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I am looking in the area for an apartment (2bd2ba). I have found an apartment, but would just like some info of the area. It is in the Sugarloaf Pkwy and University Pkwy area. I know the high school is Discovery and there is a college (Gwinnett Technical) nearby. I have one child who will be going into the 8th grade. I am looking at renting at Hawthorne at Sugarloaf, for the next year or so until we are ready to buy or build something.
Any info on that area or apartment complex would be much appreciated!
Some background info for consideration
Self employed from home
Spouse will be looking for part time medical employment
1 child, 8th grade
Budget of $1,300-$1,600
We are moving from Florida.
I am looking in the area for an apartment (2bd2ba). I have found an apartment, but would just like some info of the area. It is in the Sugarloaf Pkwy and University Pkwy area. I know the high school is Discovery and there is a college (Gwinnett Technical) nearby. I have one child who will be going into the 8th grade. I am looking at renting at Hawthorne at Sugarloaf, for the next year or so until we are ready to buy or build something.
Any info on that area or apartment complex would be much appreciated!
Some background info for consideration
Self employed from home
Spouse will be looking for part time medical employment
1 child, 8th grade
Budget of $1,300-$1,600
We are moving from Florida.
Just a note that “University Parkway” is commonly known and referred to locally as just simply “316” (GA-316), which is the Georgia state route number for the generally busy roadway that is known for connecting Northeast metro Atlanta with the University of Georgia in Athens.
I have family that used to live in that area (they used to live about 2-3 miles to the east off of GA-316 and GA-120).
I know that the Hawthorne at Sugarloaf is a gated apartment complex located behind a busy QuikTrip gas station.
I know that it’s an okay-to-good gated apartment complex in an okay-to-good area served by okay-to-good public schools in the Discovery High School cluster of what is generally a good/very good/above-average Gwinnett County Public Schools system.
Discovery High School is a new high school (opened Fall 2015) constructed from the frame of an old tire factory/warehouse.
The school and the cluster of schools it anchors serves a racially/ethnically and socioeconomically ultra-diverse population.
It’s not a bad area, if that’s what you want to know.
Northside Hospital Gwinnett (formerly Gwinnett Medical Center), one of the largest hospitals in suburban Northeast metro Atlanta outside of the I-285 Perimeter, is located only about a couple of miles away to the east.
It is a really nice area, generally speaking. It is newer and built up in the '90s and early '00s. Being closer to I-85 and GA-316 there are a good many apartments in the area and that really drives the population at the school. This has an impact on the schools as many more of the students are transient, live in the area for a shorter term, and/or simply come from a slightly lower socioeconomic background. Discovery HS runs a bit below average for Gwinnett Co. from those reasons.
The key thing about Discover HS is it is pretty new and has only been open for a few years. It is new and well-funded. It is ultra-diverse: 10% Asian, 36% Black, 6% White, 45% Hispanic. It has all of the basic college-prep programs and a large amount of AP classes offerings, like most Gwinnett schools. However, they built in some extra uniqueness into this school. It was designed to have Academies with hubs within the school and target business and entrepreneurship. The school has a 62% college enrollment rate the year after graduation.
The school hosts these 'academies' for fine arts, business & Entrepreneurship, STEM, and Health Sciences.
What they do is you take the same basic courses, but you take it within the 'academy' and they target the basic college prep material with the interests of the academy your in and then they have elective classes that target the academy you're in.
This is relatively unique. Gwinnett has other schools that target these things, but this is the first one where it stays the traditional school your zoned into by default and they make the build academies into the school vs. going to a special school elsewhere that is non-traditional.
I will mention one additional thing. If you want a normal high school without the academies there is a pretty good one just west of I-85 or north of GA-316 along Sugarloaf Pkwy with some apartments in it, Peachtree Ridge High School. The area is fewer apartments and more upscale homes that make for more economic differences in the student population. which leads this school to generally rank much higher. The rents will generally be a little bit higher too. It is also ultra-diverse: 27% Asian, 29% Black, 20% White, 19% Hispanic.
Peachtree Ridge will rank better, but Discovery has a a unique program that drives how the school operates. It might be something to talk to your child and see if they are interested in.
The area you asked about is #7 and Peacthree Ridge also has parts of Sugarloaf, #17.
You might also want to just check Zillow and look at where houses in your size and price range are and see if you can increase your likelihood of keeping your child in the same school zone for when you buy.
For Hospitals Northside Gwinnett, former Gwinnett Medical Ctr, is very close by. Northside Duluth and Eastside in Snelleville is also within decent commute range. There are plenty misc. medical offices and urgent care centers dotting the area. Kaiser Permanente maintians a large centralized medical office near Gwinnett Place Mall not too far away.
Georgia Gwinnett College is also nearby at GA315 and Collins Rd not foo far away.
You've gotten some great advice above, but I think calling this school "a bit below average" is sugar coating it a little bit.
