Objective view of Oldham Cnty Schools please (Louisville, Crestwood: homes, neighborhood)

[Delaney72]

Hi. We are possibly moving to the area and were looking at Oldham County as a place to settle. I have heard primarily good things about the schools in Oldham Cnty, they seem to be ranked quite well and the test scores, in general, look really good. However, I spoke with someone this morning that just couldn't find anything good to say about Oldham County school, or the people who live there. He stated that they're all "right-wingers", that Oldham county was code for "no blacks" and the schools are not that good & many parent are unhappy with them. I'm also curious about the special services that the schools provide. I have a son that stutters and he currently receives speech therapy at school individually. In speaking with a speech/language pathologist in the schools there it seems that he would most certainly be grouped with other kids (in a therapy setting) whose needs would be very different - articulation, apraxia and autism, although she said that being grouped with autistic kids for therapy would be unlikely. If anyone can give an objective opinion or if you have kids in the Oldham schools and can share your experience, I would certainly appreciate it.
Thanks.

[tomocox]

Originally Posted by Delaney72

Hi. We are possibly moving to the area and were looking at Oldham County as a place to settle. I have heard primarily good things about the schools in Oldham Cnty, they seem to be ranked quite well and the test scores, in general, look really good. However, I spoke with someone this morning that just couldn't find anything good to say about Oldham County school, or the people who live there. He stated that they're all "right-wingers", that Oldham county was code for "no blacks" and the schools are not that good & many parent are unhappy with them. I'm also curious about the special services that the schools provide. I have a son that stutters and he currently receives speech therapy at school individually. In speaking with a speech/language pathologist in the schools there it seems that he would most certainly be grouped with other kids (in a therapy setting) whose needs would be very different - articulation, apraxia and autism, although she said that being grouped with autistic kids for therapy would be unlikely. If anyone can give an objective opinion or if you have kids in the Oldham schools and can share your experience, I would certainly appreciate it.
Thanks.

Delaney, The information you received is totally false!! And I can prove it! Whomever told you that Oldham County is racist has no clue. Quite the opposite, if you believe that education diminishes racism, then that alone is proof. Are there racists in Oldham County, of course, there are a few, but then again, what is a racist? Are all racists white descendants of Europe or can a racist be an Asian, African, Hispanic, or simply a jerk?

Now, to your specific questions. There is no doubt that if you have a special needs child, Jefferson County offers the best services simply because they have more similar needing children.

You will find however that if you have more than one child, because of the poor service given to "mainstream" children, you may find living in Oldham County and then hiring a professional non-school affiliated firm such as The Chatter Box (6917 Hwy 329, Crestwood) may be a considerable choice for you.

Yes, I am a professional Realtor (Principal Broker-Owner). I live in Oldham County, have an office in LaGrange, and yet three out of every four homes we sell are not in Oldham County, (1/2 are in Jefferson County). I have raised 4 children. 1 graduated from JCPS, 2 from Catholic schools, and 1 from Oldham County. I say this as a disclosure, not as an attempt to solicit. I belong to a conservative church which is multi-cultural, as well as being a Rotarian in a multi-cultural club.

I hope this provides you with information that you find real, objective, and of value to you.

[Delaney72]

Originally Posted by tomocox

Delaney, The information you received is totally false!! And I can prove it! Whomever told you that Oldham County is racist has no clue. Quite the opposite, if you believe that education diminishes racism, then that alone is proof. Are there racists in Oldham County, of course, there are a few, but then again, what is a racist? Are all racists white descendants of Europe or can a racist be an Asian, African, Hispanic, or simply a jerk?

Now, to your specific questions. There is no doubt that if you have a special needs child, Jefferson County offers the best services simply because they have more similar needing children.

You will find however that if you have more than one child, because of the poor service given to "mainstream" children, you may find living in Oldham County and then hiring a professional non-school affiliated firm such as The Chatter Box (6917 Hwy 329, Crestwood) may be a considerable choice for you.

Yes, I am a professional Realtor (Principal Broker-Owner). I live in Oldham County, have an office in LaGrange, and yet three out of every four homes we sell are not in Oldham County, (1/2 are in Jefferson County). I have raised 4 children. 1 graduated from JCPS, 2 from Catholic schools, and 1 from Oldham County. I say this as a disclosure, not as an attempt to solicit. I belong to a conservative church which is multi-cultural, as well as being a Rotarian in a multi-cultural club.

I hope this provides you with information that you find real, objective, and of value to you.

Tomocox, Thanks for the reply. I had a feeling his description was a little off. He seemed to be a bit of an elitist. My husband and I had been down in the area this past weekend and didn't get that sense at all. Jefferson County concerns me b/c their schools across the board are not as good (from what we can tell) and yes, we have 2 other children and having them at different schools is a concern for us. We are from New England and are used to our kids all attending the same neighborhood school. We are also trying to locate a speech therapist that is experienced in stuttering which can be difficult, but if we found someone we rely less on the school for services. I will certainly look into The Chatterbox.

I appreciate your input.

Thanks.

[carol100]

A while back, I worked at OCMS. It is an excellent school. The area seems to have more hispanics than blacks. They had a special ed. program for non main streamed kids and it was excellent. My son needed to have special ed services and they did awesome testing to see where he fit. But teenagers can be very rough on a mainstreamed kid with a disability or if they are just different. My child had a very difficult time, although they did thorough testing, the testing process was finished way to late in the year to help my child. He faced a lot of stress in the regular classroom, yet he was too bright to be in the pull out classes for the whole day. OCMS is a great school, but I believe all teenagers are tough on disabled kids. If you can afford private school in the Lousiville area, look into Academy for Individual Excellence

[tomocox]

Originally Posted by carol100

A while back, I worked at OCMS. It is an excellent school. The area seems to have more hispanics than blacks. They had a special ed. program for non main streamed kids and it was excellent. My son needed to have special ed services and they did awesome testing to see where he fit. But teenagers can be very rough on a mainstreamed kid with a disability or if they are just different. My child had a very difficult time, although they did thorough testing, the testing process was finished way to late in the year to help my child. He faced a lot of stress in the regular classroom, yet he was too bright to be in the pull out classes for the whole day. OCMS is a great school, but I believe all teenagers are tough on disabled kids. If you can afford private school in the Lousiville area, look into Academy for Individual Excellence

A very good post! Thank you!

[Delaney72]

Thanks for the replies. My son is 9. He's an excellent student and athletic and his peers like him. He just sounds a little different sometimes when he speaks. I know he'll find his niche, I was more concerned with the speech therapy services he will receive. We have found a SLP dept at the U of L that we are pretty comfortable with, so the schools would be a back-up. We are hoping to be down sometime after the new year. My husband will be down earlier to start the new job. Looking forward to living in the Louisville area.