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What I do know is that it appears to be the "least good" from all the best five middle schools of East Cobb.
I also know that some of the families in the neighborhood we are renting in right now choose to send their kids to private school for the middle years because quite a few turn their nose up to it (nobody does the same thing with the other four).
Unfortunately, when you drop Simpson, the house options become painfully limited within a certain price range.
So I was wondering how big is the "gap" between the "so-and-so" Simpson and the other solid four?
The market also shows a significant drop in house price in the Simpson district compared to the other four - when comparting apples with apples and oranges with oranges, of course.
What I do know is that it appears to be the "least good" from all the best five middle schools of East Cobb.
I also know that some of the families in the neighborhood we are renting in right now choose to send their kids to private school for the middle years because quite a few turn their nose up to it (nobody does the same thing with the other four).
Unfortunately, when you drop Simpson, the house options become painfully limited within a certain price range.
So I was wondering how big is the "gap" between the "so-and-so" Simpson and the other solid four?
The market also shows a significant drop in house price in the Simpson district compared to the other four - when comparting apples with apples and oranges with oranges, of course.
What?!?!?
OK--
Simpson is a major feeder for Lassiter High School. Top school metro-renowned school!
60% of Simpson feeds to Lassiter, 40% to Sprayberry. (Sprayberry is also decent/good.)
The Simpson Middle School district includes the high-flying neighborhoods of:
Chimney Lakes
Four of the Five Hedgerows
Northampton
etc, etc.
The Sprayberry part of the Simpson District is the "upper-middle class" part of the Sprayberry disrict.
As an East Cobb Native, this is the first I have ever heard someone call Simpson "so-so."
Take a drive down Mabry Road, Wesley Chapel, Shallowford Road, Rocky Mountain Road, Pete Shaw Road, etc, etc. You would not call this area "so-so."
I think I should let the housewives of Northampton, Chimney Lakes, and Hedgerow take a look at your post. You may want to watch your back...
Dickerson, Dodgen, Hightower Trail, Simpson, and Mabry are five sides of the same coin.
And--McCleskey, Daniell, Palmer are decently good as well.
And--there are a lot of people that use private schools that live in the other districts--you will see Marist stickers all over the Walton/Dickerson area, for example.
OK--
Simpson is a major feeder for Lassiter High School. Top school metro-renowned school!
60% of Simpson feeds to Lassiter, 40% to Sprayberry. (Sprayberry is also decent/good.)
The Simpson Middle School district includes the high-flying neighborhoods of:
Chimney Lakes
Four of the Five Hedgerows
Northampton
etc, etc.
The Sprayberry part of the Simpson District is the "upper-middle class" part of the Sprayberry disrict.
As an East Cobb Native, this is the first I have ever heard someone call Simpson "so-so."
Take a drive down Mabry Road, Wesley Chapel, Shallowford Road, Rocky Mountain Road, Pete Shaw Road, etc, etc. You would not call this area "so-so."
I think I should let the housewives of Northampton, Chimney Lakes, and Hedgerow take a look at your post. You may want to watch your back...
Dickerson, Dodgen, Hightower Trail, Simpson, and Mabry are five sides of the same coin.
And--McCleskey, Daniell, Palmer are decently good as well.
And--there are a lot of people that use private schools that live in the other districts--you will see Marist stickers all over the Walton/Dickerson area, for example.
Believe me, I WANT to hear what you are saying because eliminating Simpson is literally killing us with the house search. Then again, like I said, many of the people we know are hardly elated with it. Some are also house hunting and they are purposely avoiding this school and restricting their search to the other four only. When you check the school rankings, it IS indeed the last of the 5 "best ones" of East Cobb and it is also currently trending down.
At least a few people in our neighborhood chose to send their kids to private specifically because they were very "heh" about this school (they would not have done the same had they been in the other four districts). Another lady we know in this area is desperately trying now to catch a spot for her soon-to-be-6th grader in the neighboring High Tower Trail with the "school choice" program. I was told that the reason why Simpson is not seen by everyone as a full "East Cobb proper" kind of school is because Addison feeds into it, which apparently is a less-than-great elementary school.
