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My wife and I are packing up our three kids, my wife's parents, two cats, and the dog and moving to Raleigh this coming spring. We are looking to make some connections and maybe start getting some insider knowledge from friendly locals.
We were gonna make this move 12 years ago, but we got sidetracked to Denver when my wife was recruited out to a company here after grad school. And though we have liked Denver, and it really is the hot place to be these days which is great, we are ready to move on.
I come from the Puget Sound region of WA (Tacoma) and my wife is from Napa wine country in northern CA. We are both liberals, but I'm more moderate these days. We are Christians and longtime members of the United Methodist Church. As a side note, my momma was from Macon, GA and I have a ton of family in GA including both of my brothers and their families. Also too, I lived 10 years in new Orleans and lived a couple years in Atlanta. In other words, I miss the south and am very excited to be getting back to the region and the food. We've spent some time in NC again recently, and we think it is about the most beautiful state with the nicest people, and has room to stretch your legs unlike most other places.
We are looking primarily at homes in Apex, Holly Springs, and the area in between the two towns. We were out this past summer for some time and found that area preferable to Wake Forest or anything east of Raleigh.
Here's the point of the post: The only thing that is causing us heartburn about this move is schools. For the life of me, I can't get my head around Wake County schools. The schedules, the "choice," the drama. We just want to buy a home near a good middle and high school and let our kids go there so they can make friends with other kids who live in the neighborhood. Is that just not a thing anymore? Seems like we could buy a house and our kids could get bused to some other school because of caps or some such thing.
Can we get some feedback from local moms and dads about some tips and tricks on working the Wake County school system? Especially the Holly Springs HS and Holly Ridge MS and anything in Apex. What are the chances the kids get bounced to some other school? What is the culture like inside the school? Bullying and harassment an issue? My kids are NOT athletic. Our oldest boy is a burgeoning writer who wants to teach or maybe serve the church, we have a 10 yo boy who likes to code games and plays violin in the school orchestra, and a little girl with a heart the size of the moon. I just want to do my best to get them into the right school culture where they can thrive.
Thank you for reading the post. We are so excited about this next chapter of our lives and being part of your community. We want to be good neighbors and good North Carolinians. We are open to any info and insider knowledge on avoiding local pet peeves. We are very serious about being good neighbors right from the start.
Buy in the Chapel Hill city school district. Problem solved.
Yeah, a bit out of our price range though. And we've not spent any time there. But I'll research it more. Maybe more affordable homes will come on the market after the first of the year.
I would suggest buying as close to the schools you want as possible. They constantly redistrict and open new schools so it's never a given but the closer you physically are the better your odds. School choice is a bit of a joke - you can choose but you aren't usually given it. Of those that i know who did it only about half got what they wanted. We didn't even get our choice assignment until 1 month before school started making it very difficult to plan for the first year. There are a mix of year round and traditional in wake county so if you're year round you have to know which track you get. It sounds like you have three kids and one may be in high school, right? If so I'd try to avoid year round or go for track 1 or 4 if you do get it as those most align with traditional calendars. We were fairly skeptical about year round and wake county schools in general (even though I attended them, a lot has changed) but have been extremely happy with both. Don't solely rely on the greatschools ratings either. I would highly recommend touring the schools when you come down to get an idea of how you really feel about them. Some of the highest greatschools didn't feel as comfortable as some of the middle of the road ones to us.
If you have specific questions let us know, people here are always really helpful.
You are right about Great Schools. We look at them as only part of the equation. Our schools here are all 9s and 10s but having had children at two elementary schools we can say with confidence they are completely different schools, even though they have the same score. Also, definitely want as close to traditional as we can get. We are on "modified traditional" here and that works pretty well for us.
When school starts next year we will have two boys in middle school, 8th and 6th grades, and little miss will be going into 3rd. We are downsizing as my wife wants to stop her home daycare and re-enter her career. She has a masters in public policy and used to work with non-profits on children's issues. I'm in tech and work from home for a company out of PA. Once my wife goes back to her career her income will drop dramatically. You'd be surprised at how much a good home licensed daycare provider can make!! We'd stay in Denver for a few years until the kids graduate, but it is so expensive here in Denver now that we are pretty much priced out of even starter homes in good areas, much less being able to keep our big house in an expensive suburb on 3/4s our current income. Bad planning on our part, I know, but it is what it is.
Anyway, the combination of affordability, job opportunity, and the fact we wanted to retire to NC someday (my wife's father is from Hickory NC and she has family all through that area and has visited the state many times over the years) anyway pretty much makes this the best time to move. We get to capitalize on Denver's boom market and make some money on our house. We get to payoff student loans and debt, and move to the place we want to be. The trade-off is this creates instability for our kids by moving them away from their familiar home and friends. But then again, it is a new experience that will force them to develop new interpersonal skills and coping mechanisms.
