How are schools in Chattanooga? (Cleveland, Maryville: magnet schools, teacher salaries, prices)

[bktx1]

Considering a number of places back East (TN and NC, may Virginia) but looking for a good high school in a small city.

Prices look good in Chattanooga, but how are the schools?

[AKA FLEX]

The public schools in the city Moderator cut: changing colorfull words to "not good" . The most qualified teachers in the area drive across the state line to Georgia where teacher salaries are $10K higher. Even when Chattanooga manages to land a good teacher, he or she usually bails at the first offering of a better opportunity. My buddy, a recent UTC graduate, accepted a teaching job in Chattanooga for 2005-2006, and out of seven new teachers, he was the only one who made it through the entire school year. Then Maryville called with a job offer and he was gone.

There are, however, several great private schools in Chatty, and the schools in some of the surrounding areas (Soddy Daisy, Red Bank, Ooltewah, Cleveland, etc.) aren't nearly as bad.

[jkmewright]

Is there any particular area you are interested in? If you can give me some ideas, I can help you there. As AKA stated, the farther from the heart of town, the better the schools. Here are a couple of sites you can look at and get some more info:

www.hcde.org This is our local school site that can give you zone info as well as school specific info. We also have magnet schools that are inner city that ppl wait 2 weeks in line to get into.

http://www.k-12.state.tn.us/rptcrd04/ select Hamilton County