Unfortunately, one other thing that caught my attention and further solidified our reservations were some reviews we read online. The trouble was not what these reviewers were saying about the school (some were positive, other negative) - but HOW they were saying what they had to say. Whether you are a 6-8th grader at that school or a parent of a 6th-8th grader, you should not write so poorly, regardless.
I DO understand those few reviews are not numerous enough to be representative of the families at that school; but I really think that for whatever the schools claims to be - no one should write like that. I did not see such poorly written reviews on the other middle schools of East Cobb.
Also, given the downward trend of Simpson, we are afraid that the property values in this district could be affected over the long term. There is already a clear difference in house price between Hightower Trail and Simpson.
PS: It's kind of interesting what perception does. :-)
I didn't think neighborhoods like the Hedgerows or Chimney Lakes would qualify as "high-flying". Do you mean "upscale" by that?
As far as I was able to notice, those are very much middle class, sometimes with a bit of lower-middle in it. Maybe I am wrong...
A more serious concentration of upper-middle is in the Walton/Merchant's Walk area - you have the super alpha professionals/careerists" over there.
As for solid "upper", that's called "old-money Buckhead" as far as I know :-).
Believe me, I WANT to hear what you are saying because eliminating Simpson is literally killing us with the house search. Then again, like I said, many of the people we know are hardly elated with it. Some are also house hunting and they are purposely avoiding this school and restricting their search to the other four only. When you check the school rankings, it IS indeed the last of the 5 "best ones" of East Cobb and it is also currently trending down.
At least a few people in our neighborhood chose to send their kids to private specifically because they were very "heh" about this school (they would not have done the same had they been in the other four districts). Another lady we know in this area is desperately trying now to catch a spot for her soon-to-be-6th grader in the neighboring High Tower Trail with the "school choice" program. I was told that the reason why Simpson is not seen by everyone as a full "East Cobb proper" kind of school is because Addison feeds into it, which apparently is a less-than-great elementary school.
Unfortunately, one other thing that caught my attention and further solidified our reservations were some reviews we read online. The trouble was not what these reviewers were saying about the school (some were positive, other negative) - but HOW they were saying what they had to say. Whether you are a 6-8th grader at that school or a parent of a 6th-8th grader, you should not write so poorly, regardless.
I DO understand those few reviews are not numerous enough to be representative of the families at that school; but I really think that for whatever the schools claims to be - no one should write like that. I did not see such poorly written reviews on the other middle schools of East Cobb.
Also, given the downward trend of Simpson, we are afraid that the property values in this district could be affected over the long term. There is already a clear difference in house price between Hightower Trail and Simpson.
PS: It's kind of interesting what perception does. :-)
I didn't think neighborhoods like the Hedgerows or Chimney Lakes would qualify as "high-flying". Do you mean "upscale" by that?
As far as I was able to notice, those are very much middle class, sometimes with a bit of lower-middle in it. Maybe I am wrong...
A more serious concentration of upper-middle is in the Walton/Merchant's Walk area - you have the super alpha professionals/careerists" over there.
As for solid "upper", that's called "old-money Buckhead" as far as I know :-).
Syracusa:
Chimney Lakes, Northampton, and Hedgerow, etc. are definitely upper middle class.
Yes, Addison feeds into Simpson--Addison is a solidly middle class school and a good school. The funny thing is, most of Addison feeds into Daniell. Only about 15%-20% of Addison feeds into Simpson--and the part that does is very nice (Chestnut Grove, Ebenezer Farm, Princeton Pointe, etc.).
The main feeder schools for Simpson are Rocky Mount, followed by Mountain View, Shallowford Falls, and Kincaid.
No one said anything about solid "upper." We are talking about upper-middle class.
I really cannot see there being a real difference in house price when comparing the Lassiter-part of Simpson with Hightower Trail (all Pope).
Hey, Simpson is a fine, great school. If you are worried about it being #5 in a list of five top middle schools--well, there is not much that can be said about that.