Getting back to Wake County School District, if we buy close in to the schools we want and start our kids there, even if they change the boundaries, we get to stay at that school, right?
I'm sure a book could be written about this, but why is WPCSS so... chaotic? I mean, what prompted all this and what are they trying to achieve in the end? I live in Douglas County here in CO and we've had our fair share of turmoil when it comes to public schools, but Wake is off the charts in comparison. I wonder, if I understood the underlying causes of all this change from the traditional public school model, I might understand where it is going and that might make things easier. Is this purely population boom related?
Thx!
Quote:
Originally Posted by annabanana123
I would suggest buying as close to the schools you want as possible. They constantly redistrict and open new schools so it's never a given but the closer you physically are the better your odds. School choice is a bit of a joke - you can choose but you aren't usually given it. Of those that i know who did it only about half got what they wanted. We didn't even get our choice assignment until 1 month before school started making it very difficult to plan for the first year. There are a mix of year round and traditional in wake county so if you're year round you have to know which track you get. It sounds like you have three kids and one may be in high school, right? If so I'd try to avoid year round or go for track 1 or 4 if you do get it as those most align with traditional calendars. We were fairly skeptical about year round and wake county schools in general (even though I attended them, a lot has changed) but have been extremely happy with both. Don't solely rely on the greatschools ratings either. I would highly recommend touring the schools when you come down to get an idea of how you really feel about them. Some of the highest greatschools didn't feel as comfortable as some of the middle of the road ones to us.
If you have specific questions let us know, people here are always really helpful.
You are right about Great Schools. We look at them as only part of the equation. Our schools here are all 9s and 10s but having had children at two elementary schools we can say with confidence they are completely different schools, even though they have the same score. Also, definitely want as close to traditional as we can get. We are on "modified traditional" here and that works pretty well for us.
When school starts next year we will have two boys in middle school, 8th and 6th grades, and little miss will be going into 3rd. We are downsizing as my wife wants to stop her home daycare and re-enter her career. She has a masters in public policy and used to work with non-profits on children's issues. I'm in tech and work from home for a company out of PA. Once my wife goes back to her career her income will drop dramatically. You'd be surprised at how much a good home licensed daycare provider can make!! We'd stay in Denver for a few years until the kids graduate, but it is so expensive here in Denver now that we are pretty much priced out of even starter homes in good areas, much less being able to keep our big house in an expensive suburb on 3/4s our current income. Bad planning on our part, I know, but it is what it is.
Anyway, the combination of affordability, job opportunity, and the fact we wanted to retire to NC someday (my wife's father is from Hickory NC and she has family all through that area and has visited the state many times over the years) anyway pretty much makes this the best time to move. We get to capitalize on Denver's boom market and make some money on our house. We get to payoff student loans and debt, and move to the place we want to be. The trade-off is this creates instability for our kids by moving them away from their familiar home and friends. But then again, it is a new experience that will force them to develop new interpersonal skills and coping mechanisms.
Getting back to Wake County School District, if we buy close in to the schools we want and start our kids there, even if they change the boundaries, we get to stay at that school, right?
I'm sure a book could be written about this, but why is WPCSS so... chaotic? I mean, what prompted all this and what are they trying to achieve in the end? I live in Douglas County here in CO and we've had our fair share of turmoil when it comes to public schools, but Wake is off the charts in comparison. I wonder, if I understood the underlying causes of all this change from the traditional public school model, I might understand where it is going and that might make things easier. Is this purely population boom related?
Thx!
Over the years, relentless growth has us have averaging about 60-65 people moving into Wake County daily.
That includes plenty of kids who want school seats.
When we build new schools, someone has to be assigned to them, and we cannot just go out of town and recruit students, so kids may be reassigned.
Unfortunately, several years ago, we "skipped" a bond issue referendum at the ballot box, and are still trying to catch up in physical plant. Additionally, many older schools are being closed for renovation or nearly full replacement. Apex HS is one.
One sure recipe for stress and disappointment is to jump into an area where growth is rampant, school hysteria is the order of the day, the schools are totally oversubscribed, and expect to get into those schools and stay.
It may be a good strategy to get into a neighborhood with history of little or no reassignment, and close to desired schools. Pricing can be very volatile for those neighborhoods.
It may be a good strategy to get into a neighborhood with history of little or no reassignment, and close to desired schools. Pricing can be very volatile for those neighborhoods.
How hard is that to do? If you buy in older, more established neighborhoods, do you generally see less volatility then you would if you were in a hot area ripe with new development?
Does North Raleigh, for example, have less volatility than Apex or Cary?
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