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I just want to give a third to Jeoff and sedimenjerry's responses.
Parkview, Brookwood, Grayson, Archer high school clusters in Gwinnett.
These schools form a line. What makes them unique is they are all 5-15 minutes away from the denser area along I-85. The county didn't build as much water, sewer, and road capacity to support dense development, so it is almost entirely neighborhoods with single family homes only away from the busier areas of a busy county. It makes the schools much more stable and less transient. The areas are also desirable, because many people want to commute into Gwinnett's busier areas without living in them. Closer to I-85 you have lots of townhomes and apartments and more transient neighborhoods. Any further from I-85 demand is low, because there are few jobs nearby.
I also will second Jeoff's point about Parkview. Camp Creek Elem is a notch above Parkview's other elementary schools. There is a noticeable difference and much of the more expensive housing in the Parkview Cluster is in the central area zoned to Camp Creek Elem. Knight Elem trends a bit more Mexican and Mtn. Park Elem has gone downhill a small bit. Both are still nice and I frequently recommend them, but with your budget I would skip them. You will find nicer homes in Camp Creek at your budget as well.
Parkview offers an easy, quick commute as there are main roads that can be used, but also small backroads with little to no traffic you can take to get to Tucker (what area are you working in exactly? Near Northlake Mall, in Tucker, or the Stone Mountain Industrial area?)...while maintaining good schools.
With your budget, I would also focus on Brookwood a good bit. It will make your commute longer, but you can get a really nice house in a really nice area for your budget.
These maps can help you if you decide to search for a home in any of these places:
Parkview use to easily be one of the top 15 high school's in the state. It has lost some of its luster and is not probably more like top 30... loosely picking numbers. It has some challenges creeping in, but it has maintained really nice areas, because of its great access to the Stone Mountain Freeway. It is a small spur freeway that stays relatively traffic free, because it was never finished. Nonetheless, it makes the first 50% of any commute from the area very easy and is often excellent for people going to Tucker, Decatur, or the Emory/CDC area.
Brookwood is a bit nicer than Parkview. The housing stock will average 15 years newer than Parkview. It mostly grew in the '90s when housing got more expensive and larger in the area. You can add an average of 15 minutes to the commute, possibly a bit more or less depending on where in the district. You will hit some traffic crossing Killian Hill and have to battle down Five Forks, Arcado/River Rds, US29, or US78 a bit further. It is probably the nicest area, but is it at that age where some neighborhoods have peak empty nesters from the families that first moved in. Closer in, towards Parkview, newer families are creeping back into the older ('70s-80s era) neighborhoods more, while further away from town newer neighborhoods are full with younger families.
In these late '90s and early 00's these two schools were at their peak and they had easily one of the most heated sports rivalries in the state, not as much as it use to be.
Grayson and Archer you will find newer housing stock and more younger families. These schools are likely about to hit their heydays so to speak, but the commute will start to get pretty tedious to Tucker. But I think it would close to accurate to say Grayson is in the position of what Parkview and Brookwood was in the mid '00's. It's growth was temporarily stunted by the housing collapse to a larger degree, since the area was rapidly growing leading into the recession.
Archer is very exurban. The county use to give density development credits in denser parts of the county to developers that left more land untouched in this area(pros and cons to this). The county did not want the expense of growing the infrastructure as much to this far read of the county. This was to be the 'rural estate' area. There are a few places that classify as rural estates, but mostly it is the same suburban neighborhoods but developers left more trees between backyards of houses on parallel streets and slightly increased the acreage of lots. The housing isn't necessarily nicer or more expensive. If anything it is a touch cheaper. The commute distance is a problem for many, but for people who work in Duluth, Lawrenceville, and Buford it can be great. The area also benefits from some large parkland purchases the county was able to make once the county was larger and and had more cash on hand, most notably: Tribble Mill Park and Harbins Park. You'll find your typical suburban park amenities with great youth athletic programs, but then there are few thousand acres of hiking, equestrian trails, mountain biking trails, fishing lakes. This area of the county really lucked out on park land!! The county could afford to make a big purchase way before land was developed and was really cheap.
I highly recommend looking closer to Tucker, unless you are willing to foot a long commute for the benefit of being in an exurban area with more undeveloped land nearby.... I would anticipate future growth pains, though.
I would ignore any suggestion for East Cobb. It isn't that is isn't a nice, premium area, but the worse traffic in town is passing the area we call Perimeter Center (ie. I-285 and GA400). Atlanta, generally speaking, has mostly grown northwards with many jobs and people. That is also where the traffic resides and you would have to cross past it.
Dekalb County, where Tucker is, I would recommend against given that you have an easy commute to good solid school districts in Gwinnett Co. adjacent to the area.
Dekalb has some very nice premium areas to live in, but it also has some very cheap seen better day neighborhoods and the county and school system has been bogged down by political in-fighting in the last 10-15 years. The basics on the school system is there are some key areas where the elementary schools are excellent, particularly areas with few apartments and high home values, but after that parents get careful about middle and high school. Some will use the elementary schools and go private after that, while others will feel confident when their children are in IB programs, Charter, and mostly gifted classes. That puts their students with the best and brightest and they can actually excel. However, the general college prep classes would leave more to be desired.
Chamblee High school is actually an excellent magnet program. Anyways... my two cents is since you're moving in with your kids already high school age, I would play it safer in Gwinnett County. If you just had Elementary age kids or were just starting out, I wouldn't hesitate to encourage you to consider Dekalb County options... you just have to be pickier and pick your game plan there. Since you're moving with older children, it might be tough to gauge or ensure where they end up, compared to a younger student that stays in the district. This forum does some members that are good at navigating the nuances in Dekalb Co.
Tucker itself is not one of the great or bad areas of Dekalb. It is very middle of the road, but the schools are edgier. There are more apartments and townhomes in that area that alter the demographics of the schools in the area.
If you decide to go with private school, I'd highly recommend Dekalb Co, for its great housing stock and proximity to Tucker. I would especially check out a small area called Smokerise nestled between Stone Mountain and Tucker. This was Dekalb's original "rural estate area." You will find very nice homes on really larger wooded lots that area hard to find in adjacent nearby areas. The downside is the local elementary school in that area has not performed well, because they added to its district boundaries years ago an industrial district that now includes thousands of adjacent aging apartment units. (FYI, this is where Dekalb has made some political missteps trying to keep areas of affluence in Dekalb with in-fighting caused with stark socio-economic differences. In other words, they could have kept some schools zoned to the neighborhoods around them, but frequently diluted some of the best of them with what have become aging apartment complexes) Nonetheless, some of the nicest homes and lots in the area are nestled away off the beaten path in this area.
Anyways... I'm rambling now, but I hope this helps...
Thank you! This information is way more in depth than expected and is very much appreciated! Right now my husband commutes 40 min so we were looking for similar commute times. It has always been very important to us to have the small town safe community feel and would be our first move in 12 years. We have traveled all over the u.s. and are ready to leave the frigid winters behind and come to a more mild 4 seasons. Our search has been a long one to find a job/community that aligns with our current life. North of Atlanta is beautiful with lakes/mountains/small quaint towns. We are really hoping our move there is a pleasant one and believe it will be. This thread has produced positive feedback and has been very helpful which makes me feel more comfortable towards our next steps for the big move to Georgia. Initially my home search was through zillow and similar before reaching out to a realtor. I am not sure where the job in Tucker is without asking my husband. Thank you again as we do not know anyone personally who lives out there and really appreciate everyone's positive feedback, help and suggestions.
I also wanted to add that the high school is very important as my older child is a freshman. He is academically way above average and involved in football and student council. The moves always seem to be hardest at that age. I'd like to think he will "fall in" with the right students as its such an impressional age but I'm hoping of course, the majority will be students similar to him. As for the elementary child, we will consider private school if necessary but of course we are always hoping the public school will be just fine. It looks like the average student per teacher ratio out in the counties you mentioned are 14/1. He is currently 20/1 although our county statistics say 17/1 (idk how they get away with that) We are lucky in the fact that both of them have not had any problems academically, mentally or problems with health functions. Any large move is so hard on kids and I do not want to see either of them fall off track if our school/community is extremely different from where we are now. All and all, I feel the help that I've received so far from this thread is the greatest start I can get. We will be traveling out there in the near future and I will be visiting some of mentioned areas and schools. Thank you again
I also wanted to add that the high school is very important as my older child is a freshman. He is academically way above average and involved in football and student council. The moves always seem to be hardest at that age. I'd like to think he will "fall in" with the right students as its such an impressional age but I'm hoping of course, the majority will be students similar to him. As for the elementary child, we will consider private school if necessary but of course we are always hoping the public school will be just fine. It looks like the average student per teacher ratio out in the counties you mentioned are 14/1. He is currently 20/1 although our county statistics say 17/1 (idk how they get away with that) We are lucky in the fact that both of them have not had any problems academically, mentally or problems with health functions. Any large move is so hard on kids and I do not want to see either of them fall off track if our school/community is extremely different from where we are now. All and all, I feel the help that I've received so far from this thread is the greatest start I can get. We will be traveling out there in the near future and I will be visiting some of mentioned areas and schools. Thank you again
I went to Brookwood and was part of SGA (student government association). That's the closest you'll get to a Student Council. I didn't join until my junior year and I wish I had joined earlier. I quickly made friends with others in SGA, but it helped that I already knew some people. Still, it'll be a great opportunity to meet others especially in his grade level. The gifted program at Brookwood is excellent. Nearly every main subject class will be offered at a gifted or AP level. Some electives like foreign languages will have an honors option for 2nd and 3rd year and AP option for 4th year. As for football, it's huge at Brookwood but unfortunately they haven't done as well as in years past.
I hate longer commutes, so I would choose Parkview. However, since you are comfortable with a longer commute, and would probably be spending more on the high end for the Parkview area, Brookwood is probably a better fit. The schools are probably a little better overall (outside of Camp Creek), and the schools are probably a little bit more stable as well. I do not expect for the Parkview cluster to collapse in the next ten years, but it is probably a little more likely to collapse than Brookwood, so I would play the percentages.
Just note: commute times are always changing in Atlanta --mostly for the worse!
Midwestmom76, I was curious to see where you eventually chose to live. My husband and
I are in a similar situation.....he will be working in Tucker and we are accustomed to more of a midwest
small town community.
Midwestmom76, I was curious to see where you eventually chose to live. My husband and
I are in a similar situation.....he will be working in Tucker and we are accustomed to more of a midwest
small town community.
The city of Tucker gives off a small town feel. It is a very suburban (But small town feel) area of Atlanta. It is an established area that has been around for a while. The downtown area was definitely designed a while ago (https://www.google.com/maps/@33.8540...7i13312!8i6656).
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