Relocating Jackson, MS (Clinton, Ridgeland, Brandon: lawyers, neighborhoods, best schools)

[hshekhar]

I took a job at Jackson State University and wil be moving soon. I have wife and two kids. My eldest daughter will be going to the pre school starting August and son is 2 years old. We are from South East Asia and wants to live in a safe and beautiful area where elementary schools are excellent. I appreciate if you can help me on this deciding where to live..My daughter's school in the primary factor, also safe and quiet neighborhood is important..

[Muhnay]

Originally Posted by hshekhar

I took a job at Jackson State University and wil be moving soon. I have wife and two kids. My eldest daughter will be going to the pre school starting August and son is 2 years old. We are from South East Asia and wants to live in a safe and beautiful area where elementary schools are excellent. I appreciate if you can help me on this deciding where to live..My daughter's school in the primary factor, also safe and quiet neighborhood is important..

Schools in Mississippi are not the best the country has to offer. But Jackson is a nice city. I don't know much about Jackson, I do however wish you luck on your move, and hope that one of the Jackson folks will be by soon to help you with some answers.

[Nivalis]

Some of Jackson's elementary schools have the best test scores in the state (George, McWillie, Spann, and Davis Magnet, off the top of my head) but Jackson's middle and high schools leave much to desire. Most of Jackson isn't a safe place to be compared to its nearest suburbs.

I suggest looking at property in south Madison County (just north of Jackson) and Rankin County (Brandon and along the Ross Barnett Reservoir.) The general consensus for best schools seems to be in these areas. However, Clinton, west of Jackson, is also a nice area.

[Mike Dunn]

Here is a link that may be useful for finding information on schools.

GreatSchools.net

[auntbee]

The preschool at Pinelake Church at the Reservoir is excellent. All of the public schools in that area are good too.

[barebull]

If you like the hussle and bussle of town living look towards Madison or Ridgeland for a place to live the comute to jackson is not that far but traffic seems to be really bad if you do not leave early in the morning to get where you are going. All Interstates which come into Jackson need to we widened to a least 3 lanes each.If you like small town living look towards Byram Or Terry Mississippi the comute is about 20 miles up from Terry depending on where you live. Byram does have one major traffic problem towards the end of the day everyone seems to try and get off on the same exit and traffic is generally lined up down the interstate.

Schools in the Madison / Ridgeland area from what I hear seem to be real good as well as the schools in Byram/ Terry area. I am more familiar with the schools in the Byram/ Terry area since that is where my children attend school at the present moment I have one in 1st,4th,and 9th grades.

[Chicagoland60426]

Since you're South Asian, Mississippi is the last place you and your family should reccommend. You should move to the Chicago area, where their are better schools and a much higher percentage of Asian-Americans.

[whitespike]

Jackson is a nice place to live, but the schools are not good for the most part. Do your homework. Many people opt for private schools, but they are prohibitively expensive.

If you live in Jackson, my two favorite neighborhoods are Fondren and Belhaven. They are next to each other. This area offers many medical professionals, lawyers, to artists and musicians.

Fondren has a monthly family oriented street party where businesses stay open late. You can browse art and other locally owned businesses, eat, drink wine, hear music.

I wish I knew more about the schools, but I graduated in Terry, MS. I loved the high school, but I wish I had a lot more art/music there.

Jackson, if you pick the right place, is definitely the most fun place there.

I have heard good things about Jackson's Power Apac school, which I think is public but I don't know.

[PhDnMe]

I went to JSU, I got my PhD there.... Most people who are hired on as faculty tend to move to either Madison, Ridgeland or parts of Jackson like Fondren or Bellhaven. I lived in Flowood, not far from the airport and right off of Lakeland Drive where they built dogwood center etc.. I would reccommend you look into Flowood. It is a great and desireable community that is still growing. The schools as far as I know are good. Drive time to JSU won't be that bad, you can take Lakeland drive all the way down to get into Jackson and then your half way there. Let me know if you have any questions, by the way I was in the Urban Planning program....