My family is moving to Texas for work reasons. Austin, they said. Great! we said. As a mother of three with a disabled kid, I don't take moving lightly, and a LOT of research goes into choosing just the right schools in just the right areas.
So I researched. Kossacks were particularly helpful and generous with info and advice. The best info, in my opinion, is from boots on the ground, as they say. I found a great little neighborhood to live in, with good schools, decent houses, I found a super nice realtor who was setting up a house hunting trip for us...I was all ready for our big move.
And then...well, my husband came home with a bit of a bombshell last night.
No Austin.
Dallas.
We have the same timeframe for the move, which means I now have far less time for area familiarization and research.
My questions are the following:
1) Are there any suburbs that have a reputation for being a bit more progressive and/or quirky?
2) Are there any school districts that have a reputation for excellence in Special Education?
3) Are there any areas that I should avoid?
4) Do you know anyone who would correspond with me who lives in the DFW area that has a child with moderate to severe autism?
Here's the information that I do have. I've heard the Plano and Frisco are good suburbs, but when I read about the highly rated schools there they don't sound very pleasant. I'm getting the impression that they are super-strict and crank the children out like little learning-bots.
I'm going to admit that I am a New England girl with huge and probably unfair pre-conceived notions about Texas. I'm picturing the big hair, the big cars and big homes (when I look at homes online I seriously can't seem to find anything under 3,000 square feet). I'm anticipating that my not very athletic twelve year old son is going to get pushed down the stairs a lot. I'm pretty nervous about the move. I'm aware that I'm judging a place unfairly without knowing anything about it, but I'm in confession mode here. If you can allay my fears at all, I will be eternally grateful.
I went over to Mother Talkers to ask for advice over there, but I only opened an account yesterday so I can't write a diary quite yet.
Any advice and information will be helpful to me. If you happen to know any DFW Kossacks who might not see this diary right now, but could steer them to it anytime today, that would be so helpful.
Thank you, Kossacks, for your help.