thinking of moving to charlotte

[becon776]

hello,
I just recently got a job offer teaching at one of the charlotte schools. I know nothing about the area. Good parts, bad parts, high crime parts etc... I have a seven year old son and want to know where the "better" schools are located. I am coming from a little tiny town on the outskirts of rochester, ny and have no real feel for what it is like down there. What kind of advice would you give someone moving to your area?
Help!?
Ben

p.s. I have to respond to the offer in ten days.

[Jon_Hewett_85]

Best schools in CMS. (charlotte-mecklenburg schools) High schools at least.

Providence is the best

Other good ones:
Myers Park
Butler
South Meck
East Meck

Okay but not great:
West charlotte
North Meck
Grainger
Harding

Gariinger being the worst.

Now as far as others go...gernally the best schools are the ones to the southeast. Middle schools your looking at crestdale and southcharlotte as the pick of the litter, and matthews elementary and elizabeth lane.

[becon776]

o.k. here's the question ( I appreciate your help immensely). Throwing any modesty right out the window. They have offered me to start at 30,000 possibly a tad higher. Is it even possible to live on that type of salary down there with any kind of decent standard. I have no clue. I guess this question would be hard for people who are raking in the dough but, to the youngers who are just starting out or to the people who have kids or relatives just starting out... you know what I mean.
Ben

[becon776]

oh yeah, the recruiter mentioned steele creek, Huntersville, pineville.

[StashuDave]

My wife works at Pineville Elementary, and we also moved down because of her being offered a job in CMS from Buffalo. Pineville reminds me of Cheektowaga, a Mall with a school right next door. As far as the standard of living you'll find it's pretty similar to Buff/ Roch, only noticable difference I've found is housing, most lot sizes in Charlotte or North Carolina are going to be smaller than what you'd expect, that's why we built our home in South Carolina ( a viable option if you get placed somewhere south in CMS). Of course the most disappointing thing is that there are only a few fish stores down here compared to up there, not knocking them but WNY has a lot of stores to choose from, you'll find yourself hitting all your old stores everytime you go home and bringing back a styro. Also $30,000 sounds pretty good, you must have a good couple of years under your belt, she's only had 2 years and is at like $24-$25. I think it was a good move for us.

[baz]

I live in Huntersville area very family oriented!

[davew0670]

just moved to huntersville. love it so far!

[vette396]

We reloacated from Buffalo 7 years back. I work in banking but my wife is a French teacher. Prior to signing your contract you need to find out what school you will be placed at. I have seen the horror stories first hand from some of her friends.

There are good schools all over the area. We were in West Seneca/Orchard Park schools back north. I would try to settle in the south end of Charlotte if you must live in Charlotte BUT if I had to do it over again we would not live in Meck county or Charlotte proper.

I would hop over the border to Fort Mill. It is actually closer to the city of Charlotte than South Charlotte. The taxes are cheaper and the schools are very good. Another option is Union County. It is just south of Charlotte. The taxes are better and so are the schools.

You need to understand that the school you "choose" today with your relocation may not be the school you have next year if you are in Charlotte proper. My daughter would have been in 4 schools in 6 years if we did not send her to the Catholic system.

If you choose Union County, Fort Mill or South Charlotte area you will do fine with the aquarium. We have 3 good local fish stores that are very helpful (Hi-Tide is by far my favorite).

Good luck with the move. Hold out for the cash as they are so HARD UP for teachers that they will deal.

[andy51289]

Come to Providence Day School.....great school........oh yeah, and one of the teachers has a reef tank set up in one of the buildings! :-)

[andy51289]

but then again it is a private school and I think you are after the CMS schools

[brett3735]

south charlotte has better schools then union county and fort mill, but the taxes are higher