Moving to Baton Rouge from New Jersey (New Orleans, Baker: crime rate, credit)

[holloway1010]

Originally Posted by bakerbuff

To dispel this whole black students= bad schools, Zachary, which is the number 1 school district in the state, is almost 50% black. West Feliciana, which is another top rated school district, also has a large population of black students.That means that black schools can be successful given the right resources. Not every black person is a gangmember, and no matter where your daughter goes, she is going to have to learn how to interact with people of color.

Baker, which is almost 70-80% black has one of the lowest crime rates in the country. This is even after Hurricane Katrina. This totally should dispel that black communities are riddled with criminals and thugs.

If you want to go to an area that is very close-minded and does not have a huge population of black people, then you should go to Livingston Parish, but keep in mind she will still encounter black people. Even at the private schools, you will have black people. It is time to stop trying to avoid the other race, and do like Zachary did, and embrace the diversity.

No matter where you go, there will be criminals and thugs, and most of the time they are not black. There is no way she is going to be able to survive trying to avoid black people.

...I have an idea...why don't we stay on subject, this person never even said that it was black people the little girl was scared of, it could be Latinos or Asians or somthing. Livingston and Ascension Parishes do have pretty good public schools, but that area has just gotten too crowded lately and the schools are way too crowded. As far as private schools that are nearly all-white...the only one that comes to mind is False River Academy in New Roads, a community about 25 miles Northwest of Baton Rouge. It is not affiliated with any particular Religion, so if you are not Catholic (a majority of private schools in LA are Catholic) it would be a pretty good option. In the city of Baton Rouge, St. Joseph's Academy would be a good option if your little girl makes pretty good grades. It's an all-girls school and has a sizeable black population (i'd guess around 15-20%), I'm not sure about other ethnic groups there, but I don't think that any others make up a sizeable portion of the student body. You have to be pretty academically focused to make it there, though, so I don't think she would have any trouble with "thugs"

[Caa]

Originally Posted by macaroni

I would also suggest you look into private schools. There are very good Catholic schools if you are Catholic, and they cost much less than the secular private schools. Unfortunately here in Baton Rouge, public schools are realistically not an option. Aside from the racial make up, academically they are awful. I would not consider putting my children into them. Sorry to be so blunt, but I know I appreciated the information when I moved here 2 yrs. ago. One exception to the awful public schools are the magnet schools. We looked into the elementary magnet schools and were very impressed with two of them: Westdale Heights and Baton Rouge Visual and Performing Arts. My guess is that the racial make up was 50/50, the academics are excellent and the teachers and programs are top notch. Even though we got into BRVPA, we ultimately decided on our parish Catholic school though, simply because we liked the idea that our children's friends would live in our area and we would know their parents. When we moved here, we didn't realize how much the lack of neighborhood schools impacted other aspects of life, the neighborhood kids are on different schedules and don't get to know each other as well, frankly, I have not found BR to be very child friendly if you have small children and did not grow up here. Ascension parish does have good public schools, but you have to live fairly far from the good shopping, eating, work etc. And I've heard that the schools are getting overcrowded.

On the plus side, the housing market here is very reasonable, you can get a lot of house for the money. I'm not sure where you would be working, but there are very nice neighborhoods off of Highland Road, and the Lakes at White Oak is a nice family friendly dog friendly neighborhood.

What are you talking about? This town is the most kid friendly my husband and I have ever seen. There are 2 Chuck E Cheeses, Celebration Station, about 6 indoor inflatable party places. Nearly every restaurant has a kids Eat free night and the Mall has a play area and an indoor Merry Go Round. There are also tons of lovely parks and the LASM which has a great children's Discovery Area. Chick Fil A almost always has free events for kids ans an indoor play area as well. There is also Monkey Bizz, so I do think this area is very kid friendly! Try South Florida where FT Myers has one Gymboree and that is it-talk about un kid freindly!

[bakerbuff]

Don't forget Blue Bayou.

