Friends School of Atlanta... what do you know? Others like it?

[portlandshaws]

I'm beginning to think that things are pretty black and white in Atlanta... the "good" schools are ONLY in expensive neighborhoods and "bad" schools are in crappy neighborhoods. Is this correct? I'm from Portland OR and have lived here in NC for the last 5 years and in both cities, we've found that there are nicer areas and not-so-nice areas of almost every school zone.
Is it not possible to find a decent place to live (rental) that would have a good K-5 for our youngest and (ideally, if it all works out) close enough to drive to Friends?

[Dkeating]

Originally Posted by portlandshaws

I'm beginning to think that things are pretty black and white in Atlanta... the "good" schools are ONLY in expensive neighborhoods and "bad" schools are in crappy neighborhoods. Is this correct? I'm from Portland OR and have lived here in NC for the last 5 years and in both cities, we've found that there are nicer areas and not-so-nice areas of almost every school zone.
Is it not possible to find a decent place to live (rental) that would have a good K-5 for our youngest and (ideally, if it all works out) close enough to drive to Friends?

Well, in the Atlanta area there's a big divide between the affluent and the poor, and probably fewer people in the middle than in some places. But there are a lot of areas intown that are gentrifying, but the "good"ness of the school hasn't caught up to the new affluence in the neighborhood because (1) some people send their kids to private school, (2) some people don't have kids yet, or (3) there is a highly regarded charter school in the area that affluent people send their kids to (for East Lake and Kirkwood, Drew; for Grant Park and Ormewood Park, ANCS).

A large part of what makes the schools in Decatur "good" is that, increasingly, the children who go to these schools have affluent parents (i.e., can afford a house that costs $300K+), and they've inherited a lot of cultural capital. The schools don't worry about having x percentage of kids passing the standardized tests, so they don't focus on it.

I wouldn't characterize any of the less expensive neighborhoods as "crappy." Ormewood Park is a lovely neighborhood, full of nice houses, close to downtown, Grant Park, and EAV. It's just that a large percentage of the kids at the regular public school for Ormewood Park and Grant Park, Parkside, is poor, and that reflects somewhat on their test scores. A larger group of affluent parents send their kids to ANCS (which has a FRL percentage somewhere around 13%, I think), or private school, or leave the neighborhood. I think that, over the next few years, the percentage of poor students is going to continue to decrease, the test scores will go up, and Grant Park and Ormewood will become even more sought-after neighborhoods. Neither is really that affordable now, to tell the truth. Old Fourth Ward (O4W) is another example of a neighborhood that has "underperforming" schools but is a great place to live.

I should say that one thing that I think is great about OP is that two of the three schools (Parkside and Jackson) are in the neighborhood, which means your kid could walk to school. MLK Middle is probably within walking distance too.

I wanted to note, about the traffic to Friends in the morning, that if you were leaving from Ormewood Park I don't know necessarily that the traffic would be that bad, as you'd be going away from town on Memorial. Of course there are red lights, Drew traffic, etc . . .

[portlandshaws]

Originally Posted by Dkeating

A larger group of affluent parents send their kids to ANCS (which has a FRL percentage somewhere around 13%, I think),

Can you please define ANCS and FRL?

[jeoff]

Originally Posted by portlandshaws

I'm beginning to think that things are pretty black and white in Atlanta... the "good" schools are ONLY in expensive neighborhoods and "bad" schools are in crappy neighborhoods. Is this correct? I'm from Portland OR and have lived here in NC for the last 5 years and in both cities, we've found that there are nicer areas and not-so-nice areas of almost every school zone.
Is it not possible to find a decent place to live (rental) that would have a good K-5 for our youngest and (ideally, if it all works out) close enough to drive to Friends?

You could probably find a good rental K5 that is not too far from Friends. I would check out the schools north of Decatur, Fernbank and Laurel Ridge school zones. (I do not everything zoned for Fernbank is super-expensive--check around Clairmont Ave.). And you may want to check out Toomer yourself, before you dismiss it entirely.

