Kirkwood lures budget-conscious buyers: This article/link is for those that insist that someone "caint, just caint... (Atlanta: home, middle schools)

[ATLTJL]

I'm not so sure if all of this is yet appealing to normal everyday young families.

I mean, it might, but the article did pick to feature a man with an ironic beard wearing an ironic hat who works at an ironic brewing company.

Yeah, we know the hipsters like the area, but is it also attracting Paul who is a project manager at Home Depot and his wife Sarah, who works in accounts receivable at Price Waterhouse?

[MilkMachine]

City of Decatur is actually a charter school system.

[lastminutemom]

Originally Posted by kittyjo

You didn't specify city size or poverty level in your original question. And FYI, Decatur City is 25% free lunch, which is a lot higher than most high-performing suburban schools.
I completely agree with all the posters. Turning around ATL intown schools takes work from involved parents and if you don't want to work you should stay in the suburbs.10 years ago Decatur schools were not performing at the levels they are now. I am sure Kirkwood can turn things round in the same way Decatur and Candler Park etc did. They already have made some great changes at Toomer.

In all fairness, the shift in Decatur's demographics has been dramatic. In the last 9 years, Decatur's poverty level has dropped from nearly 40 percent (39 percent in 2003-2004) to 25 percent this year. Other demographic changes in Decatur have impacted the system as well. I was with friends from Decatur yesterday who believe that the continuing problems in DeKalb are negatively impacting the Decatur schools because so many people are moving in. They like their small school system and schools and the benefits that come from the size of their schools and community. (It sure is helping their property values though.)

Committed parents can only do as much as the system allows them to do. For the most part, City of Atlanta bureaucrats have been receptive to the efforts of those parents throughout the system. However, a change in either system leadership, or school leadership, and different outcomes are possible.

In small school systems, which are ideal in my mind, you know your school board members, you run into them at the store, at community events, etc and it is much easier for them to be held accountable.

[Onthemove2014]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

I'm not so sure if all of this is yet appealing to normal everyday young families.

I mean, it might, but the article did pick to feature a man with an ironic beard wearing an ironic hat who works at an ironic brewing company.

Yeah, we know the hipsters like the area, but is it also attracting Paul who is a project manager at Home Depot and his wife Sarah, who works in accounts receivable at Price Waterhouse?

This post made me lol inside. "Ironic beard".

[ATLTJL]

Could they have possibly been any more stereotypical?

The subject of the story is so obviously just a friend of Lori Johnston's.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

Yeah, we know the hipsters like the area, but is it also attracting Paul who is a project manager at Home Depot and his wife Sarah, who works in accounts receivable at Price Waterhouse?

Intown neighborhoods are loaded with people like that.

I must say I don't get the disdain for people who live intown. What is it about the people in these videos (who are fighting for Coan Middle School) that seems not "normal" to you?

Parents fight to keep Coan Middle School open | www.wsbtv.com


Parents to APS: You're closing all of our schools! - CBS Atlanta 46

[ATLTJL]

Nothing. Those people seem normal.

[red92s]

Originally Posted by kittyjo

10 years ago Decatur schools were not performing at the levels they are now.

Speaking as a product of the CoD school system circa 10 years ago, they were still pretty much slaughtering every other intown public school system then.

[JPD]

Originally Posted by Onthemove2014

I can have all of that at a low price in burbs. That's why people have to move out there for good public schools.

How many threads are you going to pollute with this same line of questioning?

[JPD]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

I mean, it might, but the article did pick to feature a man with an ironic beard wearing an ironic hat who works at an ironic brewing company.

I don't really know him, but I've met him a few time over the years. That's the way he's been dressing and wearing his facial hair since I first met him in the early 2000s. I'm sure he looks that way just because he wants to keep a 10+ year running gag of irony going, and not because that's the type of hat and facial hair he actually likes.