What's the true story of Grady High School? (Atlanta, Columbus: home, neighborhoods)

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by WriterDawg85

I went to Lassiter from 2000-2004 and I can confirm that there are drugs there. It's a great school, I felt like I got a great education there and my experience in college only made me more sure of that, but I don't think there's a high school in the country where you can't buy weed. And mostly, if you raised your kid well, it won't matter a whole lot.

I don't know if the OP is going to come back and continue to read since it seems like he got a little angry, but my experiences with kids that went to Grady have all been positive. I was on debate team in high school and we competed against them regularly - they had a very talented team and I think a few of them ended up going Ivy League. I met a few more during my time at UGA and they did nothing but confirm my feelings about the school.

You're not going to get the same experience at a school in urban Atlanta as you got at one in suburban New York, so you need to stop looking for that. If you wanted a suburban school, the suburbs would have been the optimal place to look. At any urban school, you're going to trade some homogeneity and a suburban sense of security for location and convenience. That doesn't mean that the school is bad - Grady seems to be excellent, on almost all accounts - it just means that the school is different than what you're used to.

There are crime, drugs and violence in every school. I went to one of the best in metro Atlanta and people still bloodied each others' noses every now and then. I'd be willing to bet its happened once or twice at Westminster too. Hate to break it to you, but there's no way to entirely shield your kid from that, and even if you could, it's probably better for their long-term development that they don't grow up in an environment completely devoid of even the smallest conflicts or dangers.

A lot of great posts in this entire thread, but this last was the best. Well done.

[roxyrn]

Coming from suburban New York, I think that people expect great cheap housing with low taxes and top-ranked schools in urban settings.

[TakeAhike]

Originally Posted by roxyrn

Coming from suburban New York, I think that people expect great cheap housing with low taxes and top-ranked schools in urban settings.

I don't know that much about suburban NY--a few brief visits but am genuinely concerned that a 'fictitious' account of life in Atlanta has been broadly circulated.

[fourteenth]

I stumbled on this thread and felt compelled to comment - Grady is an excellent urban high school but is not perfect. Like anything else in life, you get out what you put in. That goes for the student and the parents. Grady offers truly amazing opportunities for focused, talented students. Grady students have won top national honors in journalism, debate, mock trial, robotics and music. In our experience, most of the Grady staff and faculty are extraordinary. My daughter just graduated and is on her way to Davidson College. Her Grady grad friends will attend Harvard, Penn, Brown, Emory, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, UNC Chapel Hill, UVA, University of Southern California, Bard, Boston College, McGill as well as UGA, Georgia Tech and a host of other highly-ranked colleges and universities. There are also fights, drugs, alcohol, thefts, sex and plenty of other bad behavior at Grady. We also have a rising 10th-grader at Grady. Our (white) kids get to have the experience of being in the minority, of fending for themselves and of learning that this is a diverse world. You can't get that in a suburban or private high school. I believe that there is a place for everyone at Grady but it may take a little effort by the student and parents to find that space.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by fourteenth

I stumbled on this thread and felt compelled to comment - Grady is an excellent urban high school but is not perfect. Like anything else in life, you get out what you put in. That goes for the student and the parents. Grady offers truly amazing opportunities for focused, talented students. Grady students have won top national honors in journalism, debate, mock trial, robotics and music. In our experience, most of the Grady staff and faculty are extraordinary. My daughter just graduated and is on her way to Davidson College. Her Grady grad friends will attend Harvard, Penn, Brown, Emory, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, UNC Chapel Hill, UVA, University of Southern California, Bard, Boston College, McGill as well as UGA, Georgia Tech and a host of other highly-ranked colleges and universities. There are also fights, drugs, alcohol, thefts, sex and plenty of other bad behavior at Grady. We also have a rising 10th-grader at Grady. Our (white) kids get to have the experience of being in the minority, of fending for themselves and of learning that this is a diverse world. You can't get that in a suburban or private high school. I believe that there is a place for everyone at Grady but it may take a little effort by the student and parents to find that space.

The definitive word on this subject IMHO.

[northwinds]

Why on earth someone would choose to send their child to a school with metal detectors, where they will be a minority who has to "fend for themselves" is beyond me. There are plenty of great schools in the Atlanta metro area where you don't have to "fend for yourself".....try the Milton cluster (Crabapple Crossing Elementary, Northwestern Middle, Milton). Your kid can actually focus on an education rather than staying alive in the hallways.....and you and your significant other can still go to Midtown for dinner and the arts!

[frances125]

Originally Posted by northwinds

Why on earth someone would choose to send their child to a school with metal detectors, where they will be a minority who has to "fend for themselves" is beyond me. There are plenty of great schools in the Atlanta metro area where you don't have to "fend for yourself".....try the Milton cluster (Crabapple Crossing Elementary, Northwestern Middle, Milton). Your kid can actually focus on an education rather than staying alive in the hallways.....and you and your significant other can still go to Midtown for dinner and the arts!

I think it's all about perception. I live in the next school cluster over from Grady High (Decatur High). I know a lot about Decatur schools, but I also know a good bit about Grady High. It's an excellent school with some amazing students.

We deliberately chose a smaller, more diverse cluster (aka Grady, Druid Hills or Decatur) so that our kids would not have to "fend for themselves" in a huge school with 2300 (!!!) other kids just like them. Our entire school system is only slightly larger than Milton High alone.

We could have easily moved to the Milton High area - (or a similar cluster), but I thought it was too big and, from what I heard from friends with kids in big suburban high schools, the social situation would be such that it would be difficult to focus on education.

Sooooo.........Here we are living in a smaller, older house (and paying a lot more in taxes than we need to) just so our kids can attend an in town school with lots of kids like them... and also with lots of kids different than them. I consider it to be a sacrifice that's worth it. Northwinds seems to think it's a mistake.

Again, it's all about perception. The OP, needs to tour schools, try to talk to parents with kids in the schools and make his/her own decision.

[tahitiblue]

My stepson just graduated from Grady, so I feel I have a bit of perspective on this.

It's an okay school. It's not terrific, it's not horrible. The academic standards are, frankly, not terribly high. They are for Atlanta standards, but if you're comparing them to, say, Long Island public schools, they are laughable. This is not to say there aren't opportunities for bright, self-motivated kids, but if they're not already self-motivated, they're not likely to get motivated there.

I'm told there are "a lot of wannabe thugs" at the school, but that the school faculty and staff are very strict about not tolerating violence and bad behavior. The worst thing that kids do, according to him, is write graffiti on the walls. He also had a few items stolen throughout the year, partly due to his own carelessness (leaving an iPod in the library unattended for 15 minutes - of course it was gone when he got back). According to him, there were about 4-5 fights this past year, which, IMO, is pretty typical for most high schools, especially urban ones.

[tahitiblue]

One more thing I thought about - metal detectors at every HS is an APS policy. So it reflects on the Atlanta public school system as a whole, but not Grady necessarily.

[Zone2flyboy]

Originally Posted by tahitiblue

I'm told there are "a lot of wannabe thugs" at the school, but that the school faculty and staff are very strict about not tolerating violence and bad behavior. The worst thing that kids do, according to him, is write graffiti on the walls. He also had a few items stolen throughout the year, partly due to his own carelessness (leaving an iPod in the library unattended for 15 minutes - of course it was gone when he got back). According to him, there were about 4-5 fights this past year, which, IMO, is pretty typical for most high schools, especially urban ones.

I wouldn't call leaving an iPod unattended in a public place having something stolen. Your son left his iPod, and someone came along and "found" it.