North Carolina Nesties
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
What areas have the best schools?
Our family may be moving to NC very soon (so excited about it) and I've been doing a lot of research online but really want to hear from actual people, not just statisiics and figures.
What areas have good schools (our daughter's in the 4th grade)? How about bad ones?
Also, which areas seem to be family-friendly and which aren't so much?
Thanks! 
Re: What areas have the best schools?
The triangle is the area that includes Durham, Raleigh and Chapel Hill. There is also the Triad which includes Winston Salem, Greensboro and High Point. The triangle has better schools in my opinion.
any area has good schools, just like any other state.
quite honestly, you're better off looking at the big picture of cities/areas (triad v. triangle v. charlotte v. beach) and their qualities and then go to schools.
This....and I know here in the Triangle, they redo the boundary lines for schools each year, so your daughter could be in one school for a year, then get assigned to another school. Also a majority of the schools in Wake county are year round, if you are interested in that.
Wow I never thought of that. I don't think we don't have any of those up here. Also, in Massachusetts, there are better school systems in some areas than others. The school our daughter's in now is great but the one she was in a few years ago (before we moved to this town from another) was terrible. There were good teachers who wanted to do well for their students (those can be found everywhere), but class sizes were out of control and they didn't have any concerts, activities or anything to get families involved.
I guess I was looking for the scoop on any areas/towns known for any of the negatives I mentioned here. Thanks to all of you for the info.
IMO opinion, as long as you're in a non-rural area, the situation is as other posters said - there will be good schools and bad schools and I'd narrow it down by city first and then by school district.
Do you want to live in the mountains? At the beach? In a liberal or a conservative area? Minimize traffic issues?
Personally, I like the Triangle and Wilmington. Each city in the Triangle has it's own personality. Chapel Hlil is the most liberal (it's in Orange county, but even the other parts of Orange county have a different feel than Chapel Hill). I lived there for three years and liked it quite a bit. We lived in Durham for five years and also liked it quite a bit. Durham is very diverse (the Research Triangle Park is in Durham County) and has a nice range of eating and entertainment options (shows at the DPAC, minor league baseball). Raleigh's the capital and we moved here last fall. It's nice, too.
You have a range of living options in the cities in the Triangle. You can live in downtown areas, within walking distance to restaurants, or you live in the suburbs with a big yard while still being fairly close to shopping, dining, etc. You can also choose to live in a more rural setting.
I would recommend posting a list of what your dream town looks like - vibe, type of housing, location to beach/mountains, price range, access to colleges... and then we can give you a better idea from there on what towns (and what sections of towns) might appeal to you.
Our HOA has been really active in lobbying the school board to keep us in a certain school district (and to change one back). It worked, I'm not sure how effective HOA's normally are in dealing with the school board.
I don't have children, but we live in Davidson (not Davidson County... but the Town of Davidson) and I hear we have an AMAZING school system. The cost of living is a bit higher to have a Davidson address, but we absolutely love it here... 20 mins from downtown Charlotte, with Lake Norman right here, and lots of small town charm. When I drive to work each morning I see all the kids walking to school, and I think it's freaking adorable!
All that said.... I grew up in Durham (part of the Triangle) and went to a ROUGH high school.... and it's worse now...(Northern Durham)... but there are plenty of nice schools in the Triangle...
If you are looking in the Charlotte area, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) is pretty spotty. There are some really low achieving schools in the district, and there are areas in the CMS district that have great schools, but you will definitely pay a LOT more to live in the better areas. DH and I don't have kids, but we live right across the state line in the Clover, SC school district. Clover and Fort Mill, SC are the two best districts in the state (SC) and the areas are relatively much more affordable than Charlotte.
Good luck with your move!