walton high vs Chattahoochee high (2014, home, buying)

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by desifamily23

How much less than 300K can you go ?
I searched georgia mls for a 4B/2B 2000+ sq.ft with no basement thats zoned for Walton HS and I got..... 4 homes.
I do not want a McMansion, lol.... I am coming from NY, and what I see here is a major size upgrade, believe me !!
Maybe I am not searching right, where are you seeing the homes for WAY less then 300k ?

Type in Mitsy Forest, Marietta ga and see what you get.



Are you going to be working in Alpharetta or Downtown Atlanta?

[HeyEng]

Originally Posted by desifamily23

How much less than 300K can you go ?
I searched georgia mls for a 4B/2B 2000+ sq.ft with no basement thats zoned for Walton HS and I got..... 4 homes.
I do not want a McMansion, lol.... I am coming from NY, and what I see here is a major size upgrade, believe me !!
Maybe I am not searching right, where are you seeing the homes for WAY less then 300k ?

So you found 4, right? Sounds like you answered your own question.

Plus, if the school district is THAT important, there are a ton of condos for sale for 125-150K. All my point has been is that you can live in the district for much less than 300K. Of course, our society is more concerned with big houses, shiny cars and impressing people that could really care less so the mantra is "gotta spend 3/4 a million dollars on my house in East Cobb". And don't forget to put your "Mt. Bethel" magnet on your car...that's super impressive.

[desifamily23]

Originally Posted by HeyEng

So you found 4, right? Sounds like you answered your own question.

Plus, if the school district is THAT important, there are a ton of condos for sale for 125-150K. All my point has been is that you can live in the district for much less than 300K. Of course, our society is more concerned with big houses, shiny cars and impressing people that could really care less so the mantra is "gotta spend 3/4 a million dollars on my house in East Cobb". And don't forget to put your "Mt. Bethel" magnet on your car...that's super impressive.

Ah, condos, I was not searching right. Thank you Sir !

[deacongirl]

Originally Posted by aries4118

True. Just giving more options. It's not an either-or situation.


And really, Chestnut Springs should be in the Simpson Middle and Sprayberry High feeder pattern. It's the only Dodgen/Walton neighborhood that comes from Kincaid Elementary. All the other neighborhoods off of East Piedmont Road and north of Sewell Mill Road are Kincaid/Simpson/Sprayberry--Chestnut Springs is the only one that is not zoned for Simpson/Sprayberry.
Chestnut Springs connects to the Dodgen/Walton pattern through its additional outlet off of lower Holly Springs Road.

But I love Chestnut Springs--beautiful, big, well-kept neighborhood. And Sprayberry is a good school. Simpson Middle is an excellent school.


(And--a lot of the edges of Walton are susceptible to redistricting...especially since Pope and Sprayberry are under-capacity. Moreover, Wheeler is not under-capacity, but the campus/building is being expanded.
I could see the western Sewell Mill Area of the Walton District possibly being redistricted to Pope or Sprayberry--and possibly Wheeler.
I could also see them moving the Heritage Trace/North Forest area in the far eastern part of the Walton district to Pope--especially since Heritage Trace already connects with Chimney Springs, and North Forest connects to Heritage Trace. In addition, Heritage Trace and North Forest both attend Timber Ridge Elementary and Dodgen Middle--there's already a prime feeder patter of Timber Ridge/Dodgen/Pope--Heritage Trace/North Forest could just add to this pattern that's already in place. Parts of the Sope Creek Elementary district that are not already in the East Cobb Middle/Wheeler High feeder pattern could get redistricted from Dickerson Middle/Walton High if they decide to alleviate Walton and take advantage of Wheeler's expanded capacity.
Of course, all of this would be a political nightmare--but it has been something that has been discussed...more community meeting-like dialogue/hearsay so far, though. Stay tuned. )

Interesting. I think Pope is a great school and would have no problem with this (except I want my oldest to get through the International Spanish Academy at Walton first). But, as you said, I think many people would freak. I have never heard it mentioned as a possibility by anyone in my neighborhood so it doesn't seem to be on the radar here now. I think the feeder pattern for Old Forge is strange--TR/Dickerson/Walton. My 8th grader is sad b/c only one of her close friends is going to Walton with her, but she will meet back up with a friend from Dickerson. The good news is they are all good schools--but as you say, a political nightmare.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by deacongirl

Interesting. I think Pope is a great school and would have no problem with this (except I want my oldest to get through the International Spanish Academy at Walton first). But, as you said, I think many people would freak. I have never heard it mentioned as a possibility by anyone in my neighborhood so it doesn't seem to be on the radar here now. I think the feeder pattern for Old Forge is strange--TR/Dickerson/Walton. My 8th grader is sad b/c only one of her close friends is going to Walton with her, but she will meet back up with a friend from Dickerson. The good news is they are all good schools--but as you say, a political nightmare.

Yes, interesting.

