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We may have an offer to relocate to Jackson from a similar size southern city. Can residents give me some pros and cons? Schools? We have a 1st grader and want a family neighborhood that has pool and tennis normal suburbia homes. What should we expect with the move? We are southern so not a major difference. I believe our city has a more progressive plan for revitalizing downtown like most other cities but that seems to be the only negative I see from postings. Thanks for your insight!
If you can afford private schools for your child, then Jackson still offers a rather nice lifestyle, IF you move into one of the remaining good areas. Public schools in Jackson-proper are completely out of the question.
The results of Jackson's recent Mayoral election mean that all bets are off, regarding the future of the city. Two rather racist people I know from my old Gym met the Daughter of the new Mayor, quite by accident, and say that she is as lovely and charming a person as they have ever met. Their guess is that Chokwe Lumumba must be a far saner/nicer person than he is commonly perceived to be, to have raised such a wonderful daughter. I hope they're right.
So, while it is possible that Jackson voters have finished digging their city's grave, by electing Lumumba, it is also possible that he may be a better administrator than is expected. Time will tell.
In the meantime, I expect that there will be a number of really fabulous properties, priced quite well, coming available inside Jackson. Joining the right club will provide access to a pool and tennis courts (if you don't buy an estate home with those amenities on its grounds). I can't think of any neighborhoods inside the city with both those amenities available to residents. I'm sure there ARE, though. But the norm in FNEJ (Fashionable Northeast Jackson) is to join a gym or club with those amenities, and to put the kids into private schools. Buy a big white (white stays cooler in Mississippi's horrendous heat) Lexus SUV, and float securely down the leafy streets, between home and school/home and tennis club/home and shopping at Highland Village, ensconced in air-conditioned comfort.
As for plans to revitalize the inner city.... Those are mostly just plans. Some ugly modern buildings get built (complete with silly and barren 'open-air performance areas'), every now and then, but their bleakness just adds to the air of hopelessness in the city. They look good as 'Artist's Conceptual Renderings', though. In any event, the election of Lumumba may or may not mean that Jackson will follow Gary, Indiana/Camden, New Jersey/Detroit, Michigan into oblivion. If that happens, then the "plans" will prove even more futile than they have in the past. (look up the history of 'Farish Street', and its four-decades-long "revitalization", and you'll see what I mean)
There are plenty of good restaurants. ( http://bravobuzz.com/ and http://thebeaglebagelcafe.com/ ) And while the metro has neither a Saks nor a Neiman's, Maison Weiss is a great store for women (One of my jewelers called to tell me that a rep from a 'ne plus ultra' watchmaker was in from Switzerland, and spent something like twenty thousand Dollars, in a couple of hours at Maison Weiss, stocking up on hard-to-find ultra-fine items. The clothing is that good.), while Great Scott can hold its own against Barney's, Trillion, Brooks Brothers, Battaglia, and Wilkes Bashford, where fine traditional men's clothing is concerned. Whole Foods is about to open a store in FNEJ, but the Rainbow Whole Foods CoOp is nonprofit (thus trustworthy) and one of the best in the entire Southeast. Highland Village is the best place inside the city for shopping, although the 'Fondren' district has some outstanding offerings.
Where home furnishings are concerned, Jackson is very, very, very advanced. http://pinterest.com/annelleprimos/a...-primos-assoc/ The neighborhoods up and down Ridgewood Road have one enclave after another, featuring homes decorated by some great talents. http://www.mnicholascollection.com/ Expect to be shown homes whose draperies cost more than some houses. The gardens can be quite lovely, too.
You asked about Jackson, and so I'm not going to mention the exurbs to which most of the affluent are fleeing.
Oh, and as for fitting in socially... Get copies of the local glossy society magazines (VIP http://www.vipjacksonmag.com/SECTION/VIP, Northside Sun... http://issuu.com/northsidesun/docs,) and you'll see that there is a Charity Circuit, which is where you'll find transplants with money. If you're struggling financially, then your church will be the center of your social life. There are lots and lots of churches - at least one for each combination of inherited social class, income level, and level of education.
Last edited by GrandviewGloria; 06-13-2013 at 03:21 AM..
For normal suburbs with good schools and neighborhood with pools, the city of Madison was rated one of 10 best cities in the country for families by Family Circle magazine.
