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Hello-- We have a possible relocate to Amarillo for my husband's job. I have been doing as much research as possible on the area and would like to know a few more specifics than what I have found as far as:
(1) I cannot imagine the wind all the time (I look at the National Weather Service frequently and it says 10-15 mph with gusts up to 25 mph). Is this hair blowing constantly all the time wind where you just should not even bother in the morning, or is it wind that is more like a constant breeze. Any clarification would help.
(2) City-Data shows that the crime index in Amarillo is quite high. Many people say to just stay out of the northwest part of the city and look in the southeast area. I don't understand why the crime index is so high....is it pretty scary up north where you just should not be out or else?
We have 3 children, the oldest just started high school. I know this has been asked before, but as far as the high schools go, which would be the best. We are thinking maybe Canyon would be good as well. seeing as it is so close to Amarillo.
We have moved a number of times before and thought this would be it so the kids could be "situated", but this looks like a necessary move and are very nervous about uprooting the kids again and are, frankly, a bit scared of another brand new area. The absolute main concerns are for the kids...i.e. good schools where they can situate themselves relatively easily, safety of the area, etc etc.
Thank you to anyone out there who has some hints on the area...
Someone has it backwards
Stay away from the northeast and don't bother with the southeast
Growth has been to the southwest and with some nice new development in the northwest, north of the Medi-Park area (where the hospitals and Texas Tech med school branch are located)
There is website called USA K-12 Education Guides which profiles both public and private schools, and of course the school districts and schools have their own websites, too
Canyon school district is supposed to be good and I know some people who live in Bushland (out west of town on I-40) and like that area
I don't have children so someone who does would be more familar with individual schools
Good luck, and welcome (and the wind isn't that bad)
Hello-- We have a possible relocate to Amarillo for my husband's job. I have been doing as much research as possible on the area and would like to know a few more specifics than what I have found as far as:
(1) I cannot imagine the wind all the time (I look at the National Weather Service frequently and it says 10-15 mph with gusts up to 25 mph). Is this hair blowing constantly all the time wind where you just should not even bother in the morning, or is it wind that is more like a constant breeze. Any clarification would help.
(2) City-Data shows that the crime index in Amarillo is quite high. Many people say to just stay out of the northwest part of the city and look in the southeast area. I don't understand why the crime index is so high....is it pretty scary up north where you just should not be out or else?
We have 3 children, the oldest just started high school. I know this has been asked before, but as far as the high schools go, which would be the best. We are thinking maybe Canyon would be good as well. seeing as it is so close to Amarillo.
We have moved a number of times before and thought this would be it so the kids could be "situated", but this looks like a necessary move and are very nervous about uprooting the kids again and are, frankly, a bit scared of another brand new area. The absolute main concerns are for the kids...i.e. good schools where they can situate themselves relatively easily, safety of the area, etc etc.
Thank you to anyone out there who has some hints on the area...
I can't give you a lot of advise as we have never lived there, just visited. But I do know a little bit about the area: yes, the weather might suck, but the wind doesn't blow all the time. Most areas do not have a high crime rate. I don't know about the schools. I will add, if we were to move back to Texas I think we would look at Amarillo. It is just such a nice little town. As for not thinking you would have to move the kids again, we have been there, done that, many years ago and kids a tough. They do survive. Ours are grown now, yes, they have chosen not to move their kids, yes, it was hard on them, but they are all good, stable adults, with good families and are successful in most ways. The best advise, encourage them to get involved. If any are into sports, there is nothing like school sports or after school sports to form friendships.
Thank you, both of you, for your responses....I really do appreciate it. We are going to be making a trip to take a look at Amarillo and I suppose we will find out about the wind situation at that time. Now that things are looking more definite about the relocate, I am getting more into the school search and trying to figure out the best route for the kids. It is difficult because we will have a kid in all three schools....high, middle and elem. So I am wondering if there is anyone out there who has any hands on info on the schools to lean towards, and the ones to avoid. From my research, it looks like Amarillo HS would be the best bet with Tasacosa a close second, or Canyon High School. How is Randall in comparison to Amarillo and Canyon. Then of course the feeder schools for Amarillo (looks like Bonham MS and Windsor Elem and Sleepy Hollow)----don't know which other middle/elem schools are good. Also....is there soccer (boys and girls) at these schools----it kind of looks like soccer is overlooked.
One more question----kids rec soccer looks like it is only available for kids thru 5th grade. What do kids do after 5th grade because it doesn't look like the middle schools offer it. Oh yes---another question.....non-school swim team. Where in the world do the kids practice if there is no indoor aquatic center (and how is it coming with getting one in town).
Lived there for 6 months, west side definitely the best. You should be aware if you haven't read about it already, but you will get some interesting smells in the air. I never got used to it, and locals I worked with would comment on it when it was noticeable. From feedlots, etc. Not all the time like Hereford, but definitely there.
