Seymour/Knoxville living (Memphis, Oak Ridge, Maryville: apartments, homes, unemployment rate) - Tennessee (TN) - City-Data Forum

MrsPebbles · 04-06-2010, 11:32 AM

I have a few more questions for those who have been so helpful on my previous ones. Anyone have anything to say about Kings Academy? Are Seymour schools considered 'county' schools. Ive been on Great Schools for their 'old' info (there are no current comments). Is there a bad area in south Knoxville, by south I mean between the river and Seymour. Any comments on Woodgate Apartments? I'm still trying to narrow down my roadtrip so we can focus more on the towns and areas we like. Does anyone in Farragut make under $40,000? The other threads make it seam like everyone there is wealthy so I threw that town out without asking.

oldmanbob · 04-08-2010, 09:17 AM

Hey Mrspebbles, yes you find all types in Farragut and some in the price range you asked. Seymour is a country setting , but nothing wrong with that. Kings academy is well ran and thought of. You can probably find all the info you need on kgis.org. There are not any real bad areas south, and any price range of homes you need. Good luck.

jessyj2009 · 04-08-2010, 02:00 PM

My first impressions of Seymour are that it's a drive through town. Lots of traffic as it's a way to the more touristy areas (Pigeon Forge etc). There's LOTS of country settings if that's what you are looking for. If you prefer to be in the city and in the middle of everything I would move a little closer to Knoxville. There's no much happening around here, which is the way some people like it.

MrsPebbles · 04-10-2010, 11:42 PM

I will check out the public school and the private. My son has attended private here in IN and Kings uses the same method of teaching. We pay for the private schools in my area more for the safety and higher standard of education. We have a 48% public dropout rate and the teachers really are not bothered to much about it. Kids can torture others and get by with it. I'm hoping he can go to public and TN has a better set of standards and expectations for their kids. It would be nice not to have to pay taxes for failing schools AND a private tuition like we do here. The school websites give themselves a great report in order to sell themselves, so I was wondering if any parents had issues with the areas public or private schools? Thank you for all your replies.

NJDevil · 04-11-2010, 06:12 AM

I'm sure there are issues. TN's education rating is like 40th. If you live in Seymour your kids go to Sevier County schools, so it's definitely worth finding out what Sevier is like vs. Knox schools. Sorry I can't help you there. The problem here though is that when weather is bad in Gatlinburg, a half hour away, Seymour schools are closed too - and the roads are fine here. So Seymour kids lose a lot of school days for no reason sometimes. In Sevier HS graduates can get into the community college for free, but from there the graduation rate is 12%. That tells you how important education is to these parents.

The further south you drive from downtown, the "better" the areas. I agree there really is no bad area in south Knox, but you can tell the poorer parts of town. Once you get off Chapman Hwy, south Knoxville and Seymour are VERY pretty.

hiknapster · 04-11-2010, 10:57 AM

I have a client that escaped from Katrina to Sevier County. She had three kids in the school system. She loved it and education is tops on her priority list. Well, they moved back to MS to be with family and are now heartsick. Dad is in the middle of moving his business and they are coming back. Very upscale family.

I think that speaks volumes.

I have my daughter in Knox County schools. We took her out of the Florida schools after five weeks in kindergarten. I raised my now-adult children in Mass. and I know what a good school system looks like and that wasn't it. Our daughter is doing very, very well, here.

Other school systems to consider around here is the city of Maryville schools and Oak Ridge.

About the rating. I have no idea what it is right now, but it is always in the middle of the pack or much lower. There's a reason for that. TN is a very large state. The first thing to skew the ratings is Memphis which has been badly run for many, many years. There's been a change in power down there so here's hoping things look better. But add to that a lot of little towns across the state with high poverty and very little money for education.

But this area around here is known for very good to excellent educational systems.

If schools are closed due to weather, up in the mountains, they have to make that up, by law, so no one is losing anything. I have no idea about a community college's graduation rate. I have a dear friend that grew up in Sevier. Got her degree from UT. She is one of the smartest people I have ever met and, coming from me, that is a huge deal.

There are bad parents everywhere, from Orange County, California to New York, New York. But Sevier County parents are no better or worse than anywhere else.

weisgarber1 · 04-11-2010, 11:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hiknapster

The first thing to skew the ratings is Memphis which has been badly run for many, many years. There's been a change in power down there so here's hoping things look better. But add to that a lot of little towns across the state with high poverty and very little money for education.

Don't know about the ratings or how the system is run, but I suspect the quality of the Nashville system is similar to that of Memphis, as well as the other factors you mentioned.

hiknapster · 04-11-2010, 11:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by weisgarber1

Don't know about the ratings or how the system is run, but I suspect the quality of the Nashville system is similar to that of Memphis, as well as the other factors you mentioned.

Could be. It runs the gamut all over the state and that is why I don't like lists. The FBI is with me. They discourage people from making these lists because it doesn't really reflect reality in many cases. Unemployment rates are like that, too. In our state there has been unemployment lows of 8 percent and highs of 19.

TN Gal now · 04-12-2010, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NJDevil

I'm sure there are issues. TN's education rating is like 40th. If you live in Seymour your kids go to Sevier County schools, so it's definitely worth finding out what Sevier is like vs. Knox schools. Sorry I can't help you there. The problem here though is that when weather is bad in Gatlinburg, a half hour away, Seymour schools are closed too - and the roads are fine here. So Seymour kids lose a lot of school days for no reason sometimes. In Sevier HS graduates can get into the community college for free,but from there the graduation rate is 12%. That tells you how important education is to these parents.

The further south you drive from downtown, the "better" the areas. I agree there really is no bad area in south Knox, but you can tell the poorer parts of town. Once you get off Chapman Hwy, south Knoxville and Seymour are VERY pretty.

I'm very interested in learning more about free community college tuition for Sevier Co High School graduates - can you please tell me more?

NJDevil · 04-15-2010, 05:26 AM

This is what my friend said - mostly with the lottery hope scholarship and other grants, most high school kids here are virtually guaranteed 2 years funding at a local college. I can try to find out more.

I'm not saying anything negative about Sevier county schools. But a 12% community college grad rate DOES speak volumes. We all know that in some rural areas, highly educated people are looked upon as "snobs" (like Obama). That mother in the movie Precious - you think her mentality was unique? Way too many mothers think like her. I'm glad to hear though that east TN in general has good education reviews.