Where to live? Best School? Germantown/Collierville/Memphis (Central, Midtown: crime, house prices)

[LMV1]

Thanks, again, for sharing. Seems I still have a lot more research to do. :-/

[CristenS]

Being 70% of one race is about as diverse as it gets for Memphis and it's suburbs. Most Memphis City schools are over 90% black. The suburbs are majority white. There's not a lot else around here that would give any one school a significant amount of any other race. Try not to get too hung up on diversity and go with the best school you can find.

Trying to decide if Farmington is better than Dogwood, etc, is difficult and a matter of opinion most likely. Dogwood is ranked a little better than Farmington, I believe. Overall the eastern part of Germantown feeds into Houston Middle and High but always check each individual home you find online. For Germantown the boundaries may be changing anyway. Supposedly and it's a big supposedly, any Germantown resident will be allowed to pick any school to attend, since the extra taxes are now going towards the separate school system. But it's a shot in the dark if that will actually happen this fall.

[eastmemphisguy]

Originally Posted by CristenS

Being 70% of one race is about as diverse as it gets for Memphis and it's suburbs.

Assuming you are talking about schools and not neighborhoods, that's not true at all. Many schools are quite mixed. Have a look at the data. 2013 Report Card

[CristenS]

I clicked the first school for each letter. Just for curiousity, I wanted to look this up for my own interest since it was mentioned.

Memphis -
A = A.B. Hill = 99.8% black
B = B.T. Washington = 99.6% black
C = Caldwell = 99.4% black
D = Delano = 98.7% black
E = East = 96.3% black
F = Fairly = 99.4% black
....

A = Alturia = 77.7% white
B = Bailey Station = 56.6% white
C = Collierville = 88.1% white
D = Dexter = 44.3% white
E = EA Harold = 50.7% white
F= Farmington = 78.3% white

These are Shelby Co (pre merger) and the few that do have a lower proportion of white students have a higher proportion of Hispanic students, so this makes sense. Bailey Station has a high percentage of Asians which I am surprised at, maybe due to Fed Ex in Collierville? But then Collierville High is 78% white. The poster is from Northern Cali I believe.. The diversity of their schools are most likely nothing like the diversity of ours in Memphis so it will be hard for him/her to find similar schools here.

[LMV1]

Thanks for the link and the follow-up email.

Yes, we are moving from NorCal -- Silicon Valley. The diversity is different here.

Sycamore, in Collierville, was suggested to me. Also, moving into Midtown in Memphis to have easier access to a private school. We would love to be able to walk/bike between home and school.

[CristenS]

There are also large private schools in east Memphis, towards Germantown, and also along Walnut Grove. Have you found a realtor here that you trust? Or does your future company provide any relocation services? Are you looking into particular private schools (certain religion, all girls, etc?)?

[eastmemphisguy]

Private schools are, in most cases, overwhelmingly white. Midtown and Collierville are extremely different culturally, even before worrying about schools.

[LMV1]

My husband met with a realtor during a trip out there. I've been communicating with one, who I happened to link up with while researching housing online. She's been helpful in answering questions and I plan to meet with her when we come for our next visit in March.

I would really prefer a public school, on principle. However, I also want "the best" for my kids. I recognize that it's our job to determine what is best for us, but it's really difficult to filter through everything without actually being there to become familiar with the neighborhoods, etc. I imagine I'm making it even a little more difficult by digging into everything!

So, just from Internet searches and a few private recommendations....
- Lausanne sounds amazing. And St. George's. Amazing, and expensive. Do people really pay that?! They're on our list, but I don't know if we could justify paying that -- we have 3 children and the oldest is currently in 1st grade. That's a lot of tuition!
- Immaculate Conception looks good and is more reasonable. We're Catholic, too, but attend a non-denominational Christian church and our girls' currently attend a school with a major "spiritual" focus. We appreciate that they are exposed to other religions and we teach them that our beliefs are ours by choice and acceptance (mom and dad are not Christian because someone says we should be or because we were raised to be, etc, but because we choose to believe in Christ). I know not everyone who attends a Catholic school is Catholic, but my perception of Catholic school is very different from our personal approach -- which may actually be a good thing.
- Other than that, we may just drive around looking at Germantown and Collierville neighborhoods, find a house, and send our girls to whatever happens to be the neighborhood school (with the exception of a few)! I was looking at Bailey Station before. I don't remember why I eliminated it, unless I just started focusing more on Germantown.