Thank you, both of you, for your responses....I really do appreciate it. We are going to be making a trip to take a look at Amarillo and I suppose we will find out about the wind situation at that time. Now that things are looking more definite about the relocate, I am getting more into the school search and trying to figure out the best route for the kids. It is difficult because we will have a kid in all three schools....high, middle and elem. So I am wondering if there is anyone out there who has any hands on info on the schools to lean towards, and the ones to avoid. From my research, it looks like Amarillo HS would be the best bet with Tasacosa a close second, or Canyon High School. How is Randall in comparison to Amarillo and Canyon. Then of course the feeder schools for Amarillo (looks like Bonham MS and Windsor Elem and Sleepy Hollow)----don't know which other middle/elem schools are good. Also....is there soccer (boys and girls) at these schools----it kind of looks like soccer is overlooked.
One more question----kids rec soccer looks like it is only available for kids thru 5th grade. What do kids do after 5th grade because it doesn't look like the middle schools offer it. Oh yes---another question.....non-school swim team. Where in the world do the kids practice if there is no indoor aquatic center (and how is it coming with getting one in town).
Thanks everyone for any input
I went to Tascosa and I would honestly say, as much as I appreciated my experiences there, lean towards Amarillo High or Bushland. Bushland was the big new deal when I was graduating. It's a little out of the way, but a great school and growing. Tascosa is great but is just sort of declining as the years go by. Don't get me wrong, it is a great school. One of my teachers used to say if you want to be a tolerant, understanding person, go to Tascosa. You get some of the richest of the richest and some of the poorest of the poor at THS. Everyone does pretty well together and it taught me a good amount about working and living with other races and people from socio-economic groups.
AHS is very typical of Amarillo. It's a little bit of new money, but mostly its just good middle class families. I can't say much of Randall other than its just a fairly good school.
Truth be told, it is very difficult to find a bad place to send your kids in Amarillo.
Oh, also, THS has an excellent girls (but no guys) soccer team.
To cobalt--it is nice to hear that you loved it, but a tad stressful to think the wind is pretty bad. We have lived in windy areas before but I am not sure about the constant wind. I guess there is always something with weather....nothing can ever be perfect. Is it EVER calm there, or can you pretty much plan on being blown around all the time?
To vantexan--we have lived in rural areas more years than not, but I am not sure if we had smells or not.....I just don't remember. Hopefully when we visit we can have a whiff to get an idea. Does it get so bad that you about gag or is it just a slight unpleasant odor when you venture out?
To tskav--when you say Randall is just a fairly good school, do you mean it is overall "good" or it's "eh--it's ok but there are better out there". That is really nice to hear that overall the schools are pretty good. I have read so much conflicting info on the schools. All our kids are top students who are active in sports and get along really well with other kids so I don't have HUGE concerns, but still, being a parent you just simply want to try and get your kids in the best situation possible and so I have been obsessed with trying to find the "right" place to get them. I have read so much that people in Texas are SO friendly and am hoping that that also means the kids in the schools as well just because I hate the fact that the kids have to uproot. I just want it to go smoothly for them....
By the way....what in the world do the kids do if there is no soccer at the schools? (it is different where we are now in that soccer is the BIG thing...it seems like soccer is not that popular in Amarillo?) That soccer club in Amarillo looks like it is limited...i.e. goes to 5th grade only. Does anyone have any personal experience with kids being involved with soccer there? Also, what about the Amarillo swim team situation.....where in the world do they practice if there is no indoor aquatic center?
Oh yes one more thing.....city-data shows Amarillo with a really high crime rate. Why is that? Is there a significant amount of crime out there. I have looked at amarillo.com and there does not seem to be an alarming amount of news about crime. Any info on the crime would be great too.....from what I have read it is mostly theft etc. And I assume that is in the southeast portion of the city for the most part? Does that mean you should really stay away from that area?
Thanks again
Hi, we just moved to the area before school started and I could have written your post word for word a few months ago. After much consideration and homework on the Amarillo area, we chose to move to Canyon. We really like it here and crime has not been an issue. Our neighbors say they haven't had any problems either-And some have lived here for decades. We have a 9th grader and he was very nervous to start highschool in a new town but he is happy at CHS and says the kids are really friendly. He fit in in no time. We also have a middle schooler and elementary age child. We are very happy with their schools and my sons elementary school has really impressed me. They truly care about the kids. So far, the wind has just been an annoyance but I hear the spring winds are pretty bad. Overall, I am very happy with our choice and if I had it to do over again, I would still come to canyon. Best of luck to you!
Ps, my husband makes a 144 mile round trip commute each day so we can live here! That is how important schools were to us.
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