Potential move to Alliance, help (live in, area, town)

[eriepaboy]

Originally Posted by alybain

Hello all,

We are possible moving to Alliance from the UK next year, any advice regarding good/bad areas and high schools would be very much appreciated.

Alliance: you will starve and the schools are so so at best. Look at kent OH, Rootstown OH and especially Hudson OH

[trs91230]

Do not I repeat do not move to Salem. I grew up in Alliance, spent 15 years in St Petersburg Fl and then moved back to Salem. So my experience comes from all sides. Salem is a town on the extreme down slide. We moved their 10 years ago from Florida thinking it was a nice small town. Well it was in the 1970's! Last year we sold our house (and so did our adult children) to move (run) out of there. The crime is growing rapidly, housing stock is falling apart due to slum landlords, and their is constant infighting on how to handle the situation. A small group of people who run the town live with their blinders on and the rest suffer. Now as for Alliance. I grew up in Alliance and now live 8 miles from it in a rural town. Alliance is no picnic in a lot of areas. Petty crime reaches all neighborhoods, and always has. There is nothing good to say about Alliance City Schools. Their Catholic school system is their saving grace. It is excellent. Surprisingly I think their housing has improved greatly in the last 10 years. Many quaint neighborhoods near the college and many newer scattered around the sides of Alliance. They are a welcoming town to newcomers attached to the college. I would never put a child into their city schools though. Unfortunately there is a lot of racial friction which can be come distracting to learning. But since I have lived in almost every city that I have seen mentioned (Canton, North Canton, etc) I can tell you there is no easy answer here but I will try. North Canton, and Louisville are known as white bread towns, but reasonably priced if you don't mind this. Marlington Schools and West Branch are both top notch school systems but you will be hard pressed to find any diversity. They just are not as prejudiced as North Canton or Louisville. What you will find living outside of Alliance in a rural area, are awesome prices for housing, beautiful land, and wholesome people. But they are conservative. But then I am extremely liberal from my years living on the gorgeous gulf coast of Florida so I don't really fit in. Rural Oh is a place where tractor pulls and church fairs are popular, where crime is non existent, and the cost of living is extremely low. I personally also love the weather while most people hate it. I have two grandchildren in West Branch Schools and they seem to truly love them. Very warm and welcoming teachers. Their sports teams (Marlington and West Branch) are revered around here but not idolized to the point of insanity like some Ohio school systems. I would recommend either of these two areas or if you want to live in Alliance check out Regina Coeli's school, and St Thomas for high school. Both schools have an active parenting group and I know from experience past that Regina Coeli has always put their school childrens needs before their church, which I think is commendable. I spent 8 years at Regina, 4 in Alliance City. Just about destroyed my life going to AHS. Be careful there. After all this rambling I wish you luck. For all my moving (28 times) I truly do love it here and probably am staying for now.

[alybain]

Thanks for your replies. Our son has been given a place at Marlington HS, which we are very pleased about. We are hoping to buy a house around that area, and have a possibility to rent somewhere in Minerva in the short term.
Its a matter of weeks now before the move, the visa has been approved State side, just waiting on the London interview now.
We have tickets for the Hall of Fame game, and we are getting excited for the move, but apprehensive at the same time!
Theres alot that will be different, but we will embrace it and meet the challenge of discovering new things, and being the immigrants!
Keep the advice and replies coming, as always I really value your input
thanks

[1970pelle]

I wish you all the best. You will find happiness there in the Alliance area. There are a lot of people fighting to keep the area alive. I grew up there and spent a few years after finishing school. I just couldn't find the job that would let me grow. So I moved south and haven't looked back. Now the area is nice to visit. Thank GOD you didn't go to Sebring. Now that is a real shame. With all the that has closed up in that little village, its managed to hang-on. Enjoy everything you can find to do. There is a lot.