You've got a kid in 8th grade. That's a very formative time for most kids. Even a few months in the wrong environment could set events in motion that would have disastrous effects for the remainder of a high school career. I'd tread extremely carefully on this.
Personally... I wouldn't consider anything below Norcross High School in the list above.
You've gotten some great advice above, but I think calling this school "a bit below average" is sugar coating it a little bit.
You've got a kid in 8th grade. That's a very formative time for most kids. Even a few months in the wrong environment could set events in motion that would have disastrous effects for the remainder of a high school career. I'd tread extremely carefully on this.
Personally... I wouldn't consider anything below Norcross High School in the list above.
Discovery is a relatively pretty new high school that opened in 2015 and was built from the existing structure of a former Bridgestone Tire warehouse.
The Discovery High School cluster was created mostly (pretty much completely) from parts of the clusters for Central Gwinnett and Berkmar high schools.
Discovery and its feeder schools are good schools.
It’s just that (much like the neighboring Central Gwinnett and Berkmar clusters that the Discovery cluster was created from), the schools of the Discovery cluster (including Discovery HS and Richards Middle School) have a very high population of transient students that often act as a pull on the cluster’s academic ratings and scores, like cwkimbro mentioned.
(Niche.com reports that about 72% of the students at Discovery High School qualify for Free or Reduced Lunch.)
I must reiterate that Discovery High School is not at all a bad school and in fact has some very good structural programs in place academically, like cwkimbro noted above.
But the socioeconomic makeup of the school and its cluster (which are dominated by financially less-stable families) affect its academic ratings.
Discovery is basically an okay-to-good school with a very economically-challenged student body that keeps the quality of the school from being reflected in its academic ratings.
I will mention one additional thing. If you want a normal high school without the academies there is a pretty good one just west of I-85 or north of GA-316 along Sugarloaf Pkwy with some apartments in it, Peachtree Ridge High School. The area is fewer apartments and more upscale homes that make for more economic differences in the student population. which leads this school to generally rank much higher. The rents will generally be a little bit higher too. It is also ultra-diverse: 27% Asian, 29% Black, 20% White, 19% Hispanic.
Yea I was gonna say if OP can go just a little farther north to like Duluth Hwy into the Peachtree Ridge zone the school will be better.
My sister used to live in a complex off Sugarloaf basically across from Gwinnett Tech. Other than typical apartment living she didn't have any issues
BUT... if I'm a parent, looking for the best for my child, okay-to-good isn't good enough.
I've also lived in Gwinnett county long enough to know if they created a new school, they probably drew the district lines to include as many apartments as possible to get those kids away from Central Gwinnett and Berkmar in an effort to raise the academic standings of those schools. The statistics you noted above would seem to indicate that (though I'd have to see the same stats from the other schools).
I just know from years back when they redistricted Duluth High School, they really made it to where Duluth got stuck with more rental properties so they could prop up Peachtree Ridge, which worked beautifully. Duluth HS used to be ranked higher than it is today.
When I moved here in 2009, I'd have no problem sending a kid to Duluth HS. These days... I'm not so sure, I probably would, but I'd really have to research it. I'd feel better about Peachtree Ridge, though.
I can't PROVE this, but based on my own personal experience of attending a variety of schools with various demographic make-ups, I found that schools that draw from more economically disadvantaged areas have a more difficult time achieving and maintaining a culture of academic excellence among the student body and see more disciplinary problems overall. In short, during formative years when kids are finding themselves, they are less likely to be seen as cool or accepted for being academic achievers. I know that goes against the narrative that disadvantaged schools can be just as good, but no study or politically correct idea will ever convince me to go against what I've seen with my own eyes. Of course, your mileage may vary, and it depends heavily on the individual kid as well.
HOWEVER... and this can't be overstated enough... the OP has a child who will be entering EIGHTH grade. So our discussion about high schools is meaningless. What we should be looking at is middle schools. If I were the OP, I would target where I would like to buy/build in a year or two and try to find a middle school that feeds into whatever high school that area is districted for. Then you don't have to worry about uprooting your child from peers two years in a row, which could have disastrous impact on a developing adolescent brain.
One story that stands out in my memory of Discovery’s relatively very brief existence as a high school happened a few years back, when a star high school basketball player from Great Falls, Montana moved to live with his aunt in Gwinnett County, who lived in the Discovery High School attendance zone.
The star high school basketball player moved from Montana to live with his aunt in Gwinnett County so that he could attend school and play high school basketball with the hope of earning a full-ride college athletic scholarship in a metro Atlanta prep basketball scene that generally is one of the most watched, most scouted and most recruited metropolitan prep/high school basketball scenes in the nation.
The star HS B-ball player could not attract any attention from college scouts at his original high school in Great Falls because the college B-ball scouting community generally considers Montana to be very far off the beaten path for recruiting.
But the talented HS player (who was still able to standout as a player on an improving Discovery boys’ basketball squad in a talent-laden metro Atlanta prep basketball scene) was successfully able to attract a full-ride basketball scholarship to college during his senior year at Discovery HS (his one and only year at Discovery HS).
