GainesvilleMoms.com

Okay I have 3 girls (10, 5, 8 mo). We are moving to Gainesville next month. It looks to me that NW Gainesville is a safe place to be (correct me if I am wrong), but I would like other options....so if someone could give me those I would appreciate it. Next thing...child care...where do I go with my girls at 6:00am? My husband and I both report to work very early. What a/b my school aged girls...are there child care places that take them to school? What schools are good and safe? Any help anyone can offer would be great! We have lived in the Augusta, GA area our entire lives, so this is a big thing for us. But getting out of Bulldog country and coming to Gator country is beyond exciting for us!!!!

I live in the NW part of town now and we love it but as a grad student, I also lived in various apartment communities throughout the SW part of town and always felt safe. As for childcare, I'm not sure many centers are open that early but maybe a family daycare would be. If you go to the Florida Department of Children and Families website(www.dcf.state.fl.us/childcare), you can search for providers in Alachua county. I don't think it lets you put in hours of operation as a search criteria but if you click on individual centers/family daycares that should give you the operating hours. Nice bonus is that you can also see the inspection reports for each facility and if they are prone to having certain types of problems. Good luck!

Are you looking for rentals or something to buy? We live in the NW but there are some nice places in the SW as well...I know Valwood and some other places that are nice. Not sure about childcare, sorry. There is an elementary school in my neighborhood that is supposed to be excellent..it's Norton Elementary, but there are a bunch of good elementary schools in town.

My family and I are also moving into the area. Hubby has been staying in a nice apartment there for a few weeks now. My daughter will be attending Talbot elementary this fall. I hear that it is a really good school. It's ratings are good on greatschools.com as well. If you would like more information on the apartment complex that we are staying at, let me know. you can email me privately at maranda@elanthis.com

Don't overlook the smaller communities of Alachua and High Springs. They are a short commute to Gainesville, but not bad at all. I live in High Springs, which has an "A" Elementary/Middle School. My kids have always gone and loved Hiz Kidz First. It is in a transition to become part of First Christian Academy at First Baptist of High Springs. They have early drop off at 6:30 am, will take the older kids to school and then pick them up in the afternoon for their after school program. There is also another church in town that has the same options, I believe it is the Little Pioneers.

Thank you all so much for the great information. It is extremely helpful to hear from people who actually live in the community.

We live in the NW area of town, in the millhopper area which is a great area, safe and rather inexpensive as far as houses are concerned... lots of fixer uppers. I dont know much about daycare though....

When we were searching Gainesville for pre-schools back in 1997, there were none that opened for drop off at 6:00 AM. St. Patrick's school (private) allowed for a 7:00 AM drop off with a $1 charge daily. It also starts with PRE-K-3. All the others we found opened for drop off about that same time.

You may need to hire a sitter (or a neighbor) to care for your children each morning and drop them off at their schools/bus stops.

There are SO many good elementary schools in Gainesville....Norton, Talbot, Hidden Oak, etc. Williams Elem is in a lousy part of town, but it has a wonderful full-time magnet program for the gifted.

Avoid the NE and SE if you are looking for safe areas and the best elementary schools. The sad reality is that those are poorer ares of town and the crime rates reflect it. I worked as a parole officer in both those areas and I can attest (personally) to the high crime.

Not sure if you are planning to rent or own, but it you want the LARGEST place for the least amount of money, the Oaks condos (situated behind the Oaks Mall) is the place for you. We lived there for 4 years and liked it very much. The condos are older, but they were in very good shape and there were no apts or condos in town that were larger. As for housing developments, ROCK CREEK (our area) is very nice...clean, lots of kids, nice homes, many trees, etc.

I also don't think there is any daycare or other provider that takes kids before 7am either. Maybe a home care provider would be willing to for an extra fee?
I agree about SE section of Gainesville. I live in Hawthorne, which is in the SE section of the County, but not in Gainesville. I go through the SE section of Gainesville all the time to get to and from Gainesville. While it is the more unsafe area of Gainesville, I don't consider it "hardcore hood" like you see in the movies featuring LA or NYC. I have driven through some of the neighborhoods for shortcuts and have done business in some of the places and I feel completely safe. While I don't openly form friendships with most of the people (mostly because I don't live in the area and don't know them) there are still alot of people working and doing the best they can to support their families.

Also, my dad and his family is from the NE side, and I view it as bit more safer than the SE. Yes, there are more lower income people on these sides of town, and historically lower income has more crime, but it does not mean to afraid to ever enter those areas. It's not like there are crazy looking cars with gang members just waiting to "pop someone" or others waiting to ambush and steal you car and/or do harm to you.

While I am extremely disappointed with Shell Elem's rating going down this school year, I find the fault in more of how the school is run by the principal than with anything else. Infact, I am trying to get my kids transfered to a different school for this year.

Sometimes I feel like the East side of town gets more of a bad rap than it deserves. I am not saying that people are telling things that are not true, but I think the whole picture of the East side doesn't get painted and mostly the negative parts are highlighted.
It is harder for lower income to have a lot to offer when 1. People don't have the money to invest in all the extras to make it "look richer" and 2. Don't have the time to take advantage of a lot of things because they are working full time, or more than one job, or other obligations that must come first.
Yes, I would like to live in the West side, but the only reason is for the better schools. There are a lot of addresses with NE or SE in them that are more in the center of town and have decent to great neighborhoods. Duck Pond area is one them, isn't it?

Hi, I just wanted to add that I am moving into our new place in hawthorne next weekend! I looked to move back into the city of Gainesville and really wanted to. However, for what I could buy in gainesville compared to Hawthorne, High Springs, and Alachua couldn't compare for the value. It maybe worth the look to see.

http://www.gainesville-rent.com/Showdetails.asp?PropertyID=1033

If you're looking to rent:
My son lives in a really nice apartment complex in the NW part of Gainesville called Creekwood - he has a 2 bdrm/2 bath, 1100 sq ft apartment with a huge laundry room, screen porch, big walk-in closet, eat-in kitchen, living/dining. Maintenance is excellent - fulltime on-site personnel. Pool, laundromat, tennis, clubhouse, playground. Older complex with many long-term tenants. Very reasonable prices - $745 for the 2 bedroom, which is a bargain for Gainesville. They also have 1/1 and 3/2 bedroom models - really clean. Very safe and quiet - some people leave their doors unlocked! Mix of family-types from elders to families with little kids to singles - far enough away from UF so there aren't many (if any) students. NO PETS, though.

I think the elementary schools are either Talbot or Norton, both excellent schools. But I don't know for sure - and I couldn't get the school board to answer when I tried to call to find out.

Good luck!

Hi Nervous Mom,

I'm trying to rent my SW house, my daughter attended Sun Country (suncountrysports.com)which is approx. 2 1/2 miles away, they will drop your girls at school and picked them up.

check out my web site realtorsp.com

What about school aged children? What do working parents do with them? Here in Augusta centers open at 6:00am and they transport children to and from school. I know my husband and I will not be the only two people in Gainesville who have to be at work at 7:00am. Thank goodness I only work 3 or 4 days a week (and that includes weekends).

You know, I really don't know about it. Does anyone else? I believe that a place like O2B Kids may take your children that early, and then transport them to school. I may be wrong, because we never used them. I just heard about it through someone. You should at least call and speak with someone there, who could probably guide you in the right direction.

You can google them: O2B Kids, on Newberry Road.

If you do look up O2B Kids, you should do as soon as you can. I just finished signing my kids up there for this school year, and was told they start filling up by mid to late July.
Of course that can be hype to "hurry up and sign up your kids" from the staff.
But either way, I though I would give you a heads up.