[TiMarie]

Just wanted to extend a warm welcome to our area. You made a wise decision to avoid the Alliance City School system.....as well as the Canton City Schools. I do not think you would have been happy at all with your choice had you gone either route. Marlington is a decent school...I just find it very disconcerning that they have not been able to pass the levies needed to fix their badly deteriorating schools. I have many friends that attended Marlington (albeit 25 years ago!) and they greatly enjoyed their years there. I grew up and still live in the Louisville area. The reputation you heard about our town is really not that true these days. Old line Louisville yes, and yes it is primarily a caucasion town, but the bigoted reputation is greatly blown out of proportion these days. Our town has grown immensely within the last 20 years and with that has come newcomers from far reaching areas. We have good schools, state of the art buildings and a safe community....my mother and I still walk late at night in town without a worry. That is something I cannot say would happen in many areas of Canton. I live on the western end of Louisville in Nimishilllen Twp....and am only about 10-12 minutes from Mount Union and 10-15 minutes from the Canton/Belden Village area. There are many nice rural areas in the Louisville area that would offer you the best of both worlds....solitude and convenience! North on Rt 44 would be where I would advise you to search..that would put you into the Marlington school district and with easy access to rt 62E to head to Alliance. I would not worry one bit about your son being accepted....he will most likely be like a celebrity in a school such as Louisville or Marlington...they will all want to be friends with the new kid from the UK! I work with a gentleman from the UK as a matter of fact! Anyway, I wish you luck on your move and please feel free to message me if you'd like any advice, help or have any questions at all.

[alybain]

Thanks for all your advice and welcomes, it really means alot!
Marlington school really was the most welcoming when we visited, and made the most sense. The buildings arent great, but its the heart of the school that matters not the buildings, and they had alot going for them on that count.

We are due to move by the end of the month, a few visa niggles London end, but nothing we can do about it, burocratic red tape stuff, very annoying and frustrating. We are living with my parents now as our house here has sold, its only for a few weeks, but challenging none the less!

We are very much looking forward to the move, and settling into the area, keep the advice coming, its all most welcome!

[alybain]

Hi all,

Quick update, we are moving next week, just waiting for passports to get back to us from the US Embassy, due tomorrow.
Well, we have got a 3 bd townhouse at Woodside Appartments in Canton on a short term rental initially for 3 months while we look for a home to buy. No idea about the place, looks ok online, and its only short term, its about the only place we could get anyway, didnt want to be tied into a year lease.
We are all excited to finally arrive after what seems like ages in planning, its all quite stressful though, will be nice to finally settle and get used to things!
Thanks to everyone on here for the amazing input and responses you have given me, im sure there will be a ton of things to ask when we arrive!!

[mss9673]

So I know its been 2 years but how did everything go? Son doing well with football? I am looking to possibly move to this area and am hoping for some advice from an outsider that's now an insider (?). Where does your family do most of your shopping and where did you end up buying? I'm looking at a place in Kensington and am not familiar with the area at all. Thanks in advance and I hope all went well!

[goofy328]

Originally Posted by South Range Family

The East side of town is low class. I have never heard anything good about the Alliance City Schools. Marlington, or West Branch Schools would probably be a better option.

Sounds a lot like Akron and Cleveland. Even Dayton was like that, must be a universal truth in Ohio.

[alybain]

Originally Posted by mss9673

So I know its been 2 years but how did everything go? Son doing well with football? I am looking to possibly move to this area and am hoping for some advice from an outsider that's now an insider (?). Where does your family do most of your shopping and where did you end up buying? I'm looking at a place in Kensington and am not familiar with the area at all. Thanks in advance and I hope all went well!

Hi! yes 2 years! its gone so fast! My son is a senior now at Marlington High school, it really has been a fantastic school, we are so glad he chose that one. He has played football since we got here (he played in the UK) and loves it, he is looking forward to the season again, and has been in practice all summer.
I'm not sure where Kensington is? I think its south of me, we ended up buying a house in Homeworth, between Minerva and Alliance. Its a small village in the countryside, we have 9 acres and fantastic neighbors. Everyone is so friendly, and have been so helpful. We shop mainly at Walmart for food, for the price and comedy value (!) we are going through the residency process, and until then we still live off 1 income, its very tight but we manage ok. Alliance has pretty much everything we need, and its expanding rapidly, loads of new stores coming all the time. Canton isn't too far for anything else, but we do try and get things from the smaller family owned stores rather than the big stores.
Where are you from? I hope you find somewhere to live and settle in well!