Anybody live in the communities of Hiram or Powder Springs? (Atlanta: hair salon, city hall)

[kayrob]

Just wondering if there's any general consensus on those towns as a whole and also opinions of their scool systems.

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by kayrob

Just wondering if there's any general consensus on those towns as a whole and also opinions of their scool systems.

I live in Powder Springs. For years, McEachern High School here was considered one of the best but it's gone downhill as the demographics of the area has changed. Just a few miles north of here though still in the 30127 zip code and Powder Springs mailing address they have a new district for "Hillgrove" High school which some parents here have transferred their kids to and considered it worth moving a couple miles north to be in that district.

Powder Springs is in the shadow of Atlanta but tries to maintain it's own I.D. It really just consists of a very small "downtown" of a few buildings that house a restaurant or two, a couple of antique stores, hair salons, and an area with the city hall, etc. Not much to it, really. The rest is residential.

Hiram is a few miles west of Powder Springs and it's either good or bad depending on what you're looking for. Traffic is MUCH heavier in Hiram along the 4 lane Highway 278 corridore. In the last 3 or so years they're developed the heck out of that stretch and there are dozens of stores and restaurants along a 1.5 mile area (Sam's Club, Walmart, Target, Kohls, Bed Bath, Pier One, Home Depot, and a Circuit City and Best Buys are under construction), plus TONS more stuff. It's all pretty much just generic shopping centers and major chain stores, though. I can't comment on the schools there, but if you go over to Paulding.com FASTREAD there are boards there just for Paulding County and a TON of the suburban stay at home mom crowd that hang out on there who can probably give you the name and eating habits of every school employee in that County.

Note that there is no public transit in either area, except for an "express" bus route that travels a few times in the AM and PM from Hiram into Powder Springs and on to downtown Atlanta. If you want to avoid the heaviest traffic, don't live along Highway 92 in Hiram.

[DoveDiva]

Just to touch more on the educational aspect of Powder Springs (I teach in PS)...

Pretty much any school north of Richard Sailors (the exception is Compton Elementary) is a solid school. If I remember your previous posts correctly, you are big on diversity, right? If so, I'd stick with a school that feeds into either Hillgrove HS or McEachern HS (http://www.cobbk12.org/~mceachern/ - broken link). Parts of Powder Springs also feed into Harrison HS, and at the present time it's not nearly as diverse as the two previously listed schools are. Harrison is the best high school test wise that pulls students from a Powder Springs address.

In regards to Hillgrove vs. McEachern, well...from an educator's perspective, they both have their pluses and minuses. The school's latest test scores are comparable (there may be a 1-5% difference between each school, which in my opinion, isn't much). I think they are both quality schools, with McEachern having an edge on areas including but not limited to its fine arts program, its sports program, its Freshman Center, and its endowment from the McEachern family. Hillgrove is still establishing its identity but the facilities and materials are brand spanking new. The general consensus among some parents in the area is that McEachern seems to be on the upswing from it's bit of a rough patch.

It says a lot when the teachers of the area have their kids enrolled in the local schools. Most of the teachers at my school with kids have them enrolled in the area elementary schools (Varner, Kemp, Vaughn), the local middle schools (Tapp, Lovinggood, Lost Mountain) or the high schools (Harrison, McEachern, Hillgrove). Most have no complaints.

I hope this helps (from the educational perspective)

One last thing: If you do indeed look into Powder Springs...it's kind of a known fact around here to refrain from purchasing/renting anything on or near Hopkins Road! Too many knuckleheads seem to frequent that street/area...and most of our problem kids seem to talk about "Hopkins Road".

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by DoveDiva

One last thing: If you do indeed look into Powder Springs...it's kind of a known fact around here to refrain from purchasing/renting anything on or near Hopkins Road! Too many knuckleheads seem to frequent that street/area...and most of our problem kids seem to talk about "Hopkins Road".

Add "Mustang Drive" to that list .

Actually, it's a good idea to try to find a copy of "The Powder Springs Messenger" newspaper. It's a small local paper that only comes out once a month, but it has a police blotter in it that lists (most) of the police calls that are made in the city limits of Powder Springs. By reading a couple of issues of them, you can find the trends as to where many of the calls are made street-by-street, and it's a good reference on where to avoid when buying/renting.

[kayrob]

Thanks guys. Appreciate it.