Are Chattooga County Elementary Schools Good??? (Summerville, Gordon: rental, house, unemployment)

[MLG]

Hi Everyone,
I am from New York and I am thinking about relocating to the Chattooga County area. I am a certified elementary school teacher and am looking to apply for some jobs in this area. I was just wondering if the elementary schools are good here (Particularly Menlo and Sumerville). Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[jxu66]

Check out the following links for CRCT scores.

Most schools scored between 77 to 83. That's not so good, IMO.

http://reportcard2006.gaosa.org/k12/...ols&ID=ALL:ALL

[eres]

If you want the opportunity to work in an environment where people take their childrens education very very seriously i would recomend the Northwest georgia area. I have lived here most of my life, and can tell you anything you could want to know about Walker, Dade or Chattoga counties. I live in Walker but it is important to understand that people flow through this area like it is all one place. There are good areas and not so good areas everywhere. I can tell you that no where will you find people with more ambition or determination to improve their lot in life. We take charity to work to a level everyone should strive for. We also have very good schools. the school systems have websites listed by county names life walker county board of education chattoga county ect. where you can judge the progress made and see how things compare. Good luck in your search and please keep us in mind as a place to move.

[MLG]

Thank you Eres! I appreciate your input. I have been looking at the schools websites and trying to do some research. It seems like Chattooga County is a very nice area and has some good schools. I am looking forward to moving there!

[educator57]

I taught in Chattooga County for over 15 years. The social-economic conditions are very low. Test scores in the schools have been very low in the state. I would not recommend it especially if you have children. Floyd Co. is much better.

[Lake_Lanier_Man]

The best school system in NW GA is in Chattooga County but it is not Summerville or Menlo. It is Trion City Schools. Know alotta people that went there and I am impressed with them. Their student to teacher ratio is 1 teacher to 18 kids on a LARGE campus, and their test scores are some of the highest in the state. A whole lot better then the Floyd County schools I went too. People from Chattooga are great people they just come from a place were there is nothing to do but work at mills. People wanna leave that area but are trapped. They need teachers like you to come and show them that there is more out there in this world. So dont look at it negatively if someone says the schools ae not that great become part of the solution and look at as a challenge. Make a difference!

[jm621]

I have to disagree with Lake Lanier Man. The Chattooga County School System is filled with great teachers who came from the same colleges as Trions teachers. There is one major difference though. Trion City Schools pick & choose the students they want in their school system. If a student isn't quite mature enough or if their test scores aren't high enough they get shipped out of Trion & sent to Summerville, Lyerly or Menlo. Thats why Trions scores are always higher they only want the smarter students but they wouldn't admit it. But its a fact! Chattooga's Prek Thru 12 are as good as Trion's anyday....................

[jfm326]

In regards to lanier man who wrote that the Trion School System is far better than Chattooga..I have the following to state: The Trion City School System profiles each student that they enroll. Children are tested prior to entering pre-k and if they cannot meet certain criteria, these children are not enrolled. This alone is totally not legal under the Georgia pre-k program however, being a city school they do this and get away with it. All children if they are born healthy have the ability to learn and children should not be profiled according to academic or socio-economic status in order to attend school. This is totally assinine!
The Chattooga County system has wonderful dedicated teaching staff and students that excel. We sir, are not people that are TRAPPED in any scenario. Our students achieve and make good scores however; we have an open-door policy and cannot and will not profile our enrollment.
If you attended Trion, good for you but please do not be diluted in thinking that you are more intelligent than a person that attended another school system other than Chattooga.

[flynurse33]

I live in Walker Co. and my kids go to Gordon Lee. I am only otherwise familiar with Catoosa County schools. My kids went there in the past and I substituted there on my off days while I was working as a nurse for agency. I wouldn't send my kids to LaFayette or Ridgeland. I've only heard of some negative stuff about Summerville/ Menlo. I have also heard about the Trion schools. I have heard about the picking and choosing of "better students"... but I can't swear by it, because I've never been there myself. But yes, people flow through from Summerville up through Catoosa Co. like one big family. Hope this helps some.

[Chattooga Resident]

Originally Posted by Lake_Lanier_Man

The best school system in NW GA is in Chattooga County but it is not Summerville or Menlo. It is Trion City Schools.

I am not originally from Chattooga County, and this thread appears to be a little dated, but I'd like to add some clarification to this point of view, becasue while you have a point, it is misleading.

To begin with, yes, the Town of Trion does consistently outscore the other county schools, but not everyone is aware of, or willing to admit to how they accomplish this.

The Town of Trion is very, very small; the city limits are less than 4 square miles. Population is approximately 2,000, and the number of homeowners is somewhere between 500 & 550. (according to the 2000 census) I don't know the exact number, but from all appearances the majority of the homes in the city limits are actually rental property.

There is only one major industry in Trion, Mt Vernon Mills, and it is the only thing that is keeping this town alive. The Town of Trion does not even own a water system, the mill provides the water for the town. Basically, if Mt. Vernon Mills goes away, so does the Town of Trion.

Presently Mt Vernon is working what appears to be a long term military contract for material for the "ABU" uniforms; but their denim operation, which isone of the few left in the US is almost completely shut down. The shutdown of the denim side of their operation, along with the slowdown in the carpet industry in the counties only other major employer, Mohawk Carpets, have contributed to Chattooga County leading the state in unemployment this year.

If you've never spent time here you just can't appreciate how things work in this town. The mill is so integrated with the Town of Trion that a couple of years ago their plant manager complained at a City Council meeting because the town was going to give their employees pay raises. He said that for as long as they could remember the town had always worked with the mill to ensure that the town workers and the mill workers both made about the same, so the mill workers wouldn't complain and try to go to work for the town.

Anyway, back to the main subject. Because the Town of Trion is a "City" school, they are only required to admit students who actually reside within the city limits. They will accept other students provided that they can pass their "admission exams", and if their parents are willing to pay "tuition" to the city school board.

Now, Mt Vernon Mills, which is the counties largest employer, like most textile industries, employs a very large percentage of foreign workers, many who speak absoloutly no english; but the majority of these workers do not reside within the city limits.

I beleive you can already see where this is all leading; unless you can either get a rental house in the Town Trion, or manage to pay tuition to the Trion School System, then you're children are automatically a county school problem.

Now having said all that, neither school system in Chattooga County is outstanding; graduation rates in this county are just deplorable. Of course, when you consider the number of attending students, and the challenges that Mt Vernon and Mohawk have put on the county school system with their hiring practices, I'd say that they are pretty comparable.