Relocating: Wake County School District Questions (Raleigh, Durham: apartment, to rent, house)
Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, CaryThe Triangle Area
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
We're relocating from Charleston, SC, to the Raleigh area. Geography doesn't matter since I work from home and my husband's job takes him all around the Triangle area. We plan to rent for a year before buying and are focusing on central Cary, possibly Apex. However, we're not tied to that area - it simply came highly recommended based on our needs. We're doing the bulk of our research from afar.
Our eldest will be entering Pre-K this coming fall. I am rather ignorant to the disruption of Wake County Public Schools, so my questions are as follows:
-Is there a central site where I can learn more the Wake County Public School situation?
-Are all areas of Wake County affected by the school zoning? My fear is that we move to an area and our girls will be switching schools every year. I fear that we are entering "late in the game" since we're relocating. It appears that you have to reserve or enter a lottery systems for particular schools?
-Will the school zoning be finalized for the Fall 2012 school year? After that, is it safe to assume that, if we lived in a particular neighborhood, we'd be able to attend the school it's zoned for?
I appreciate any help and advice on how to proceed. We would very much like to send our children to public schools. However, I've never had to deal with a lottery or reservation system before.
There is so much information here at city-data and other places to help you. Start with the Wake County Public School System main website. Call their main number and ask ALL the questions you have.
You can read through the thousands of posts here at city-data about the schools and it will give you a good overview of how it came to be this way and where we are now.
A few tips: learn to read the icons on the city-data site so you won't read outdated information or respond or act on outdated information. Check and search to see if your question has been answered yet (create a good search). Use your realtor and ask him/her ALL the questions you have. Ask the corporate relocator (if you have one).
Lastly, most of us have never had to deal with a lottery system before and we are currently in the middle of the waiting time where some know their assignment and some do not. A matter of a few weeks makes a difference at this time of the year.
To be brief, we no longer have base assignments. That is, there is no longer a school associated with your house or apartment. You have to apply for the school you want off of a list of generally 5-8 elem, 2-4 middle & 2-4 high schools that are closest to you.
But once you are in a school, you are not going to be reassigned. And you can move anywhere in the county & still attend that school. You may not get transportation for that school if you move too far away, but you can stay there.
There are a lot more details but that's a brief overview. Go to the WCPSS website that 4alark posted. That will be a good start and once you get specific questions, WCPSS or posters here can help answer them for you.
We bought a home in Wendell and moved in at the end of February. According to our address, our son, who is in the third grade, attends Wendell Elementary School which he really likes. It happens to be one of the 'magnet schools;' and there is some chance that he may have to attend another school next year, perhaps an elementary school in Zebulon. We will know on April 20th. The realtor we used was clueless regarding the situation of placement in the schools in Wake County.
Had we known about this situation, we could have chosen to purchase in Clayton where the schools are highly regarded. Clayton's schools are in Johnston County, so you have a choice. There are other counties that have good school systems. Do your homework and as others have emphasized above, ask questions. I would stress that it is very important to not solely rely on realtors. Good luck,
We are reallocating from Kansas to Durham... not sure which could be the best High school for my son. Can someone guide us. Is there only Lottery system for admissions in High school or transfer cases are accommodated by every high school or Middle schools.
We are reallocating from Kansas to Durham... not sure which could be the best High school for my son. Can someone guide us. Is there only Lottery system for admissions in High school or transfer cases are accommodated by every high school or Middle schools.
You should start a new thread since you are moving to Durham and this one is about Wake County schools.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