Re: Differences in midtown and Collierville... I honestly know nothing about these areas. Prior to children, we enjoyed being in the middle of action (we lived in New Orleans before moving to CA). Now, I would still like to be close enough to a few good restaurants, but I'm more interested in safety, yard space, safe biking and walking trails.

P.S. Are there any swimming lakes around, for stand-up paddle boarding? I've read about some fishing lakes, but they specifically say swimming isn't allowed.

[85rx-7gsl-se]

Originally Posted by LMV1

My husband met with a realtor during a trip out there. I've been communicating with one, who I happened to link up with while researching housing online. She's been helpful in answering questions and I plan to meet with her when we come for our next visit in March.

I would really prefer a public school, on principle. However, I also want "the best" for my kids. I recognize that it's our job to determine what is best for us, but it's really difficult to filter through everything without actually being there to become familiar with the neighborhoods, etc. I imagine I'm making it even a little more difficult by digging into everything!

So, just from Internet searches and a few private recommendations....
- Lausanne sounds amazing. And St. George's. Amazing, and expensive. Do people really pay that?! They're on our list, but I don't know if we could justify paying that -- we have 3 children and the oldest is currently in 1st grade. That's a lot of tuition!
- Immaculate Conception looks good and is more reasonable. We're Catholic, too, but attend a non-denominational Christian church and our girls' currently attend a school with a major "spiritual" focus. We appreciate that they are exposed to other religions and we teach them that our beliefs are ours by choice and acceptance (mom and dad are not Christian because someone says we should be or because we were raised to be, etc, but because we choose to believe in Christ). I know not everyone who attends a Catholic school is Catholic, but my perception of Catholic school is very different from our personal approach -- which may actually be a good thing.
- Other than that, we may just drive around looking at Germantown and Collierville neighborhoods, find a house, and send our girls to whatever happens to be the neighborhood school (with the exception of a few)! I was looking at Bailey Station before. I don't remember why I eliminated it, unless I just started focusing more on Germantown.

Re: Differences in midtown and Collierville... I honestly know nothing about these areas. Prior to children, we enjoyed being in the middle of action (we lived in New Orleans before moving to CA). Now, I would still like to be close enough to a few good restaurants, but I'm more interested in safety, yard space, safe biking and walking trails.

P.S. Are there any swimming lakes around, for stand-up paddle boarding? I've read about some fishing lakes, but they specifically say swimming isn't allowed.

You can stand-up paddle board at Shelby Farms: http://www.shelbyfarmspark.org/kayakcanoe

As far as mid-town, it is moreso the artistic part of Memphis, but would likely lack things like the yard space/lot size you will find in the suburban communities. As far as public schools, the tradition for quite some time has been if you want your kid to attend public school and can afford it, you move to the suburbs. While their are some great schools in the former city system (Campus School, White Station, etc.), many parents in the city with the means chose private schooling options.

[DubbleT]

Originally Posted by 85rx-7gsl-se

You can stand-up paddle board at Shelby Farms: Kayak + Canoe

As far as mid-town, it is moreso the artistic part of Memphis, but would likely lack things like the yard space/lot size you will find in the suburban communities. As far as public schools, the tradition for quite some time has been if you want your kid to attend public school and can afford it, you move to the suburbs. While their are some great schools in the former city system (Campus School, White Station, etc.), many parents in the city with the means chose private schooling options.

And many of the parents who can afford private school opt for the magnet schools. OP if you are looking for a good combination of some diversity and a good education look into White Station middle and high schools and the elementary schools that feed into those. Socially, racially and economically diverse optional/magnet students are pulled from all across the city and county, with white, middle eastern, and asian students making up the bulk, black and then hispanic. Plenty of threads already address this topic if you want to do the searches. Or you can contact the optional schools department directly if you want more info.