Possibly Moving to Atlanta Area (Marietta, Gainesville: to rent, crime, attorney)

[shannon0]

Hi all! Thank you in advance for taking the time to read my post and possibly help me with information/opinions. My husband and I are looking at a possible move to the Atlanta area; we are in our 30s, no children (yet)..... we've both been in school our entire lives up until recently. I have a Masters in education and a Masters in counseling and guidance.... I'm currently certified in the state of Tennessee as both an elementary teacher and a school counselor, Pre-K - 12. I have experience teaching at all levels..... at the moment I teach psychology at a local community college.

My husband is a former attorney who now works for Waffle House as a unit manager (long story, but law is not the field it once was.... which might be a good thing!) Headquarters is located in Atlanta.... and his supervisor has already told him that within six-nine months he can expect the opportunity to promote and transfer to the Atlanta area. This should work well for me, too, as Tennessee is not the place I want to remain. In terms of the work I love what I'm doing right now..... but would prefer getting into a school system and teaching college as a very part-time adjunct.

We know renting for the first year is wise..... and we know that there are 28 counties to explore. Just to put it all on the table..... we are moderates in attitudes and lifestyle, we are Christians, but not steady church goers, we are currently DINOs (Dual Income No Kids) but that could change in the next few years by one child..... so based on all of this information, where are the best areas of town for us to look? For me to consider applying for teaching/school counselor positions? I know that's a broad area to cover, but any information/ideas will be so appreciated! Thank you!

[Bizurko]

Well, considering you want to teach, and I apologize because I am not familiar with how to even begin that process of application, but along with the bigger schools we have many community and smaller colleges around metro Atlanta. Such as Clayton state (Clayton county gets a bad rap so if your picky try for someplace in Henry county and commute...not a very long commute at all), Southern Crescent, Gordon (not actually metro Atlanta but not an unreasonable commute from places such as Griffin, Locust Grove, or McDonough for either of you)...seriously a lot at, this moment however my brains not entirely in it right now to be honest.

[MattCW]

Do you know what area of Atlanta your husband would be in? If he's in Buckhead/Midtown/Downtown, then any place along the GA-400 corridor would work well: good schools, good neighborhoods, and good transit access to all those locations and the airport. If he would be elsewhere around the metro area, then generally anything north of I-20 and US-78 is good with some exceptions.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by shannon0

Hi all! Thank you in advance for taking the time to read my post and possibly help me with information/opinions. My husband and I are looking at a possible move to the Atlanta area; we are in our 30s, no children (yet)..... we've both been in school our entire lives up until recently. I have a Masters in education and a Masters in counseling and guidance.... I'm currently certified in the state of Tennessee as both an elementary teacher and a school counselor, Pre-K - 12. I have experience teaching at all levels..... at the moment I teach psychology at a local community college.

My husband is a former attorney who now works for Waffle House as a unit manager (long story, but law is not the field it once was.... which might be a good thing!) Headquarters is located in Atlanta.... and his supervisor has already told him that within six-nine months he can expect the opportunity to promote and transfer to the Atlanta area. This should work well for me, too, as Tennessee is not the place I want to remain. In terms of the work I love what I'm doing right now..... but would prefer getting into a school system and teaching college as a very part-time adjunct.

We know renting for the first year is wise..... and we know that there are 28 counties to explore. Just to put it all on the table..... we are moderates in attitudes and lifestyle, we are Christians, but not steady church goers, we are currently DINOs (Dual Income No Kids) but that could change in the next few years by one child..... so based on all of this information, where are the best areas of town for us to look? For me to consider applying for teaching/school counselor positions? I know that's a broad area to cover, but any information/ideas will be so appreciated! Thank you!

...Not knowing which part of the metro region in which your husband is going to be working and with your stated desire to teach in public school, there are multiple Atlanta metro region counties in which you could look for a place to rent and start working on lining up a place to work.

Generally, places where you should look for a public school teaching job opportunity include county school systems in Douglas, Bartow, Paulding, Cobb, Cherokee, Fulton, Forsyth, Hall, Barrow, Oconee, Clarke, Walton and Gwinnett counties on the Northside and in county school systems in Coweta, Fayette, Henry, Rockdale and Newton counties on the Southside.

The smaller city school systems where you should also look for employment opportunities are in Cartersville, Marietta, Decatur, Buford and Gainesville.

The school districts in the City of Atlanta (Atlanta Public Schools), Clayton County and DeKalb County each have had some very-substantial administrative and managerial issues over the last several years so it is not necessarily recommended that those school systems be your absolute first choices for an employment search.

Though, despite the very-substantial administrative and managerial issues in those three systems over the last several years, there are still some extremely-bright spots within those troubled school systems, so it might not necessarily hurt for you to look for employment opportunities within those three troubled school systems, even if only as a last resort because of an inability to find employment opportunities elsewhere.

Even during the economic downturn and during the continuing soft economy in the aftermath of the downturn, school systems in Gwinnett, Cobb, Fulton, Forsyth and Cherokee counties in particular have still experienced relatively high rates of enrollment growth.

I know for certain that Gwinnett annually does much hiring of new teaching and educational talent, often early in the fall and in the winter seasons. That's because Gwinnett is the largest school system in the state of Georgia and one of the largest school systems in the nation (ranked about 13th in the nation, I think) with a total enrollment of roughly about 165,000 students.

I wish you the best on your employment/living search and I hope that you find something that you like.

Check all of the areas that I listed, start with the areas OUTSIDE of the City of Atlanta and the Clayton and DeKalb county school systems first and then check with those three troubled urban school systems primarily only as a last resort if you have not found anything in the other county and city school systems that I listed. Hopefully your search will turn up something.

