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My husband's company just decided to sell and leave Florida (Miami area), something we had suspected would be happening for a while. Although he is still employed (until the sale is made, which could take a while due to the economy), we had decided long ago we will be relocating to the Triangle area.
We have NO idea as to what specific area we will be moving to, but I have family in North Raleigh, and would like to be located relatively close to them.
I don't think finding employment will be an issue, just a matter of time and patience, and my husband should be getting a nice severance package having been with his co. for over 20 years. We also know our $$ will go much further in NC than in Miami--at least when it comes to housing. Of course, we hope to first sell our home here, which due to local insurance/tax code issues may not be as easy.
So my question is---how are the public schools in that area? Is it safe to send my 11 year old to a public school? She has never attended a public school in Miami for obvious reasons, and I would love to try public school out especially in light of the uncertainty of our job situation. My sister had a good public elementary experience with her son, but then at the junior high level it got really bad (a magnet junior high school) with the thug factor; she eventually enrolled him in a private school at which he is very happy. So I wondered if this is a common problem and if there are any good junior high schools and high schools for a child who is very musically talented.
You will find just as many people thrilled with the wake county schools as people not as thrilled. I do believe there are many options for people who are "not as thrilled" though. There are magnet schools (some are tough to get into if you are not in the base population), charter schools (you have to apply, and new ones are popping up every place), and if it comes down to it, there are some excellent private schools.
You could probably read for hours and hours if you use the search function on the website and look into posts regarding wake county schools. My daughter is in elementary school in wake county, and I have been really happy, but I don't have experience with middle school. I would think that you would have better luck with the magnet schools in regard to music in the schools. There are specific magnet schools that emphasize the arts more than others.
You are in a good situation, in that at least you have some family in the area, and that can give you guidelines to areas. The triangle is a big place! It can be hard to make decisions. I live in wake forest (north of raleigh), and love it, but it seems everyone seems to love the area they live in!
We have many friends who have their children in either wakefield middle or heritage middle and I have not heard of the thug issues. I have heard moreso about the "haves and the have nots" issue. There tends to be more pressure in middle school to have the right clothes, etc. That seems to be the main peer pressure I have heard about.
I am guessing that your sister's kids were at E Millbrook Middle School? I have heard some pretty negative things about that school and little good. There is no guarantee that your assignment will stay the same, but I have heard that things are better at Wakefield, Heritage, and Wake Forest-Rolesville MS.
Unfortunately, in North Raleigh one of your middle school magnet options is E Millbrook. They have the arts program and IB. The AG magnet would be Ligon, but it is very hard to get into if you aren't coming from an AG elementary. There are a couple of other choices (Centennial and Moore Square Museums), but they aren't arts oriented.
If you really want your child to have more access to electives, you could try moving somewhere that has Martin or Daniels MS as its magnet option. Or move to the base area for Martin or Daniels, but that takes big bucks.
I guess I should clarify that to me, North Raleigh means north of Spring Forest and east of Six Forks. So if you're not thinking of that area then some of my magnet listings may be wrong.
It's not all that close (although not very far away either), but if you're interested high quality public schools (for us, it's always our first, second and third priorities), I suggest you take a good look at Chapel Hill/Carborro.
My husband's company just decided to sell and leave Florida (Miami area), something we had suspected would be happening for a while. Although he is still employed (until the sale is made, which could take a while due to the economy), we had decided long ago we will be relocating to the Triangle area.
We have NO idea as to what specific area we will be moving to, but I have family in North Raleigh, and would like to be located relatively close to them.
I don't think finding employment will be an issue, just a matter of time and patience, and my husband should be getting a nice severance package having been with his co. for over 20 years. We also know our $$ will go much further in NC than in Miami--at least when it comes to housing. Of course, we hope to first sell our home here, which due to local insurance/tax code issues may not be as easy.
So my question is---how are the public schools in that area? Is it safe to send my 11 year old to a public school? She has never attended a public school in Miami for obvious reasons, and I would love to try public school out especially in light of the uncertainty of our job situation. My sister had a good public elementary experience with her son, but then at the junior high level it got really bad (a magnet junior high school) with the thug factor; she eventually enrolled him in a private school at which he is very happy. So I wondered if this is a common problem and if there are any good junior high schools and high schools for a child who is very musically talented.
All schools have problems/issues. Some are just better hiding it than others. Its very hard to generalize. Overall, I guess WCPPS does a decent job. Your experience and feelings will change from year to year depending on your child's classmates and any behavioral issues, the teacher, etc.
We have middle schools here - 6-8. Raleigh used to have jr and sr. high, but that was 25+ years ago.
yeah, e. millbrook is one of the few schools that even I would avoid (having been born and raised here).
I went to carroll middle and was in band and did well, and continued with band in both sanderson and millbrook HS.
sanderson recently participated in one of the bowl parades in january. both HS have a good band program (actually most of the schools around here do). Cary HS used to have 'band day' which was always really popular- but with all the new schools not sure if its still going on or if its still as popular.
If your child is a heavy-duty Arts type, there is Durham School of The Arts specifically for that. I think Enloe High School (Raleigh) has a magnet arts program, and Wakefield's music program is really taking off, so I hear.
There are LOTS of opportunities in the area for after-school Arts endeavors, too...Raleigh Conservatory of Music, Durham Arts Council programs, Raleigh Little Theatre and its Youth program (VERY highly rated), great dance studios, youth orchestras...it's amazing how much you can find for extracurricular Arts activities even if the particular school isn't as top-notch in that area as you'd like.
Disclaimer: I have no kids so all of this is secondhand.
The IB magnet program there is decent. The base school, not so much. And being in the IB there allows you to more easily get into Broughton or Enloe for HS.
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