Help? Possibly moving to CT

kaylynne

I am a teacher, currently in Chicago, but DH's job is in talks to move him to the NY office.  His bro and SIL live in West Hartford, so we are thinking of moving to CT and then he would commute to NYC (we are also hoping real estate is cheaper that the city).  Any suggestions on areas of CT that would be good for his commute and my teaching career?  

Q for teachers: Right now I teach English at a great public secondary school on the south side of Chicago, but I am willing to go private or charter in CT if it helps me to be employed. I know competition will be tough.  Any suggestions for my search?  I have 4 years experience, so it looks like my certification will transfer.  Are CT teachers in a union?

christikao

Can't help with the teacher question but if you post on The Knot's CT board the ladies on there can help since a lot of them are teachers. 

 DH has been working in Manhattan for the past 7 years and we currently rent in Westport near the train station. The commute on the train is about 45 min to an hour. I think anywhere in lower Fairfield County will be convenient for your DH. 

julieandjojo

Hi, I teach in Meriden which is a city and the population is not much like West Hartford...I don't live near W.Hartford so idk about the commuting or specific job situation, so not sure of how much help I can be but I can answer a few q's - yes, teachers are in a union. Every town is different, for example I used to work in a different district and I was a part of a different union, now I am part of a union that is a sub-divison of American Federation of Teachers. It's great that your certs will transfer, depending on what level of cert you have, you may have to complete something called TEAM which I am currently doing to get from initial to provisional cert. English in secondary is good, there should be an opening eventually, in a local area school, if not right away. I would recommend private school over charter if your choices are down to that because even though the pay is lower for private, charter schools are more of a hassle in my application/research experience, and very demanding and the employment seems insecure. You may need to start as a substitute in a temp position, many of my friends who have graduated in the last 4 years had to do that and I had to start in a "half-time" teaching job so just be prepared for that possibility!

iverske9

Stamford, Greenwich, Westport is close to NYC. West Hartford would make it a long commute...as for jobs there are usually more openings in urban cities. Good luck..

kaylynne

Are Stamford, Greenwich, Westport urban?  I really don't know anything about CT at this point.  I currently teach in a low-income urban area, so I'm up for anything.  We'd rather live someplace with a house and yard, but I don't need to live and work in the same district.

And just to clarify, we wouldn't be moving to West Hartford.  The move to CT would facilitate us being closer to my BIL (closer being a relative term, since we live in Chicago now). I don't anticipate seeing him on a daily basis, but it will be nice to live in the same state, so that we could maybe see each other on weekends, or a few times a month (as opposed to the once a year deal we have now). So yeah, maybe I should have left that out of the op... I just meant that we chose CT over NJ or NY b/c BIL lives there.  Where in CT is still totally up for grabs, but we'd be focusing in the southwest, I think.

christikao

Stamford is one of the largest cities in CT. The downtown area has a decent size mall and a lot of great restaurants. There are some really nice neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city such as North Stamford or Springdale. Westport and Darien are affluent suburbs with great public school systems and there are a few private schools in the area as well. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westport,_Connecticut

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darien,_Connecticut

jpramer

I moved back to CT in June 2009 and finally found a new teaching job for the 2010-2011 school year using Fairfield Teachers' Agency -- its a recruiting firm for teachers, and the only way I got interviews (and I have three CT endorsements!). I highly recommend it - public, private, religious, & charter schools use this service. As for areas in CT to move, the most convenient to NYC are towns in Fairfield County, but they are relatively more expensive than northern towns. The further east and north you go, the cheaper the living!

kristinkiel

New Haven, CT is probably the most north you want to go in the state for commuting purposes to NYC. You'll probably want to keep your search to places close to Metro North.

SchoolSpring.com is a good resource for finding teaching jobs. I think CT REAP is the best online resource that is state specific. GL!

sibemom23

kristinkiel:

New Haven, CT is probably the most north you want to go in the state for commuting purposes to NYC. You'll probably want to keep your search to places close to Metro North.

SchoolSpring.com is a good resource for finding teaching jobs. I think CT REAP is the best online resource that is state specific. GL!

 

Yikes!  Wouldn't that be over 2 hours each way on the train?

I couldn't go much more north that Fairfield, but even that would be too much for me.

caitandderek

This map may help you: http://www.ct.gov/ecd/lib/ecd/20/14/townmap.pdf 

Two hours in from New Haven.  Bigger metro areas are New Haven, Bridgeport, Stamford, followed by Norwalk and Stratford.  Very $$$ towns include Fairfield, Westport, and Greenwich (basically, the closer you are to NYC, the more cost of living goes up).  RR stations generally have good parking, so if you live in a place like Trumbull or Shelton you can get to a RR station pretty easy.  

lovepup10

I moved to CT in August, taught for two years before doing so.  I still do not have a full time teaching position here.  I don't know if it helps but Fairfield County is having a job fair on March 26

kaylynne

Awesome! Thank you!

Finally Getting Hitched

Thanks for the post and advise all.

Lynette81

Do you have to be in CT? An alternate would be Westchester, Hudson Valley and Rockland Counties in NY also. We live in Stamford and my husband commutes to Manhattan. It's about a 45 minute train ride for him. I agree that New Haven would be a bit far for commuting into the city and would also cap out at maybe Stratford the furthest which is about another 15 minutes up I95. The cost of housing makes quit a drop there too. 

 

I wish I could help you out more but good luck with everything!  

Adog1178

Late on this....I would actually suggest NOT to move to CT.  Why bother if your DH is working in the city?  You'll have to pay CT and NYS taxes (even though you'll get back NY state taxes at the EOY).  I love Stamford and/or Greenwich but your husband is looking at over an hour door to door from Stamford.  And about an hour from Greenwich, depending on where his office is.

If you go further down to Westchester (assuming you're renting), then you have more options--White Plains, New Rochelle, Rye and other smaller hamlets/towns.  It's more expensive, but the trade off is about 20 minute less of a commute (depending on which area your living in and if you can catch an express train).  Commuting to the city is NOT fun and get's really old.  I would keep that in mind when considering a location to settle down in.

hrock74

kaylynne,

I used to live in the Hartford area and the City and now live out in Fairfield county...If your husband doesn't mind the commute and you have family in W. Hartford I would definitely recommend Fairfield county or Westchester.  Personally I like Fairfield better and really there are a ton of places to live from Greenwich and Stamford with the shortest CT commutes about 45 minutes on the train...to Westport, Norwalk, Wilton, New Canaan, Southport, Fairfield.  All of these commutes would be doable... the majority of the wealthy people who live here have a family member doing that commute.  If your looking at Fairfield County the real estate isnt' going to be cheap but cities like Stamford and Norwalk have more reasonable prices than places like Greenwich or westport.  If your fine with renting than maybe I would consider moving into manhattan.  All in all...this is a beautiful area and a great place to live...and you're looking at only about 1 hour to you SIL in W. Hartford. Good Luck!