That is just one memorable story that stands out in my mind about the brief history of Discovery High School.
That's a great story B2R, but there's a huge difference between where recruiters look to draw athletes and where they look to draw academic performers.
That's like picking a school in Hollywood based on where TV producers pluck child actors.
BUT... if I'm a parent, looking for the best for my child, okay-to-good isn't good enough.
That’s an excellent point.
I’m not recommending that the OP send their child to okay-to-good schools with middling academic ratings.
I’m just pointing out that the academic ratings of schools like Discovery often have extenuating circumstances (like a massive population of economically-challenged students and families) that do not always reflect the good qualities that a good often has.
... Good qualities like good teachers that care about educating students and working with students (who may very often be economically disadvantaged students from transient backgrounds) that they don’t get to choose, no matter what.
Gwinnett schools like Discovery (and Berkmar, and Central Gwinnett, and Meadowcreek, and Shiloh, and South Gwinnett, and even Duluth and even Norcross to an extent, etc.) most often may not be able to showcase the gaudy academic ratings that schools like Peachtree Ridge, Parkview, Brookwood, Mill Creek and North Gwinnett might often be able to showcase.
But schools like Discovery, etc., still have great success stories that should be noted in spite of all of the unfavorable odds that they often may face.
Schools like Discovery often may not have the gaudy academic ratings of other more highly regarded schools across the largely affluent “Golden Crescent” of Atlanta’s upscale Northern suburbs, but that does not necessarily mean that they are “bad” schools. They just do not necessarily have the best academic ratings because of demographic conditions beyond their control.
With that said, it is definitely up to the OP to make the final choice of where they will want to send their child to school, and it is up to people like us to provide them with the information to help them make the best choice.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ATLTJL
I've also lived in Gwinnett county long enough to know if they created a new school, they probably drew the district lines to include as many apartments as possible to get those kids away from Central Gwinnett and Berkmar in an effort to raise the academic standings of those schools. The statistics you noted above would seem to indicate that (though I'd have to see the same stats from the other schools).
Creating the Discovery HS cluster from large parts of the existing Central Gwinnett and Berkmar clusters definitely did not appear to be a case of attempting to raise the academic ratings of those schools as much as it appeared to be a case of attempting to relieve conditions of overcrowding.
That’s particularly at Berkmar High School where the student population was approaching 3,500 students and the faculty seemed to be experiencing some challenges in managing the large size of the student body, particularly from a behavioral and safety standpoint.
Though because Central Gwinnett High School has often been considered by many Gwinnett residents to be a flagship high school of sorts because of its location in what was historically the largest and most important municipality in Gwinnett County very near (only blocks away) from the seat of county government and historical hub of county commerce with relatively many more influential longtime and established boosters and community supporters, Central Gwinnett potentially might have been able to have the redistricting lines drawn slightly more in their favor than Berkmar HS and the brand new Discovery HS might have been able to do with their smaller and then completely non-existent booster/support bases, respectively.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ATLTJL
I just know from years back when they redistricted Duluth High School, they really made it to where Duluth got stuck with more rental properties so they could prop up Peachtree Ridge, which worked beautifully. Duluth HS used to be ranked higher than it is today.
When I moved here in 2009, I'd have no problem sending a kid to Duluth HS. These days... I'm not so sure, I probably would, but I'd really have to research it. I'd feel better about Peachtree Ridge, though.
Yeah, the then-new/proposed Peachtree Ridge HS zone had a much more affluent population (that included upscale gated residential developments like Sugarloaf Country Club and Stonebrier) than the Duluth HS zone. So P’tree Ridge was able to have the lines drawn to its advantage to pull many more affluent students than Duluth HS because of its highly affluent residents’ greater financial and political influence in Gwinnett County, including with GCPS system leaders.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ATLTJL
I can't PROVE this, but based on my own personal experience of attending a variety of schools with various demographic make-ups, I found that schools that draw from more economically disadvantaged areas have a more difficult time achieving and maintaining a culture of academic excellence among the student body and see more disciplinary problems overall. In short, during formative years when kids are finding themselves, they are less likely to be seen as cool or accepted for being academic achievers. I know that goes against the narrative that disadvantaged schools can be just as good, but no study or politically correct idea will ever convince me to go against what I've seen with my own eyes. Of course, your mileage may vary, and it depends heavily on the individual kid as well.
HOWEVER... and this can't be overstated enough... the OP has a child who will be entering EIGHTH grade. So our discussion about high schools is meaningless. What we should be looking at is middle schools. If I were the OP, I would target where I would like to buy/build in a year or two and try to find a middle school that feeds into whatever high school that area is districted for. Then you don't have to worry about uprooting your child from peers two years in a row, which could have disastrous impact on a developing adolescent brain.
I agree.
The OP can’t be vigilant enough in doing their research and due diligence to make sure that they will be sending their child to a school that will be the right fit (if not the PERFECT fit) for the child. And the OP definitely should be exhaustive in their research to make sure that happens.
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