has lots of culture, but I did not find the area to be very welcoming. It felt like an "old boys club." Of course, that could just be my impression. I just felt like everyone who lives there, also grew up there, and it was hard to break into a group of friends. I always felt like the outsider. It's a great place to visit, but living there would be challenging for me.

Have you also considered, Cleveland? It's awesome. Seriously awesome. They have an amazing food scene, arts, museums, and zoos. It's also incredibly affordable with some great suburbs and towns. The city itself definitely has some safety issues, but the surrounding towns are safe. I have a blast every time I go and the people are awesome. I always seem to have a great conversation with a stranger when I'm there. They do love their sports, so be prepared to become a LeBron convert... :-)

I hope this info helps! Good luck!!

[Icemodeled]

I have lived in the dayton area all my life, though it offers some things your looking for such as flea markets, several malls and ok dining. There's quite a few nice parks also. dayton is very high on crime compared to your other locations mentioned. Beavercreek is a very nice town, low crime and close to dayton. They have tons of shopping and dining. Also kettering and centerville. These are not far from flea markets and kings island if you like amusement parks. Dayton itself, I wouldn't recommend living in, again the crime is quite high with break in's happening somewhat often.

I know a teacher who works at a dayton high school and is trying to get a job in a suburb north(no idea on pay) because he isn't happy with the dayton school.

I like south dayton the most, north and west are less desirable in my opinion. More things to do southern dayton also.

For cincy, never lived there but visit often. They also have a lot to offer and still closeby to the flea markets. Living in cinci you are close to KY which would have some nice day trips(Louisville & lexington are both nice cities) I don't know much about the areas here though.

My top choice would be columbus. They offer the most I'd say in activities and dining. We really love the city, lots to do, many parks and easton town mall is very nice with a good theater. There are many nice areas to live in with lower crime. I can't say much about schools here, as I'm not familiar with it but think the options to find teaching jobs here would be fairly good. To me, dayton and columbus seem the most diverse also.

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by kaseymc17

A fellow UM student recently took a position in Columbus (60 miles west of Zanesville) and she LOVES it! She and her husband have lived in Boston, NYC, Chicago, and A2, and they shared that Columbus might be their favorite city! It has the cultural opportunities of the other cities, is fairly open-minded and safe, and has that Midwestern friendliness the other major cities lack.

Columbus is a very pleasant community, and, as with most places in Ohio, some good housing bargains.

However, its broad array of cultural institutions lag in quality behind Cincinnati and most especially Cleveland. It likely does have the best zoo in Ohio, and Ohio zoos in Cincinnati, Cleveland and Toledo are very good.

Columbus is not on the same level culturally as Chicago, Boston and NYC, nor is Cleveland, although Cleveland has a couple cultural institutions that can hold their own with those cities -- the Cleveland Museum of Art and most especially the Cleveland Orchestra with Severance Hall and Blossom Music Center. PlayhouseSquare in Cleveland is one of the most robust theater districts in the U.S. outside of NYC. Its Broadway Series has the largest subscription base -- over 30,000 -- of any Broadway national tour city. Chicago, Boston and especially NYC are much larger urban areas than anything in Ohio, all with several world-class cultural institutions. Cleveland is the top cultural destination between the East Coast and Chicago.

Day trips to Cleveland from Columbus, especially northern Columbus, are very doable, such as for weekend matinees at PlayhouseSquare.

Cleveland has several diverse, very different suburbs, from Shaker Hts. and Cleveland Hts. to Solon.

Given the OP's interest in retail, Columbus is superb. E.g., Easton Town Center is one of the best shopping meccas in the Midwest and the best in Ohio. It has a Wal-Mart and most other big boxes!

If the OP enjoys the outdoors, check out The Wilds (affiliated with the Columbus Zoo) and AEP Recreation Land, neither well known outside south central Ohio and both nearby Zanesville. The Hocking Hills have been ranked as one of the best state parks in the U.S. by Fodor's. It's an enchanting destination. Also check out the Wayne National Forest and other Ohio state parks, such as the unique Malabar Farm and Mohican State Park.

https://thewilds.columbuszoo.org/

https://www.aep.com/environment/conservation/recland/

One of the great attributes of Columbus is its central location. E.g., Columbus residents have day trip proximity to Dayton attractions and even Ohio Amish Country.

Dayton is the aviation history mecca of the world and has good cultural attractions, bolstered by its proximity to Cincinnati.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g6...The.World.html

Ohio Amish Country has great flea markets, several of them easy day trips from Columbus or Cleveland and especially the Akron/Canton area. Especially check out the Hartville Marketplace, heaven for flea market lovers.

http://www.experience-ohio-amish-cou...a-markets.html

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g2...h.Country.html

http://www.theclevelandflea.com/

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractio...land_Ohio.html

http://americanfleas.com/ohio

Small college towns in the Columbus area would include Delaware and Granville. College communities in the Greater Cleveland area would include Oberlin (relatively diverse), Berea, and University Heights (also relatively diverse).

Ohio somewhat uniquely has some great metropark (county or multi-county) park systems. This is true in most urban counties, certainly in the Cleveland area with its famed Emerald Necklace (and Cuyahoga Valley National Park), but also Columbus (Battelle Darby Creek even has a small bison herd), Cincinnati and Dayton. Certainly check out metroparks and their locations when considering these communities.

http://www.metroparks.net/parks-and-...e-darby-creek/

[joe from dayton]

I think this is the first time I have ever seen "Zanesville" and "culture" in the same sentence.

My experience is primarily with SW and Eastern Ohio; my choices would be Columbus and Cinci.

[gentlearts]

My daughter works for, and raised her kids in the Centerville School system, which is a suburb of Dayton. I cannot say enough for the quality of the schools, and the community in general. The 3 kids were all in AP and the system had great programs for them. My DD works with the Special Needs kids, and those children have good programs too.There is a park in almost every neighborhood, and all kinds of well run sports programs for kids.

They live in a nice middle neighborhood with some African American and Indian families. Their park was the next street over, and the kids went there by themselves from grade school age.

Kettering and Bellbrook are right next to Centerville, and are probably about the same as Centerville. The property taxes in Centerville are pretty high, but you get what you pay for, and they really deliver on the services.