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Interested in Hot Springs, Arkansas


Rock2uf

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  • 1 month later...

Hello,

My family and I (wife and 3 kids, all under 10 years old) are hoping to move within the next 2 years or so. Hot Springs is high on our list of places we would like to go. We are starting our research on the area, like schools, crime rates, etc. Can any one recommend good locations (streets, communities, neighborhoods, etc.) to live in the Hot Springs area?

Thanks,

Matt

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Hello,

My family and I (wife and 3 kids, all under 10 years old) are hoping to move within the next 2 years or so. Hot Springs is high on our list of places we would like to go. We are starting our research on the area, like schools, crime rates, etc. Can any one recommend good locations (streets, communities, neighborhoods, etc.) to live in the Hot Springs area?

Thanks,

Matt

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Hello,

My family and I (wife and 3 kids, all under 10 years old) are hoping to move within the next 2 years or so. Hot Springs is high on our list of places we would like to go. We are starting our research on the area, like schools, crime rates, etc. Can any one recommend good locations (streets, communities, neighborhoods, etc.) to live in the Hot Springs area?

Thanks,

Matt

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Hello,

My family and I (wife and 3 kids, all under 10 years old) are hoping to move within the next 2 years or so. Hot Springs is high on our list of places we would like to go. We are starting our research on the area, like schools, crime rates, etc. Can any one recommend good locations (streets, communities, neighborhoods, etc.) to live in the Hot Springs area?

Thanks,

Matt

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  • 3 weeks later...
I'm from Little Rock but have spent a lot of time there. Seriously, it's one of the most interesting and fun smaller cities in the country to live in. In terms of restaurants, shopping, culture and entertainment it has the amenities of a city several times its size. At the same time, the natural beauty is astounding.

Neighborhoods are hard to recommend, it all depends on what you like and your price range. There are lots of different types of neighborhoods- some in the hills, some on the lakefront, and some historic neighborhoods near Central Ave. They pretty much run the gamut from urban to suburban to rural and secluded. There are a lot of reasonable neighborhoods but many are pricy, especially on the lake. A lot of wealthy people in the region keep second homes there.

Regarding schools, I would try to stay out of Hot Springs High's boundaries which is mostly in the older parts of town. They're fairly difficult to describe but I bet you can find them on their website. Hot Springs Lakeside is one of the top handful of public schools in the state and its affiliated elementaries are very good as well. They have excellent ACT/SAT scores and send kids regularly to the Ivy League and top colleges. The schools in the Lake Hamilton School District aren't quite as good but still are probably in the top decile in the state and I would have no problem sending a kid there. Also, for high school the Ark School for Math and Science is there and it's a very good school if your kids are interested and qualify down the road.

In terms of crime, Hot Springs doesn't have high crime rates but does have some issues, it's a tourist town. The most obvious problem areas are the run-down older areas of town - near Grand Ave in particular. That said, there are numerous nicer older areas as well. Pretty much anything in the Lake Hamilton or Lakeside schools' draw area is going to be very safe.

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I'm a graduate of the Hot Springs school district, and I attended K-12 there. I think which district you choose in Garland County depends on what you are looking for. The Hot Springs district has a lot of resources for a district its size, and when I was there, more opportunities for advanced placement courses, and an overall better honors program than either Lakeside or Lake Hamilton. Hot Springs also has some of the poorest parts of the county within its district boundaries and a lot of students from backgrounds where education is not a priority. If your children are high achievers and on an honors track, I think the hot springs schools would be your best option. They are seriously incorporating the IB program into their entire district, with an IB degree offered at the High School level and an IB elementary magnet school (Park Elementary) as well. If I ever move back to Hot Springs, I would definately live in the Hot Springs district. I graduated in the HSHS class of 1995, and some of the colleges my classmates went off to were the U of Chicago, Columbia, and Emory University. When I was there, there was a core of about 20-30 very high achieving students in each class, who got an excellent education. There were some really good teachers who really loved to teach and get involved with the AP classes. There is a large population of apathetic students though, and outside of the honors classes, I saw a lot of students who were not doing well.

I have a number of friends who attended Little Rock schools, and it has always seemed to me that the Hot Springs district has a lot of the same issues as Little Rock schools, there is a significant population of minority and low-income students compared with the surrounding Lakeside and Lake Hamilton districts.

Lakeside I have little experience with. My wife attended Lakeside for two years, and had a bad experience, but I can't judge the district on that very limited experience. Lake Hamilton is to Hot Springs what Cabot and Bryant are to the Pulaski County schools. Lake Hamilton is basically a "white flight" district. It's had enormous growth, but at least back when I was attending high school, was not well regarded for its academic programs (at the honors level). This may have changed in the 12 years since. Race was very much a reason for a lot of the growth in the Lake Hamilton district, though few would admit it. Take a look at the district demographics sometime and you will see what I mean.

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  • 8 months later...

I recently read in the Democrat Gazette that downtown HS was getting a new protype Holiday Inn on the site of the of Dept. of Human Services building. I'm glad to see that dowtown HS is getting another new hotel. When I go there and stay downtown, the only place I will stay is the Embassy Suites. I know people like the Arlington, Majestic and some of the other hotels downtown, but they need serious updating. Downtown HS has so much to offer, but hotel options are limited in my eyes.

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I recently read in the Democrat Gazette that downtown HS was getting a new protype Holiday Inn on the site of the of Dept. of Human Services building. I'm glad to see that dowtown HS is getting another new hotel. When I go there and stay downtown, the only place I will stay is the Embassy Suites. I know people like the Arlington, Majestic and some of the other hotels downtown, but they need serious updating. Downtown HS has so much to offer, but hotel options are limited in my eyes.
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