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Hi Folks. Like many others who've posted to this forum my wife and I are considering relocating our family from the New York area to either Cary or Apex (possibly Chapel Hill). Everything I've heard and read seems really great but the main question and concern I have is which public school district, and specifically which elementary schools would be the best for the kids, and which if any should I try to avoid (we have a 3 1/2 year old daughter and a 9-month old son).
It appears that Apex has only one elementary school but Cary has several. Although I've heard that the schools are really good, I've seen on the NC Schools Report Card site that in some elementary schools in Cary, only 60-65% of kids in each grade are at or above grade level in English and Math (the Apex public elementary school has similar numbers). That doesn't sound too good, yet still it's well above the state average according to the site.
Would appreciate any thoughts, recommendations, or warnings.
I don't know the specifics of the schools, but I can tell you that the public schools in Wake County are all run by the county. Most municipalities in NC don't have their own school systems. That being said, you could live in Apex, for instance, and your child could go to school in the town next door.
Are you saying that if you live in Cary, for example, you can choose to send your child to any school within Wake County? Or does the county assign you to a particular school based on availability or some random draw? I thought kids attended the elementary school closest to their home address but maybe I'm wrong.
Are you saying that if you live in Cary, for example, you can choose to send your child to any school within Wake County? Or does the county assign you to a particular school based on availability or some random draw? I thought kids attended the elementary school closest to their home address but maybe I'm wrong.
thanks,
Bob
Oh man do you have a lot to learn Start here with the office of student assignment for Wake County:
Each address has its own "base" school where the student is guaranteed a seat unless the school is capped. See the site above for a list of capped schools. If a school is capped, and an address is assigned there, then that address will also have a list of overflow schools from which a parent can choose. Transportation is guaranteed for all of these. Your base school may be the closest school to your house, and it may not. There is no way to balance the tremendous growth in this county and send everyone to their closest school. Some schools would probably be at 400% capacity if they did this. Then, outside of your base school, there are 1-2 calendar options for each address that have a different calendar (Year round vs. traditional) that you can apply for if you prefer that to your base. This is NOT guaranteed admission although the majority of these applications are granted.
Beyond the options above, you can also apply to a magnet school. These schools have special programming. Some provide transportation and some do not. The more desirable ones are very difficult to get into, but it's a weighted lottery (for example, siblings have top priority). You can also technically apply for a transfer to any school except a magnet in Wake County, and if the school has available seats, they will typically let you in. If you attend a school as a transfer you must provide transportation.
Those are the basics but I feel like I've barely scratched the surface Also..FYI - Apex has several elementary schools. The Wake County Schools website above will list them all.
OP, please read the thread stickied at the top of the forum for relocators.
We are on county schools down here. You'll llikely go to the school closest to you, but it could be capped. Honestly you could read this forum for a year before it all makes sense. I'm not exaggerating. I lived here a year after reading for 2 years before it all made sense.
And it's often changing.
Scores dropped everywhere (not just NC) with the re-norming of test scores with the tests being modified with the introduction of Common Core. I used to be hung up on test scores, and now I wish I wasn't - it never tells the whole story. Our kids are in the highest performing schools in Wake County, which hasn't been the right fit for one of them. Probably pushing the others which isn't necessarily bad but it's stressful. I laugh when I think that people think our old district in NY was a pressure cooker.
Also be aware that schools that have higher test scores make it all about the test. My kids are doing WAY more test prep than other kids at other schools. Again, things I wish I had know 4 years ago. Personally I don't care how my kids do on a state test - if they are getting good grades all year that shows me they are achieving. The tests are meant to measure what the teachers are doing. That's a whole 'nother issue. Gets lost in the shuffle a bit.
Apex actually has 6 public elementary schools, I believe. 5 out of 6 of them are rated 10 of 10 from greatschools http://www.greatschools.org/north-carolina/apex/. They're starting construction on a 7th (Scott's Ridge) this summer and a 8th won't be far behind, as they're also going to build one on the new Apex Friendship high school and middle school sites http://www.carynews.com/2013/12/22/3...lementary.html. Halfway down this article it states that a middle and elementary school will also be built on the Apex-Friendship high school site. The high school construction is well under way and the school is slated to open for the Fall semester of 2015.
From what I can tell all of the elementary schools in Apex and Cary for that matter would rank in the top 10-15% of Wake County and the state for that matter. Apex, Cary and Chapel Hill are considered solidly upper middle class in most areas.
Not sure where in NY you are coming from, but Chapel Hill is a smaller school district like those typical of Long Island. Depending on what you can afford and where you are going to work with commuting in mind I would look at Chapel Hill. You buy a house in the school district and you in.
Student assignments in Wake county vary every few years. It seems whenever we get new school board members someone has a new idea and things change. They have not gotten the concept that smaller districts are easier to manage. Draw some district maps and leave it alone. making things more complicated is that there are no impact fees for builders. So when a particular area gets built up in wake county they have to scramble to find seats for the kids somewhere. Cary had implimented builder impact fees back in the late '90's? I think....then one if the building associations took them to court and it was deemed to be uconstitutional (state constitution) and they had to pay the money back. All in all Wake is not too bad, but I felt it was a step down from the schools we were at-- that was 10 years ago. Not sure how things have changed on Long Island, better worse or same.
All, thanks for the additional info. Obviously the school assignments in Cary and Apex are not as straightforward as they are in NY (I live in Westchester, grew up in Queens) nor Chapel Hill based on fvnc's comment. Obviously the fear is that your child will end up in a really bad, low-achieving school. But, as Waterboy pointed out above and based on other things I've heard and read, it seems that any school you end up with in Apex or Cary will be pretty good (and certainly a lot better than 99% of the public schools in the five boroughs).
It's also nice to see that in Cary/Apex/Chapel Hill, unlike in the NY area, one does not have to pay massive property taxes for the privilege of sending their kids to a school that actually teaches them how to read and write in a safe, clean environment.
All, thanks for the additional info. Obviously the school assignments in Cary and Apex are not as straightforward as they are in NY (I live in Westchester, grew up in Queens) nor Chapel Hill based on fvnc's comment. Obviously the fear is that your child will end up in a really bad, low-achieving school. But, as Waterboy pointed out above and based on other things I've heard and read, it seems that any school you end up with in Apex or Cary will be pretty good (and certainly a lot better than 99% of the public schools in the five boroughs).
It's also nice to see that in Cary/Apex/Chapel Hill, unlike in the NY area, one does not have to pay massive property taxes for the privilege of sending their kids to a school that actually teaches them how to read and write in a safe, clean environment.
Chapel Hill school assignments are more straight forward then Wake County. They are a much smaller district then Wake county and even though they have the occasional re-districting it is not the same as what occurs in Wake county. Chapel hill opened a new elementary school so assignments were changed. Wake county will be building 16 new schools. Chapel Hill residents also pay higher property taxes some of which goes to their school district. They are not paying the amounts you would pay in Westchester but it could be double what you pay in Wake depending on the size of your house.
Last edited by Sal_M; 03-10-2014 at 07:34 PM..
Reason: typo
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Start here with the office of student assignment for Wake County:
