Decatur City Fringe? (Druid Hills, Scottdale, Avondale Estates: new home, neighborhoods, school district)

[cmtiger]

Sorry MiriL, you are right, Avondale is a great neighborhood and is very, very safe except perhaps on its eastern and southern fringes. I only excluded it b/c of the schools which may be very good in a few years. The OP would probably love Avondale too.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by MiriL

I live east of Decatur, in unincorporated Avondale Estates, and we love our neighborhood. Avondale ES is doing well, but I won't throw out a strong recommendation for the middle and high schools. (The middle school is a nice place to vote, though! )

Just wanted to throw out there that east of Decatur isn't all bad. We're close enough to bike in to Decatur for all the fun family events, but our house is much cheaper than in the city limits and our taxes are much lower. We don't have the same strong schools as Decatur, but our area is worth consideration, depending on your situation.

Yes, Avondale Elementary is a great school...and is getting better by the year. People still focus on some of the issues the school had many years back. It is a well-kept secret. Avondale Estates (with its superb elementary school) is another "next-great-hot-spot".


As Scottdale and Belvedere Park continue to gentrify/stabilize (both areas feed into Avondale Middle and Avondale High along with Avondale Estates proper)...look for Avondale MS and Avondale HS to improve as well.

Greater Avondale will rise again! (especially since Decatur has become so pricey!)

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by cmtiger

Sorry MiriL, you are right, Avondale is a great neighborhood and is very, very safe except perhaps on its eastern and southern fringes. I only excluded it b/c of the schools which may be very good in a few years. The OP would probably love Avondale too.

Avondale Elementary is good now.

Small school, dynamic teachers/principal, excellent academics/programs.

[lastminutemom]

I have said this before, if you have a choice, avoid Dekalb schools. The realitively poor quality of leadership at the top of the system is trickling down. Even the good schools are starting to feel it.

Stay within Decatur city limits or go to the City of Atlanta.

[MiriL]

Yay, love for Avondale!

I do hope that the middle and high schools improve, too, and it seems likely to happen. This is a great area.

[gumboula]

Can someone give me a bit more info on Avondale Elementary? I think it is very important to be a booster for your own neighborhood school, but by the numbers Avondale Elementary appears to really be struggling (its Great Schools rating is a 2 out of 10). I would love to consider Avondale Estates as a viable neighborhood in my current home search; but I have a two year old that I will be sending to public school in a few years. The numbers aren't everything and the school in my current neighborhood turned around dramatically in a short period of time. Can anyone give me some good evidence to suggest Avondale Elementary may do the same thing?

[lastminutemom]

Gum,

You could try checking with the Avondale Education Association, a community group.

Avondale Education Association

Also, the best hope for Avondale Estates is to be annexed into City of Decatur.

[plessthanpointohfive]

Hey, I'm not trying to start any controversial tone but someone told me once that Avondale Estates has a dark history in regards to racial issues. I mean...I'm not all suggesting that there is anything lingering there and from all my experiences in AE it feels very diverse and hip. Is there any truth to that?

I just like history - good and bad. The stone Existentialist church in Candler Park used to be a black Baptist (I think that's the right denomination) church until racial tensions drove them out. Heck, from what I've read the original church was burned by some nasty racists and the congregation built the new one out of stone so it couldn't be burnt again!

[plessthanpointohfive]

I want to reiterate that I go to AE pretty often and it's a VERY nice place and I would recommend anyone to consider living there!

Ever since I bought an old house I just like digging up information about the area...often I come across information about neighboring areas, too...not all of it correct.

[lastminutemom]

There is a lot about race in AE's history, but that really is the past. What isn't so much in the past, is how few neighborhood families (families who actually live in AE) use Avondale Elem. This is slowly changing, thus the link I provided earlier.