[MzSylvester911]

Hi all, Just trying to find out some important info with regards to moving to Atl. A good friend of mine has suggested Fayetteville since i have 4 young kids. My husband and I plan to move from the Caribbean to Atlanta soon with our kids.So a lot of guidance and information is needed, I am a qualified teacher for the last 10yrs with a degree in Education, my husband is a skilled carpenter, so we need to know about job availability for the both of us,...how safe is Fayetteville to raise young kids.......etc
How expensive will it be to live there, i.e the cost of living in Atlanta, and what growing experiences will our kids be exposed to.
Ohhh and the weather, coming from the Caribbean, and will have to adjust, is it extremely cold in the winter?
I know they accept Caribbean teachers in the NY area, but what qualifications will I need, or need to do to be able to teach there in Atlanta?
If not Fayetteville, what other area will be easy to adjust to and be safe for us, having to adopt to a new way of life and living!

Thanks in advance for your assistance it is greatly appreciated!

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by MzSylvester911

Hi all, Just trying to find out some important info with regards to moving to Atl. A good friend of mine has suggested Fayetteville since i have 4 young kids. My husband and I plan to move from the Caribbean to Atlanta soon with our kids....how safe is Fayetteville to raise young kids.......etc

...Fayetteville is a very-safe area with very-little crime and some of the best public schools in the metro area (likely the best public schools in the metro area SOUTH of the Interstate 20).

Originally Posted by MzSylvester911

So a lot of guidance and information is needed, I am a qualified teacher for the last 10yrs with a degree in Education, my husband is a skilled carpenter, so we need to know about job availability for the both of us

...Coming out of one of the worst economic downturns in which the historically "boomtown-like" Atlanta region had been hit the hardest economically since the Great Depression, the job market is picking up from the severe lows of 2008-2011, but is still very-soft making employment not necessarily as easy to come by as it should be.

Because of the very-slowly recovering economy in which obtaining new employment remains a challenge for most, it is very highly-recommended that both you and your husband have jobs lined up first before moving to Metro Atlanta.

Originally Posted by MzSylvester911

How expensive will it be to live there, i.e the cost of living in Atlanta

...From what some friends of mine from the Caribbean have told me, for you the cost-of-living may likely be much higher than what you are used to in the Islands, but compared to other major U.S. cities (Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, etc) the cost-of-living is comparately much cheaper than other large major U.S. urban areas near large bodies of water.

But even with the cost-of-living likely being much higher in the Atlanta region than it is in the Islands, the wage levels on skill jobs is also likely much higher than in the Caribbean.

Originally Posted by MzSylvester911

and what growing experiences will our kids be exposed to.

...If will be much-different from the experiences that your family and your kids know in the Caribbean.

Depending on what part of the Atlanta metro region you ultimately decide to relocate to, your kids will likely grow up in an environment that is very-diverse (likely much more diverse than your family might have been exposed to in the Caribbean...lots of Hispanics/Latinos, East Asians, South Asians, Eastern Europeans, Africans, etc), but likely much more materialistic and much more competitive than you and your family might be accustomed to in the Caribbean ("my house, my car, my church, my clothes, my shoes, my kids are better than yours", etc).

Also depending on where in the Atlanta metro region you move to, your family will likely grow up in an environment that is much more infatuated (and even obsessed) with sports, particularly the contact sport of American football (not to be confused with the non-contact sport of International football which is known as Soccer in the U.S. and is rising in popularity in the the U.S.).

That's because (with the exception of Basketball, which is the most-popular sport in the American states of North Carolina and Kentucky) American football is by far-and-away overwhelmingly the most-popular sport in the American South (the region of the country in which the Atlanta metro region and the state of Georgia are located).

Originally Posted by MzSylvester911

Ohhh and the weather, coming from the Caribbean, and will have to adjust, is it extremely cold in the winter?

...Compared to where you will be coming from in the year-round warm-weather Caribbean, the weather in North Georgia (where the Atlanta region is located) will seem to be extremely cold in the winter with temperatures routinely dropping under 32 degrees Fahrenheit (ZERO degrees CELSIUS) between late November and early March (mainly during the primary winter months of December, January and February), though most of the under-32 degree F (0 degree C) temperatures during the winter season will occur at night.

Snow and ice storms are also known to occur roughly every 5 years on average.

And even though the winter temperatures will likely feel very-cold to you, compared to the much-colder and much more extreme winter temperatures in the Northeastern and Upper Midwestern regions of the U.S. (where many, if not most, Metro Atlantans hail from originally).

Originally Posted by MzSylvester911

I know they accept Caribbean teachers in the NY area, but what qualifications will I need, or need to do to be able to teach there in Atlanta?

...You will have to check with whatever school districts that you would like to apply for employment with for those questions to be answered.

Originally Posted by MzSylvester911

If not Fayetteville, what other area will be easy to adjust to and be safe for us, having to adopt to a new way of life and living!

Thanks in advance for your assistance it is greatly appreciated!

...Besides Fayetteville and Fayette County, other relatively very-safe, low-crime areas with high and increasing levels of diversity that you could look into for living and employment opportunities are Henry County, Douglas County, Paulding County, Cobb County, North Fulton County, Gwinnett County (an increasingly ultra-diverse county...one of the most-diverse counties in the U.S.), Hall County, Rockdale County, Newton County.

If you looking for safe areas with good public schools, I would likely AVOID looking at areas within the Atlanta Public Schools, DeKalb County and Clayton County school districts because of the recent administrative and managerial issues in those districts, I might also avoid South Fulton County because of ongoing crime and public safety issues there (break-ins, burglaries, auto-thefts, armed robberies, violent carjackings, violent home invasions, etc).