Cary, NC SChools, etc.
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4/27/2006
I am a NC native having moved to Cary about 8 years ago to be closer to work at downtown Raleigh. Cary is not as diverse as other areas (i.e Durham), but there are differences in areas within Cary. The older neighborhoods (where we live) were established as a Raleigh bedroom communities several decades ago tend to have longer-term residents, many from NC. The newer subdivisions on the west side are primarily transplants working at the Research Triangle Park with a lot more turnover and a result tend to have less of the benefits of North Carolina culture/sense of place. Schools here are ranked well for NC, which historically has had terrible pre-college education, so I am not sure what that means. A real negative for me is that most NC school systems are county only based (in contrast to Virginia). Because Wake county is HUGE, there may be school choices (magnet, etc.), but long busing is rampant and there is little community feel to the local schools (kids going every direction). Our kids are both home schooled (strong community here) and are in private Christian school. There are many families here (as well as growing number of retirees). Church is important to many here and there are many good faith communities, both Catholic and Protestant. Overall the values are good (although a tendency towards affluent materialism), it is clean and safe, reasonably cheap and uncrowded compared to other metro areas, although it has experienced rather constant growth pains.
mike | Cary, NC