Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I have been to NWA on two separate occasions in the past month looking for housing for our family. We sold our house here in the Chicago 'burbs but won't move until June so the kids can finish out the school year. So here is my latest dilemma: moving in from out of town, I want real answers to my questions. Which school is better? What neighborhood will retain its value? I'm not Walmart, will I feel left out in certain communities? How 'bout Shiloh -- is that a good option? I have poured over this forum and it seems the resounding answer would be to get a good realtor. However, good realtors seem to be bound by some ethical fence sitting and are only allowed to give public information. If you moved to my part of town (I'm happy to report that I am NOT a realtor) I could tell you where you would feel more comfortable black, catholic, jewish, sports, no sports, etc. I could tell you where you definitely would NOT want to live -- where the sketchy parts of town are etc. Everyone I talk to seems to prefer Bentonville schools (we were impressed by the high school). BUT, some of the nice housing area like Talamore and Hanover feed into Thomas Jefferson and Sugar Creek -- old and tired schools in a part of town that has a fair amount of sex offenders in its shadow. The non-traditional school, Elm Tree, has a closely guarded wait list 30 deep. Pinnacle has some nice new schools that also have wait lists. My 7 year old would have to leave her school in Chicago, bide her time at Sugar Creek -- one of the lower performing schools -- in the hopes that her name gets to the top of the list. That's a lot of change for a 7 year old, right? My realtor will tell me to check out great schools, look at crime maps, give me comps for a neighborhood so I can sift through it and try to figure it out myself. I would love some realtor recommendations but that seems taboo on these forums??? My initial post in this forum was asking a question and instead, I received some unsolicited opinions (not you, nmnita). Now that is exactly what I want. My budget is Pinnacle, Talamore, and Hanover -- but doesn't need to be. Thanks for letting me vent. I hope I haven't offended anyone.
If you've identified the schools you do want (you've evidently done some research if you're identifying schools as lower-performing), then I don't understand why you don't tell a realtor which school districts are acceptable, and your price point, and go from there.
You should note that the high school has a serious overcrowding problem, and that it is very likely that a second high school will be built within the next ten years. The issue is what kind of budget the community is going to give the new school, which might have some bearing on its performance.
Identifying the schools I want does not come with a guarantee. It is not uncommon for a buyer to purchase a home in a specific area that is zoned for their preferred school, and not be able to attend because of crowding. I did not gain this information from a realtor. A realtor will not tell you that. A realtor will tell you what a house is zoned for and omit that your child has a snowballs chance of attending. I found out that nugget by myself. So did some other sad sacks on this forum.
btw, what is a de-racinated member? It's freaks me out a little.
Identifying the schools I want does not come with a guarantee. It is not uncommon for a buyer to purchase a home in a specific area that is zoned for their preferred school, and not be able to attend because of crowding. I did not gain this information from a realtor. A realtor will not tell you that. A realtor will tell you what a house is zoned for and omit that your child has a snowballs chance of attending. I found out that nugget by myself. So did some other sad sacks on this forum.
btw, what is a de-racinated member? It's freaks me out a little.
I truly don't think that any of the Bentonville elementaries are going to give your daughter a sub-par education. The performance differences in schools in Northwest Arkansas are often related to the percentage of the student body that is English-second-language. While multi-lingual students have advantages in some areas of academic performance, ESL students are disadvantaged in standardized testing, depending on their fluency.
I'm not sure what you mean by old and tired schools. Sugar Creek Elementary was built in 2008. I don't think school facilities that are only 5 years old can be old and tired. That's just my opinion.
If you have identified the schools you do want your child to attend, you can contact the Bentonville Public Schools directly, and ask about the possibility of your child being diverted to another school due to overcrowding. There are no guarantees, which I'm sure the school authorities will tell you. And a realtor really has no way of knowing what the chances are of your child being diverted. The attendance numbers change every year, and diversion is based on those attendance numbers.
Regarding your question about Shiloh, you are talking about Shiloh in Springdale? And your husband is going to commuting to Joplin? That's a long drive, though it will make a significant difference how close your home is to I-540. Isn't Shiloh religiously affiliated? Is that something you're looking for?
De-racinated member is the result of a heated exchange several years ago with someone visiting this forum from Stormfront who stated that since I wasn't an advocate of white race supremacy I must have been de-racinated. I liked the remark, and decided to use it as a sort of moniker.
Sugar Creek is not old and tired. It is a newer facility that unfortunately doesn't do as well in the testing. It is one of the only elementary schools in the district that doesn't have a wait list despite it's overflow status for most of the wait-listed schools in the district. It is probably due to the ESL and socioeconomic diversity which I don't think is a bad thing. My 7th grader will be going to Lincoln, which I do believe is old and tired. We were told that if we move to the Bentonville/Rogers area to be sure and move into an area zoned to a "vendor school"; a term I was not familiar with. These are newer schools that consistently score well on state tests (for better or for worse this is how out-of-towners benchmark the better schools). Anyhow, I hope that my findings help someone who is searching this forum. There has been a learning curve, and as I mentioned, realtors seem reluctant to give you any real insight.
