Relocating to Waco, Texas area for new job (Austin, Spring: fit in, apartment complexes)

[illinoisfamily]

Hi, we have been looking up rentals for Hewitt, Robinson, Lorena, China Springs, West, Troy, Bruceville-Eddy, and Crawford because all seem to have decent high schools for our daughter. Unfortunately, we prefer smaller, privately owned apartments to the big apartment complexes we have been able to find online. Does anyone know of better rentals in these areas? We don't want to buy a home just yet, but really want to rent a place with less renters that is safe, and not ridiculously (under $1,000) expensive. Also, any information about the areas would be appreciated, as well. Please and thank you!

[ChristieP]

Don't move to West. The town just had a huge disaster this spring (fertilizer plant explosion) that leveled a large portion of the town, and a large portion of the housing. The town needs a while to recover...

All of those other towns are VERY rural. If there are any apartment complexes there, they will likely be extremely small, and definitely not big! Also, these towns will be a fairly long commute on busy I35 to Waco.

Honestly, you would do better to just live in Waco, or one of the towns immediately surrounding it. Yes, the rent will be a little higher, but it will save your family money in using less gas and wear and tear on the car, and your husband will be able to spend more time with his family.

[texasdiver]

If you are looking for smaller 500-700 student high schools I would look at China Spring (it is Spring not Springs), Lorena, and Robinson in that order.

Crawford is tiny and rural as are Troy and Bruceville Eddy and the last two are too far away. I would not send my kid to any of those schools as they would be thrown in with a small group of rural kids who have all known each other since first grade.

West High School just blew up along with half the town and the kids are being bused to other schools in the North Waco area. You don't want West.

You did not mention Midway which is the only good large High School in the area. It is in the fastest growing suburan area south and west of Waco and probably the public school where the largest percentage of doctors, lawyers, Baylor professors, engineers, etc. send their kids. The cities of Hewitt and Woodway both feed into Midway.

I guess it depends on what kind of environment you want to put your daughter in. The larger schools will have more niche opportunities such as theater, music, arts, and girls sports and advanced classes. The smaller schools will be more approachable, perhaps. Although class sizes will basically be the same at all these schools because they all operate with similar budgets.

Oh, as for your original question. Perhaps look at duplexes. There are neighborhoods with duplexes in both the China Spring and Midway areas. Especially in the Hewitt area. I suspect that Hewitt is going to provide you with the most rental housing options in a part of the Waco area that is decent to live in, has a good high school, and is an easy commute to anywhere in Waco.

By the way, my 3 kids currently attend Midway schools. We moved into Woodway from China Spring a few years ago to be closer to both our jobs and all the kids activities. China Spring schools weere not bad but I prefer the wider range of options and teachers at Midway. midway pays considerably more than the other more rural schools we have discussed and so ends up sucking up many of the best teachers in the are who are tired of working for much oess money at the rural schools or under worse conditions at the poorer urban schools.

Oh, and there are a lot of duplexes in the suburban area south of Woodway that come up as McGregor addresses even though they are in the Midway school district. You don't want to send your daughter to McGregor HS as it is tiny and rural and not so great. But there are lots of rentals with McGregor addresses that feed into Midway. For example this one

http://www.rentals.com/Texas/Mcgregor/r1246664/

[illinoisfamily]

Thank you, ChristieP and Texasdiver!

You both have been so very helpful. Since we live in a small town now, I was thinking it might be better for her, but had not considered the inclusive aspect of going to a school where everyone has known each other since kindergarten and do not want to make it any harder for her than it already is leaving her friends behind. By the way, how is the culture at the school? We recently allowed her to dye her hair purple as she is a good kid who gets good grades, and we decided after a long talk about it that it was just hair. We were surprised that we ended up really liking it and that the color looks so nice on her. This is not that unusual where she goes to school as a fair number of kids in her 8th grade class grade have multi-colored dyed hair. She is worried it will not be allowed at her new school.

I had heard about West, but had not realized the explosion had affected the school as well...those poor people in that town. What a horrible upheaval.

It's actually me and not my hubby that is starting the new job, though, he is looking for jobs in the area now. :-) We have seen a few nice duplexes online, including one with a Waco address that actually was part of a small area that was still Midway schools, but, unfortunately, it has been rented already. We were not surprised as the rent was very reasonable. Now, I understand why we haven't been able to find much in the areas mentioned previously as they are so rural. I am very happy to know that some addresses in McGregor are in the same good school district since we are hoping to find a good sized, 2 bedroom for under $900, if possible. The more areas to look into, the better our chances will be of finding a nice place. Thanks for all the great info. We will limit our search to Hewitt, Woodway, and McGregor!

[ChristieP]

I'm glad we were able to offer good advice.

Yes, the situation in West is really tragic. So many people lost everything they had, and the city and ISD do not have the money to rebuild all of the infrastructure they lost, too.

I feel pretty certain that I can say that no public school in Texas will allow a student to have purple hair. Even in Austin, which is the home of "Keep Austin Weird," kids in public schools cannot have unnaturally colored hair. That is just not something that is "normal" here in Texas. I would make sure of the dress code before enrolling her in school, but be prepared to have to dye it black or back to her natural color. And even if by some chance it is allowed, that would not be the best way to meet new people at a new school...

[texasdiver]

All the public schools in the Waco area will have dress and hair codes. Purple hair will have to go if it is flagrantly purple. If it is subtle then perhaps not. My HS daughter who attends Midway has died her hair but it is supposed to be natural colors of some sort

If your daughter is a little unconventional she would probably fit in best at Midway which is a larger school and has a more diverse student body including lots of kids from all over the US who's parents brought them there due to jobs at Baylor and other local companies. The smaller towns will be mostly local kids.

In your shoes I would look for duplexes in the Midway ISD area. You should have a lot of choices.

[blkgiraffe]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

I'm glad we were able to offer good advice.

Yes, the situation in West is really tragic. So many people lost everything they had, and the city and ISD do not have the money to rebuild all of the infrastructure they lost, too.

I feel pretty certain that I can say that no public school in Texas will allow a student to have purple hair. Even in Austin, which is the home of "Keep Austin Weird," kids in public schools cannot have unnaturally colored hair. That is just not something that is "normal" here in Texas. I would make sure of the dress code before enrolling her in school, but be prepared to have to dye it black or back to her natural color. And even if by some chance it is allowed, that would not be the best way to meet new people at a new school...

Waco ISD I believe isn't too strict about hair color. However, I haven been part of the system since 2008.