Starkville schools/neighborhoods (Columbus: buying a house, buying, private schools)

[ginny0506]

My husband and I are considering positions at MSU and have children who will be attending middle/high schools. Anyone have experience with the city public schools? I haven't had luck pulling up school data reports on the internet. Are the private schools evangelical Christian or more Christian in name and philosophy (i.e. tolerant of non-Christians...we're Jewish)? We prefer public if possible, and our kids would likely take some advanced courses, so any info would be greatly appreciated.

We are also interested in the neighborhoods. We are looking for a home that is in an established family area (lots of kids). Newer is fine...but we would be willing to remodel an older home (10-50 years) if necessary. Any areas with trees and homes build in the 50's and later going through renewal now? Home prices in our current area are much more inflated than Starkville, so price isn't too much of an issue.

We're lived in several small southern towns as a family and are attracted to Starkville's quiet and friendly reputation. Thanks for any advice you can offer!

[ljstar]

Congrats on dual positions! We have three kids in the public school system. Some of the schools are better than others but all in all we've been happy with the education our children have received so far. I don't know about the public high school but hear very good things. For advanced studies, many high school students take classes at the University and the (excellent) Mississippi School for Math and Science is nearby.

For data on schools look at greatschools.net. Starkville voters passed a $26.2 million bond for school improvements which are happening now. Also, the public schools are very diverse which for us is one of the best things about living here. The private schools are all explicitly Christian.

Starkville is great for family life. Not as much for single life if you're not a student. A lot of activities happen around church life, though. There is no synagogue in Starkville but there is one nearby in Columbus (the Rabbi, a prof at MSU, lives in Starkville and his kids went through the Starkville public school system and on to top-ranked colleges.) If you've liked living in other parts of the South, I think you'll really enjoy life here.

The most kid-friendly neighborhood is Timbercove. Greenbriar is also nice but has fewer trees. Turnover is higher in Greenbriar so there's usually more houses to choose from in this neighborhood. There hasn't been much remodeling of older neighborhoods here, mostly new developments. Some recent developments have had foundation problems so be careful. There are some nice new houses are being built near downtown but I wouldn't describe this area as kid friendly (lots of students, not many families.)

Starkville has gotten better every year we've lived here with more things to do, more restaurants, more diversity/tolerance on more dimensions and I think this trend is going to continue for years to come. Good luck with your decisions!

[ginny0506]

Thanks for your reply! It was very helpful! We were able to visit recently, and we were impressed with how friendly everyone was. The campus is lovely - many improvements since we we last visited years ago! My family was impressed that Starkville has several sushi restaurants (we tried two of them - and both were pretty good). Downtown/cotton district area is quaint...again, many improvements since the eighties/nineties . We were invited to join several churches - and people were not at all put off by us being Jewish - but were certainly curious about it if not a little surprised (I wasn't really worried about that, but I have seen several threads addressing tolerance in MS). We may hold off on buying a house until we've had a chance to get a feel for the area. Thanks again!!!