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Old 03-06-2010, 06:18 PM
 
4 posts, read 13,730 times
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Hello All,

This is a great forum! I'll get right down to it...My family and I are moving to Texas in June. I'll be working at a college in Marshall. We are an African American family, my husband and I are in our mid and late 30's, we have 4 kids, 13, 12, 10 and 2.
We need great schools and preferably with a great football program for our 13 year old son …he's been playing since he was 7 and is really good.

-Family oriented community, generally nice people
-Commute of no more than 45 minutes each way
-Nice housing in a great neighborhood, (lots of kids for my kids to play with) we will need to rent a 4 bedroom home
-Diversity in the area would be great, we live in Missouri now and get tired of the looks we sometimes get
-We would like to live where there are activities for the kids as well as nice places for me and the hubby to enjoy (ie great eateries, shopping (for me), scenic views, etc

I'm really excited about the move, I have family in Dallas and they love it but they don't know much about the east Texas area. I've been reading the threads and have seen some interesting information. I welcome ANY and ALL advice on an area that would be a good choice for us. Thanks for your help

Last edited by FarNorthDallas; 03-07-2010 at 08:23 PM.. Reason: deleted coding
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Old 03-07-2010, 07:34 PM
 
4 posts, read 13,730 times
Reputation: 10
Come on guys...i know there are some experts out there and we could really use your help!!!
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Old 03-08-2010, 04:51 AM
 
Location: Lancaster, TX
1,637 posts, read 4,106,346 times
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Hi. I live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, but have relatives who live in Marshall area. While I admittedly no expert on the area, I'll try to be of some assistance since no one else has tried to help you. Based on your criteria, there are two areas I would personally suggest – Marshall and Longview.

Marshall has a population of nearly 24,000 and is a sizable community by east Texas standards. It has more amenities than the surrounding rural areas and small towns. For example, my relatives live north of the city limits in unincorporated Harrison County and go to Marshall for groceries, medical care, and shopping. Both the city and its school district are diverse. My aunt, who is a Marshall High School graduate, has two sons attending Marshall schools. I have never heard anything negative from her about the quality of the district or its schools.

Another option might be Longview, which is located about 20-25 miles west of Marshall in Gregg County. With around 77,000 people, its much larger than Marshall, so there is going to be more shopping/retail/restaurant offerings there. The city is served by four different school districts – Longview, Pine Tree, Spring Hill, and Hallsville. With the exception of Hallsville, the other districts have some degree of student diversity. I honestly don't know enough about each district in terms of academics, athletics, etc. to compare them.

I hope you find this information helpful.

Best of luck and welcome to TEXAS!
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Old 03-08-2010, 07:00 AM
 
Location: Willowbend/Houston
13,384 posts, read 25,751,740 times
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It depends on the size of the city youre looking for. Marshall is pretty small, but not a bad place. It wont offer a whole lot of activities. Longview is about 30 miles away. There are some nice housing opprotunities there and a little more to do than in Marshall. Longview is city of about 75,000 and having spent alot of time there, I find the people very friendly. If you want a bigger city than that, you could check out Shreveport, Louisiana. It has about 200,000 people in it and will probably offer the most in the way of activities, but Longview is more family oriented in my opinion.
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Old 03-08-2010, 10:06 AM
 
37,315 posts, read 59,878,910 times
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frankly I think you would be better off living in Longview or Shreveport than Marshall
you would have to pay personal income tax in LA which TX does not require but property taxes are probably less--at least they were when we were living there
schools are more iffy--lots of people do private schools in shreveport

but Marshall would be too small and too east-texas for me
Longview is just larger town--wider POV to some extent...
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Old 03-08-2010, 08:21 PM
 
4 posts, read 13,730 times
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Thanks for the suggestions, looks like you all agree that Longview might be a good choice. We are sticking to the Texas side because of the state taxes benefit and I haven't heard good things about Shreveport. Can anyone speak about the school districts Longview and what about the FOOTBALL!??? Is it a football town.

Thanks again for the help, we REALLY appreciate it!
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Old 03-08-2010, 08:47 PM
 
Location: Willowbend/Houston
13,384 posts, read 25,751,740 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bea1999 View Post
Thanks for the suggestions, looks like you all agree that Longview might be a good choice. We are sticking to the Texas side because of the state taxes benefit and I haven't heard good things about Shreveport. Can anyone speak about the school districts Longview and what about the FOOTBALL!??? Is it a football town.

Thanks again for the help, we REALLY appreciate it!
Longview is definately a football town. I believe Longview High School has won a state championship in recent years and the town definately has school spirit.
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Old 03-08-2010, 08:52 PM
 
216 posts, read 934,948 times
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Longview High has the best football program of those mentioned, although Marshall has had regular success also.

A smaller school to consider is Tatum. Good, financially secure, diverse school district with an excellent athletic program. Although a smaller school, a good number of student-athletes go on to compete at the college level.

4 bedroom rentals may be difficult to find in some of the areas.
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Old 03-09-2010, 05:58 AM
 
Location: A little suburb of Houston
3,702 posts, read 18,216,670 times
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I lived in the Marshall area and still have a house and family up that way but am no expert. I do know that Longview ISD is not the best. You might consider Hallsville half-way between Marshall and Longview. It has a better school district and you can access Marshall and Longview pretty easily. The College is located on the west side of Marshall, if I recall correctly, and will be pretty easy to access from Hallsville.
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Old 03-09-2010, 08:37 AM
 
37,315 posts, read 59,878,910 times
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you can check the TEA rating for any school district and the schools within it at the TEA site--
Texas Education Agency - TAKS Aggregate Data System

Marshall is in separate TEA region from Longview--I think

this link is to map feature on TEA web site--

School District Locator

you can put in district name to the left side blank and it will provide map image of district with the current TEA rating and past two years...
and can link to the district's web site as well

what another poster said about finding home to rent in a smaller town could very well be true--especially a nicer home--
not problem unique to that area of TX--other small towns have lack of rental property as well
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