(I'm starting to feel like Newsboy when he has to set the record straight about Fayette County...)
The weirdest thing about Simpson from my school bus driving days (almost 20 years ago, I am dating myself) was the district looked like a gerrymandered congressional district. From Piedmont Road to the Fulton line. It did not center an area like other schools do.
When we were there our children were just starting Bells Ferry. The ex was starting to believe the hype and was trying to talk me into moving into the Pope district. I was just as happy for the kids to have a more real life experience and deal with Daniell and Sprayberry, good schools by my book even though they were seen as the red-headed step child among most East Cobbers. If it was going to be all that horrible, I would have preferred to stay in our area and go for Mt. Paran or Walker, but the move to Texas ensued and that bridge was never crossed, but enough of my drama.
At any rate, I see the stigma is still alive and well.
Where do you see that it is trending down? Test scores look to be trending up pretty much across the board there. 5th out of 28 in the county isn't exactly horrible either.
Quote:
Originally Posted by syracusa
Please don't shoot the messenger.
Believe me, I WANT to hear what you are saying because eliminating Simpson is literally killing us with the house search. Then again, like I said, many of the people we know are hardly elated with it. Some are also house hunting and they are purposely avoiding this school and restricting their search to the other four only. When you check the school rankings, it IS indeed the last of the 5 "best ones" of East Cobb and it is also currently trending down.
At least a few people in our neighborhood chose to send their kids to private specifically because they were very "heh" about this school (they would not have done the same had they been in the other four districts). Another lady we know in this area is desperately trying now to catch a spot for her soon-to-be-6th grader in the neighboring High Tower Trail with the "school choice" program. I was told that the reason why Simpson is not seen by everyone as a full "East Cobb proper" kind of school is because Addison feeds into it, which apparently is a less-than-great elementary school.
Unfortunately, one other thing that caught my attention and further solidified our reservations were some reviews we read online. The trouble was not what these reviewers were saying about the school (some were positive, other negative) - but HOW they were saying what they had to say. Whether you are a 6-8th grader at that school or a parent of a 6th-8th grader, you should not write so poorly, regardless.
I DO understand those few reviews are not numerous enough to be representative of the families at that school; but I really think that for whatever the schools claims to be - no one should write like that. I did not see such poorly written reviews on the other middle schools of East Cobb.
Also, given the downward trend of Simpson, we are afraid that the property values in this district could be affected over the long term. There is already a clear difference in house price between Hightower Trail and Simpson.
PS: It's kind of interesting what perception does. :-)
I didn't think neighborhoods like the Hedgerows or Chimney Lakes would qualify as "high-flying". Do you mean "upscale" by that?
As far as I was able to notice, those are very much middle class, sometimes with a bit of lower-middle in it. Maybe I am wrong...
A more serious concentration of upper-middle is in the Walton/Merchant's Walk area - you have the super alpha professionals/careerists" over there.
As for solid "upper", that's called "old-money Buckhead" as far as I know :-).
Where do you see that it is trending down? Test scores look to be trending up pretty much across the board there. 5th out of 28 in the county isn't exactly horrible either.
Click on the "rankings" tab. It went from being 17th in the state in 2007 to 32nd in 2011. GA percentile from 96.1% to 93.3%. I don't know...I just know around here it is perceived to be "lesser" than the other four. I am just hoping that the difference is small enough to NOT matter and for us to feel at peace with including it in our house search. Like many parents, we promised ourselves we would compromise on other things so we can get our kids into THE BEST public schools we can afford.
If we could do private, we would - but we can't afford it; so we decided to do "the best public", especially in middle school which I believe are the most important years for acquiring a serious academic foundation.
Trouble is, houses in the "first 4" areas are terribly expensive ...and the compromise on house would just have to be too much. I could deal with this, but apparently my husband can't. He wants more "niceness" in the house itself than I do - and including Simpson might give us a bit of that.
Thank you so much everyone for your input - perhaps the difference really is an exaggeration and we should not feel guilty about sending the kids to a "lesser" school.
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