NWA Gentry, AR - info?

[DC at the Ridge]

Originally Posted by phatdawg

DC at the Ridge:

What did you say that was so negative?



Actually, Gentry has one of the better funded schools in the area for just a small town (population:2130). The presence of McKee Foods is significantly responsible for that.

Plus, it is not a podunk little town with dirt streets, as your statement may imply. There is a lot of growth, and energy and activity in that little town. All of this wrapped up in a laid back southern town complete with its own hippy-biker population. There is even a new hiway being built.

The main religious influence is Seventh-Day Adventist. There is also a large Mennonite community here. The biggest church in town, though, is the Baptist Church. But there are several other churches here as well including an Assembly of God.

If you want to live "in the country" where you can pee off the porch without anyone seeing you, you can find that here. Do you want to live in town with lots of neighbors. We also have that. But Gentry isn't well set up with lots of executive style homes selling in the 500 thousand range. We had a building boom a few years back, but a lot of the houses built were of modest design. They will sell for 100 g's plus. If you want a 4000 square foot executive home in the 3 to 4 hundred g range, (or even higher) go to Rogers or Bentonville.

No, imho, it is good practice to not say anything authoritative when you have no knowledge on a particular subject. Someone might believe what you say, the end result being lies and misconceptions.

As a matter of fact, most preachers today would benefit from that bit of advice.

One, please stop attacking me. I responded because the OP posted a question, and then re-posted because he didn't get any responses. I've lived in Northwest Arkansas for 35+ years, so I'm not exactly an ignoramus about the area. I qualified my statements because I've never lived in Gentry.

Two, Gentry is one of the more rural areas of Benton County. I don't think you disagree with that. I didn't suggest or imply in any way that it has dirt streets or any other such nonsense. Don't put words into my post that weren't there.

Three, as for funding, Gentry doesn't have the funding of the larger cities like Rogers or Bentonville. That is what I said, and I stand by that statement because it is clearly the truth. Gentry may have an excellent school system, but it doesn't have the resources of the larger cities.

So, everything I said is true, not especially negative except to someone who wants to be very defensive, and if my statements get taken as truth by people who don't know, then that's fine, because they were the truth.

[Sam I Am]

MODERTOR: Okay, let's just talk about Gentry...'kay?

[MizAlice]

I moved to Gentry when I was 8 years old and stayed there all through high school. I now live in Siloam Springs, which is 5 minutes away. The schools are definitely better than they used to be, when I graduated in 1998 I felt like I had missed a lot of opportunities by going to such a small school. But I have family and children of my friends who go to Gentry schools now and they have improved so much. They now offer several college credit courses for the high schoolers (a friend of mine has a son who is a Junior and is taking an aviation course) and they have branched out a little as far as sports go too. If your heart is not entirely set on Gentry, check out Siloam Springs as well. It's a tad more "urban" if you live in town (I am laughing as I type that because I moved here from San Diego and nothing here is "urban" to me). But it is very easy to live in a rural area within the Siloam school district. The schools here are bigger than Gentry and offer more extracurricular activities. It just depends on what your family would prefer.

[KCLucymom]

Gentry is small. It buts up against Siloam Springs, which is about 14,000. Siloam has grown tremendously in the last 10 years. It has a WONDERFUL school district. If you are moving to Lowell, it will be quite a drive - I'm guessing 45 minutes give or take whether from Gentry or Siloam. My parents live in Siloam just 2 minutes from Gentry. My sister lives in Rogers, just 5 minutes from Lowell. My dad drives to Rogers for work and it takes him 40 minutes. The areas very close to Loell are Rogers and Bentonville. Fayetteville and Springdale are only 20 max. These are all still small towns compared to where I am from (Kansas City, MO), but they've got a lot more to offer than Siloam or Gentry. They have malls, theaters, etc. (by the way, Siloam just got a theater - finally!)
I hope some of this helps. Do check into school districts. It may not matter, but you should know that the elementary school that my sister's kids would go to is 85% hispanic (that is what she told me - can't confirm that). She has them in a Christian School.
Linda

[MAWGRAM]

You may go to ARKANSAS.GOV and get lots of info about Arkansas and the school system.

I grew up in AR and have many relatives still living there. It is a nice place to live and people are generally friendly.