[portlandshaws]

Originally Posted by jeoff

You could probably find a good rental K5 that is not too far from Friends. I would check out the schools north of Decatur, Fernbank and Laurel Ridge school zones. (I do not everything zoned for Fernbank is super-expensive). And you may want to check out Toomer yourself, before you dismiss it entirely.

Thanks!
We'll probably be down in about a month to scope it all out so I'd like to have a pretty solid list of schools to tour. As I mentioned, my younger child is incredibly adaptable and I think she could thrive pretty much anywhere, provided the teacher was loving (and I'm sure I'll be corrected on this but I've personally never met a Kindergarten teacher that wasn't loving). If we can get the older child situated somewhere (ideally through 8th grade to avoid changing schools AGAIN with middle school), then we could be a little more flexible on renting the first year and then buying after we have a better idea what our financial situation will be like.
Thanks again for offering to help me, kind city-data folks!

[Dkeating]

Originally Posted by portlandshaws

Can you please define ANCS and FRL?

ANCS: Atlanta Neighborhood Charter School, a charter school in Grant Park
FRL: free and reduced lunch

Sorry for the acronyms!

[bu2]

Originally Posted by portlandshaws

Thanks!
We'll probably be down in about a month to scope it all out so I'd like to have a pretty solid list of schools to tour. As I mentioned, my younger child is incredibly adaptable and I think she could thrive pretty much anywhere, provided the teacher was loving (and I'm sure I'll be corrected on this but I've personally never met a Kindergarten teacher that wasn't loving). If we can get the older child situated somewhere (ideally through 8th grade to avoid changing schools AGAIN with middle school), then we could be a little more flexible on renting the first year and then buying after we have a better idea what our financial situation will be like.
Thanks again for offering to help me, kind city-data folks!

The Lake Claire neighborhood (that is in the city of Atlanta) is zoned to Mary Lin Elementary and is fairly close to Friends and less expensive in general than the neighboring Fernbank ES zone. Someone mentioned Laurel Ridge. I don't know how good the school is (I know its not "bad"), but it serves a lot of visually impaired students, so they are likely to be pretty accepting of differences if you are looking for putting the older in public for a year.

[portlandshaws]

Originally Posted by bu2

The Lake Claire neighborhood (that is in the city of Atlanta) is zoned to Mary Lin Elementary and is fairly close to Friends and less expensive in general than the neighboring Fernbank ES zone. Someone mentioned Laurel Ridge. I don't know how good the school is (I know its not "bad"), but it serves a lot of visually impaired students, so they are likely to be pretty accepting of differences if you are looking for putting the older in public for a year.

Thanks for this. I did a search in that area so it's good to hear it suggested. We're obviously still in the early stages of this but I'm crossing my fingers that we tour and like the Friends School as much as we like the one here AND we're able to swing it financially. If that's the case, we only need to worry about public school for the little one (again, so flexible and malleable in almost any situation).

It also might be worth mentioning that my husband is African American so our children are mixed-race. I can't see that mattering in all this but we definitely wouldn't want to live in a cookie-cutter, all white suburb.

[jeoff]

Originally Posted by portlandshaws

Thanks for this. I did a search in that area so it's good to hear it suggested. We're obviously still in the early stages of this but I'm crossing my fingers that we tour and like the Friends School as much as we like the one here AND we're able to swing it financially. If that's the case, we only need to worry about public school for the little one (again, so flexible and malleable in almost any situation).

It also might be worth mentioning that my husband is African American so our children are mixed-race. I can't see that mattering in all this but we definitely wouldn't want to live in a cookie-cutter, all white suburb.

Just an FYI, many of Atlanta"s suburbs are more diverse than the city is--and with good schools K-12. Some in Gwinnett are *almost* close enough to Friends School recommend (Parkview Cluster, Shiloh Cluster).