But, if they did make a change, Cobb County does high school redistricting well: upcoming 9th and 10th grade students are required to change, unless the parents want to provide transportation to the previous school. Upcoming 11th grade students are given a choice, and the system will provide transportation to either school (most usually decide to stay). Upcoming 12th grade students stay at the current school and are not redistricted. So, unless the redistricting happens in the next 1.5 years, your daughter will be at Walton!
(This was how it was done traditionally, unless they've recently changed this policy.)


Moreover, I don't think you were living here yet, but the Dodgen/Dickerson controversy involved your neighborhood as well. Heritage Trace/North Forest were zoned for Dickerson until the mid-2000s believe it or not. The first proposal had the new Dodgen portion including the area south of Roswell Road and north of Timber Ridge Road as well--while keeping the main part of East Hampton at Dickerson (!). It was so gerrymandered.

Their reasoning was that they wanted to make Timber Ridge a 100% feeder to Dodgen, and keep Mount Bethel a 100% feeder to Dickerson--good reasons. However, the real problem is why is East Hampton is zoned for Mount Bethel in the first place? That's the problem with the boundaries (and their is hearsay that John Wieland Homes did some "dealing" to get EH zoned for Mount Bethel. Back then, Mount Bethel was the known commodity--Timber Ridge was still seen as too new and its brochure-like Mount Bethel-esque reputation had not yet been established).

During these proposals, many in the proposed-to-be-redistricted neighborhoods stated concerns that if they were rezoned to Dodgen, then they could easily be rezoned to Pope and out of Walton (!)--thinking that the system would never have a Dickerson to Pope feeder pattern (true). Many believed this was the true master plan of the system and the "to Dodgen" redistricting was just the first step.

So--the neighborhoods along Timber Ridge howled (claiming favoritism to EH), and the system changed the redistricting. Everything south of Roswell Road west to Robinson Road was to remain at Dickerson, and everything north of Roswell Road was to go to Dodgen. Dodgen also received the former Dickerson area along+north of Robinson Road (Mitsy Forest, etc.). A few small neighborhoods like Seven Springs (along Roswell Road but on the south side) were also proposed to go to Dodgen, but they ended up staying at Dickerson. And EH got redistricted to Dodgen, of course.

This is why Mount Bethel now has a 17% feeder to Dodgen (East Hampton) and a 83% feeder to Dickerson. Timber Ridge is roughly 25% to Dickerson and 75% to Dodgen.


Old Forge is zoned for Dickerson because it is in the part that "howled" about the redistricting (and they had good points). It also connects in the back to Jackson's Creek which is off of far down Timber Ridge Road. River Forest connects to Jackson's Creek and Old Forge in the back as well.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by deacongirl

Interesting. I think Pope is a great school and would have no problem with this (except I want my oldest to get through the International Spanish Academy at Walton first)...

Tell me about the International Spanish Academy at Walton...

[Newsboy]

Walton has a far, far, far better marching band.

Walton High School Marching Band 2013 Cobb Exhibition - YouTube

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by desifamily23

How much less than 300K can you go ?
I searched georgia mls for a 4B/2B 2000+ sq.ft with no basement thats zoned for Walton HS and I got..... 4 homes.
I do not want a McMansion, lol.... I am coming from NY, and what I see here is a major size upgrade, believe me !!
Maybe I am not searching right, where are you seeing the homes for WAY less then 300k ?

Brookcliff is another Walton High neighborhood that you may want to look into:


brookcliff

Homes for sale in Brookcliff - Community with Amenities - Houses For Sale in Marietta - Listing Agent in Marietta

Brookcliff East Cobb Marietta Homes For Sale in Cobb County 30062

Brookcliff, Marietta, GA Homes for Sale - Clickscape Realtors®

1492 Brookcliff Drive, Marietta GA - Trulia



I hope this helps a bit.

[aries4118]

Mitsy Forest

Mitsy Forest Subdivision - Mitsy Forest Subdivision - Homes in the East Cobb Community in Marietta, Georgia - Home

Mitsy Forest East Cobb Marietta Homes For Sale in Cobb County 30068

Mitsy Forest, Marietta, GA Homes for Sale - Clickscape Realtors®

Real Estate FOR SALE - 1160 Mitsy Forest Dr, Marietta, GA 30068 - MLS® #07174762 Bostic & Assoc. Realty Group, Your Real Estate Company for Douglasville Homes for Sale, Atlanta Homes for Sale, Fairburn Homes for Sale, Marietta Homes for Sale, Mableto

[deacongirl]

Originally Posted by aries4118

Tell me about the International Spanish Academy at Walton...

From a handout my daughter brought home:
The ISA is a very rigorous dual language program in Spanish and English offered through collaboration of Walton with the Ministry of Education of Spain. ISA students take four yrs. of intensive Spanish at Walton and four honors or AP content courses int the area of huanitites that include a delivery component in Spanish. 30% of an ISA student's coursework at Walton is in Spanish. Graduates will earn a diploma from Walton and from the IMninstry of Education of Spain.

The first class just graduated last year. I asked a student how they did for example on the AP US History exam, wondering how conducting the class in Spanish would affect them...she said they all got 5s. ISA grads were going to Vanderbilt and MIT among other schools.

I think it will attract kids who love english/literature/history which is where my daughter's interests lie and be a great way for her to make friends.