We are a christian family from the Chicago area (we are reserved). This may differ from some christians in the south. I'm not saying our core beliefs of christianity are different, but how they are displayed might be. I welcome any insight. It is my thought/hope that a school like Shiloh might offer a loving and accepting community that might be lacking in a big district like Bentonville. My husband would not be involved in the transporting of the girls to Shiloh. Are you concerned about our carbon foot print?
de·rac·i·nate (d-rs-nt)
tr.v. de·rac·i·nat·ed, de·rac·i·nat·ing, de·rac·i·nates
1. To pull out by the roots; uproot.
2. To displace from one's native or accustomed environment.
I know this is not the same as the hyphenated word you use, but it's definition is resonating with me.
The time on the road (an hour) isn't bad, but the mileage really does wear on you.
I drove 46 miles each way to work last year down a 2-lane rural state highway, thinking it would be fine because I too used to do 45-75 minute commutes in the Chicago area without a problem.
But I found it was a totally different story.
- High speed traffic the whole way - means no mental break the entire drive. You don't realize until you do it that things like stop lights, the number of McDonald's and gas stations you pass, and so forth really give your mind a break from focusing on the road - and an opportunity if you need it, to refresh yourself with coffee, snacks, soda, or a restroom break. In Chicago there would be lots of mental breaks while I would drive. In the rural area, there was usually one momentary break the entire way and it was a lousy gas station convenience shop at the only 4-way stop I encountered.
- When the weather is bad, it's much worse. Blowing and drifting snow, high winds tugging on your car or SUV, rain coming down in sheets. On a 2-lane road there isn't much room for error. Go off to the right and you're in a ditch. Go off to the left and you're in head-on traffic. There is much LESS room for error than in a metropolitan area. You're driving much faster and your vehicle moves a lot of feet every second. On bad weather days, I was nervous as heck, and there were a few trips where I don't think I even blinked my eyes for the entire drive.
- Rural drivers don't drive the same as city drivers. I found that there's a good number of people who seemed to take school for "aggressive driving" instead of the "defensive driving" that I was taught. People on the crossroads don't stop at the stop line. They move through and you wonder if they're going to stop at all or if they have every intention to T-bone you. They play leapfrog across the highway at high speeds because the transportation department doesn't deem it a high enough priority to put in stoplights. Pickup trucks tailgate you even if you are going over the speed limit. When you see an accident, its a bad accident, and that's enough to give you nightmares for days.
Thanks for your thoughtful response summer 22. I was in town 4 weeks ago during a "snow storm" and was astounded by the number of accidents I saw. In their defense, I didn't see a single plow or salt truck the entire afternoon. I suspect my husband will stay in Joplin during inclement weather. Did you commute from Bentonville to Joplin? Our son is in high school and the public school choices are much better in NWA so we are going to give it a go. It's not optimal, but we will make the best of it.
Arkansas is not known for having great schools, but the Bentonville school district is one of the best in the state. If you are moving to NWA, you can't really go wrong with this school district.
Sugar Creek is not old and tired. It is a newer facility that unfortunately doesn't do as well in the testing. It is one of the only elementary schools in the district that doesn't have a wait list despite it's overflow status for most of the wait-listed schools in the district. It is probably due to the ESL and socioeconomic diversity which I don't think is a bad thing. My 7th grader will be going to Lincoln, which I do believe is old and tired. We were told that if we move to the Bentonville/Rogers area to be sure and move into an area zoned to a "vendor school"; a term I was not familiar with. These are newer schools that consistently score well on state tests (for better or for worse this is how out-of-towners benchmark the better schools). Anyhow, I hope that my findings help someone who is searching this forum. There has been a learning curve, and as I mentioned, realtors seem reluctant to give you any real insight.
We are a christian family from the Chicago area (we are reserved). This may differ from some christians in the south. I'm not saying our core beliefs of christianity are different, but how they are displayed might be. I welcome any insight. It is my thought/hope that a school like Shiloh might offer a loving and accepting community that might be lacking in a big district like Bentonville. My husband would not be involved in the transporting of the girls to Shiloh. Are you concerned about our carbon foot print?
de·rac·i·nate (d-rs-nt)
tr.v. de·rac·i·nat·ed, de·rac·i·nat·ing, de·rac·i·nates
1. To pull out by the roots; uproot.
2. To displace from one's native or accustomed environment.
I know this is not the same as the hyphenated word you use, but it's definition is resonating with me.
"Vendor school" would be a local term. When Wal-Mart required that it's major vendors have local offices, it sparked a large boom in population, and a population that wanted neighborhoods similar to the neighborhoods they came from. Builders responded, buying parcels of land that had previously been farmland, pastures and tree groves, and built, for lack of a better term, McMansion neighborhoods. The "vendor neighborhoods" quickly filled, and the new schools that had to be built to accommodate the population boom were built in the areas that most swiftly grew, hence "vendor schools". It's a very casual and loose term. While some vendors tend to congregate and socialize together, it's more in the nature of cliques rather than any kind of segregation.
Realtors are showing you houses they think might appeal to you. They don't really know if the homes nearby are all owned by P&G employees, or if there is a cluster of Catholics in the neighborhood. And realtors have to be very cautious about what they say about a neighborhood. They are professionals, and they have to act like it.
I'm not concerned about your carbon footprint at all. It's none of my business. A daily commute between Springdale and Joplin would be a long drive, that's all.
I simply found de-racinated to be amusing. It amused me then, it amuses me still.
No. I've done some work for realtors, and I've know many realtors, but I was never interested in a career where the income was so hit-and-miss.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