[bakerbuff]

Originally Posted by holloway1010

...I have an idea...why don't we stay on subject, this person never even said that it was black people the little girl was scared of, it could be Latinos or Asians or somthing. Livingston and Ascension Parishes do have pretty good public schools, but that area has just gotten too crowded lately and the schools are way too crowded. As far as private schools that are nearly all-white...the only one that comes to mind is False River Academy in New Roads, a community about 25 miles Northwest of Baton Rouge. It is not affiliated with any particular Religion, so if you are not Catholic (a majority of private schools in LA are Catholic) it would be a pretty good option. In the city of Baton Rouge, St. Joseph's Academy would be a good option if your little girl makes pretty good grades. It's an all-girls school and has a sizeable black population (i'd guess around 15-20%), I'm not sure about other ethnic groups there, but I don't think that any others make up a sizeable portion of the student body. You have to be pretty academically focused to make it there, though, so I don't think she would have any trouble with "thugs"

My post was on topic, if you go back and reread the post, when someone states:

1. My family for the most part is not racist
2. Are there any mostly white school districts
3. Area with a small population of black people

And the following posters talk about how Baton Rouge schools are bad because they are mostly black, and that BR is racist towards white people,which is completely untrue. You just mentioned St.Josephs's talking about how they have a sizeable black population like if they did have a larger black population, it would be a bad school.

I just simply stated that Zachary, the #1 school system in the area is half black, and Baker which is almost 80% black is one of the safest cities to live in the state of Louisiana.

If you are looking to isolate yourself away from minorities, then you shouldn't bother moving here. You would do better staying in Livingston Parish with the Klan.

[Jerseyboy22]

Well i dont want to isolate myself from others, My wife teaches at a minority school of 6000 here and there are only 200 white students the rest are black or spanish, My daughter is scared of minorities (All of them) because of gang related incidents around our area, But we are looking for a place in Spanish town i beleive it is? near LSU.

[bakerbuff]

That's nice, since you plan on living in BR, you are definitely going to see minorities since BR is mostly black. Your daughter should be fine, just stay away from certain areas, and there should be nothing to worry about. I didn't mean to come off as attacking you or anything, that was more directed towards the people making the statement that black people=crime and bad schools, I just provided some local examples to disprove that train of thought.

[Caa]

I would have to disagee with the fact tht BR is mostly black. I think it is mostly white. But I am not going by any stats, just my opinion. It has gotten "blacker" since Katrina, but slowly getting back to normal. I think lots of the black people here are very nice and well educated. It is mostly the new people(white and black) from New Orleans that have BR people a little nervous. WE just had a shooting on the 4th of July and that was unheard of just after a big family-oriented festival thing 2 years ago. I just hope that you are happy here-I know that we love it here in Baton Rouge and remembertry to be friendly, I think the people here are pretty nice and friendly!

[BRMan]

Originally Posted by Caa

I would have to disagee with the fact tht BR is mostly black. I think it is mostly white. But I am not going by any stats, just my opinion. It has gotten "blacker" since Katrina, but slowly getting back to normal. I think lots of the black people here are very nice and well educated. It is mostly the new people(white and black) from New Orleans that have BR people a little nervous. WE just had a shooting on the 4th of July and that was unheard of just after a big family-oriented festival thing 2 years ago. I just hope that you are happy here-I know that we love it here in Baton Rouge and remembertry to be friendly, I think the people here are pretty nice and friendly!

The city of Baton Rouge is about 50/45 black/white
Baton Rouge (city) QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau

East baton Rouge Parish (which contains BR, Zachary, Baker, Central, and some suburban fringe) us 53/43 white/black
East Baton Rouge Parish QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau

[CindyM]

Originally Posted by Caa

WE just had a shooting on the 4th of July and that was unheard of just after a big family-oriented festival thing 2 years ago.

Did the police make an arrest? Last I heard there were no suspects.

[BRMan]

Originally Posted by CindyM

Did the police make an arrest? Last I heard there were no suspects.

Yes, one of the suspects turned himself in:
2theadvocate.com | News | One suspect surrenders in Fourth of July shootings in Baton Rouge -- Baton Rouge, LA