Moving to Atlanta from NYC suburb (Smyrna, Vinings: houses, neighborhoods, private school)

[nyc2atl]

Help! We are an African American family moving to Atlanta from a suburb of NYC. After speaking with friends and family and researching we have narrowed our areas of interest to East Cobb or Smyrna/Vinings. We have children in 6th and 9th grade. Luckily my husband will work from home, so commuting is no isssue!

Would love to hear a comparison between Walton and Pope. Not so much the test scores, but the overall environment. Parental involvement, teachers/administration, affluence, snottiness, diversity, drug/alcohol use, etc. My impression from other threads is that Walton has an excellent academic reputation, but is somewhat of a pressure cooker. Our local public HS is also highly regarded nationally, but the amount of private tutoring and pressure for the kids to succeed at all costs is a bit much for us. Any insight into how welcoming the school's neighborhoods are to AA families will also be greatly appreciated. I can handle the honesty!

In Smyrna/Vinings we will look at Lovett or Westminster. How do these two schools compare using the same criteria as the public schools? Is there a big difference between Smyrna and Vinings?

Looking forward to the inside"scoop".

[JeanetteDi]

Moved 5 years ago from Newburgh. Smyrna is not an ideal location - Vinings is more of what I would recommend. Schools are better here than they get the rep for up north. Your kids may also feel more segregated here - it is a harsh reality but the areas you are considering are loaded with "implants" from up north. And speaking of implants, there are a lot more in ATL than NY!!
East Cobb is also a good location. I prefer East Cobb for families. Schools are great in East Cobb, and extracurricular activities are a heavy focus.

[sweettea1]

If you are going to do Westminister or Lovett, definitely explore Vinings. It blends into Buckhead once you head down Paces Ferry, but depending on your budget, there are some beautiful homes in the area (just make sure you ask about floodplains since this is a big issue in some areas of Vinings). East Cobb is the best if you're doing public school for your age children.

[lastminutemom]

Like NYC, private school admissions can be competitive (ok, not quite like NYC, but the two you mentioned are very hard to get into). Both are pressure cookers, I am not as familiar with Lovett's high school, but Westminster really is geared to very competitive students. That said, both these schools start in kindergarten so there will be some kids who don't fit the cookie cutter. Beginning in about 4th grade, Westminster really looks for the kids who fit their model, so most kids are pretty competitive.

Make a trip down here-- you have good choices in Pope and Walton. If your kids have a passion or strong interest in certain extracurriculars get a sense of how easy it will be for your children to get "hooked in" to participate. I find that parents who already have school age children have pretty good "guts" about what they see when they visit schools.

[nyc2atl]

Thanks so much for the imput. Sounds like Westminster isn't for us. We are planning to spend a week in February looking at schools but it always helps to get an insider's perspective. If anyone has any information on Lovett or Pope I would really appreciate it.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by nyc2atl

Thanks so much for the imput. Sounds like Westminster isn't for us. We are planning to spend a week in February looking at schools but it always helps to get an insider's perspective. If anyone has any information on Lovett or Pope I would really appreciate it.

Out of the schools you listed, I think Pope is your best bet. My niece attends Pope and loves it.

If you are considering Smyrna/Vinings, also look into Campbell High School...also good.

[nyc2atl]

Thanks Aries4118. Would you have any insight on race relations or drugs/alcohol? I know there's no way of escaping it but I find in my area each school has their own reputation for something!Any big defferences between Walton and Pope?

[kaday]

I think they are pretty close academically. Although Walton is perceived as being the best and Pope as one of the best. You will find more students from wealthier families at Walton but that being said both schools have a majority of students from upper middle class families. My kids will attend Pope and we looked at houses in both areas but chose Pope. We were able to get the house of our dreams in the Pope district and not in the Walton (more expensive). We were looking for a specific type of neighborhood (diverse for East Cobb). For us Walton wasn't worth the difference of a few SAT points. But that being said, I think you'd be happy with either. I think in terms of diversity Walton has a greater amount of Asian students but as for African American I would guess Pope and Walton both are about 6%.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by nyc2atl

Thanks Aries4118. Would you have any insight on race relations or drugs/alcohol? I know there's no way of escaping it but I find in my area each school has their own reputation for something!Any big defferences between Walton and Pope?

Hello...send me a private message with your concerns...I will respond way more in detail. I may not get to it though until later this evening.

Let's just say I have a lot of insight on East Cobb schools...

[kaday]

Originally Posted by nyc2atl

Thanks Aries4118. Would you have any insight on race relations or drugs/alcohol? I know there's no way of escaping it but I find in my area each school has their own reputation for something!Any big defferences between Walton and Pope?

Sorry I reread your post. I have not heard anything about either in terms of drugs and alcohol. There are many Pope highschoolers in my neighborhood. All good kids. I think kids are pretty focused on academics here. Do you know about the Hope scholarship? (google it) It basically is a free ride (tuition) for any Georgia State school if you graduate from highschool with a 3.0 or better. It seems these days most kids are angling for that. Since the highly coveted spots at Uof GA and GA Tech are limited as to how many are offered per school, the competition at both schools for one of these is pretty fierce.

I do know that Pope's music department has a great reputation. I have heard that Walton is excellent for high achievers but middle of the road kids there can fall through the cracks. Wish I knew more. Someone posted an article about Walton students somewhere in this forum, perhaps you can do a search or someone can repost it.