The Reservoir neighborhoods in Rankin County are also great. I love an area called the Northshore (literally the north shore of Pelahatchie Bay) and there are others in the Hwy 471/Lakeland Drive vicinity.
Check out schooldigger.com, which ranks the top schools in the state in order of test scores. Several of the top 20 feed into Madison Central, Germantown and Northwest Rankin high schools.
HI Grandview, just wondering, what's wrong with Lumumba?? You don't say what's wrong with him other than he's going to dig the city's grave. How? Why? What is that supposed to mean? I've followed Lumumba's career and I personally think Jackson has needed somebody like him since the 1960s (well they had it with Medgar, but he got killed). Lumumba is probably too militant for white Mississippians, but I think that's what Jackson's majority population needs is a militant mayor who has a proven record of organizing and leadership rather than the long string of uncle toms that have dominated that city's government.
Anyway, to answer the OP's questions, as for schools, I wouldn't send any of my children (if I had any) to any public school in Mississippi. While the state has this fancy system of leveling schools as either 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 (5 being the best) provides some salve and balm for Mississippi parents who are actually harming their students by sending them to public schools. And just so I'm not misunderstood here, the schools lack quality because the state government and many of the county districts have given up on public education. The state has a long track record of ambivalence and outright hostility to public ed. Schools are not funded equitably and teacher training standards are among the worst in the nation. Even the state's GOP governor questioned how the state's higher ed institutions train teachers, claiming that the standards needed to be raised. All of the heads of the schools of edu in the state opposed the governor, claiming that if they ramp up standards for prospective teachers, then they'd have to expel about 75% of those currently enrolled.
I know profs at each of the Mississippi's collleges. They are all history and philosophy professors. Each of them claim that their education majors are among the worst students in their classes. Many of them, they have informed me, read on a six or seventh grade level and are college juniors and seniors. So that's an indication of how bad the public school system is.
Outside of Jackson proper and the suburbs, there are some horrible private schools or derisively called 'segregation academies'. You don't want your kids going there either. Jackson and the suburbs, however, have some fine private schools. Jackson Prep and Jackson Academy and Madison-Ridgeland Academy are fine schools. The hands-down best school in Mississippi is St. Andrew's Episcopal and it's very, very pricey. All of these finer private schools are pricey, but are really the only game in town since the public schools suck so bad.
Madison Central, Clinton, Ridgeland have good public schools, but consider the fact that the faculty there has likely been poorly trained at either Ole Miss, Southern or Miss. State.
It's been a while since I've lived in Jackson (early 2000s), but when I lived there I found the place to be rather disappointing all around. I had a good job and made a lot of money there, but my job nearly drove me crazy. I found people to be rather insular, extremely conservative, and no telling how many times people began a sentence with "I'm not a racist, but..." which indicates that they are about to make a racist statement like "all black people are like this or that." Most folks I met were super enthused about youth sports, church, hunting, and the Republican Party. So if you like those things ad infinitum, then Jackson is the place for you.
I also found people to be a little more phoney than other place I've lived like California (where there are a doo-doo ton of insular people) and Michigan, and NOLa area. I knew tons of folks who smiled at me and said nice things to me and were killing me with kindness only to hear later on that they hated my guts and told slanderous lies about me to mutual friends and acquaintances. That was really weird. I never really experience that as much as I did when I lived in Mississippi.
I'll try to close on a positive note. Jackson rarely has snow and when it happens, then it's a day off like a Madonna song (holiday). Hardly any traffic snarls and when there are, you can get where you need to go on city streets and avoid the interstate. Crime is awful in Jackson proper, but the suburbs are relatively crime free and the suburban cops don't take an doo-doo off of anyone. They are extremely vigilant about keeping Jackson's criminal element in Jackson. The weather is nice in the winter, except for a little more rain than in the summer months. Summers can be brutal, but that's what pools are for. The Rez is nice, especially if you have a boat or can afford to join the Yacht Club.
If you're a Christian, then greater Jackson will be like heaven for you because there's a church on just about every corner and nearly everyone you meet tells you to have a "blessed day" (but they may call you a jag-off once you walk away).
Oh and I nearly forgot. GUNS!!! Miss. recently passed a gunslinger law and it goes into effect here in a few days so folks don't have to hide their glocks and colts anymore. They can sling them around all over the place, wear them on their belt or in a shoulder holster. So if you like GUNS then Jackson is the place for you.
HI Grandview, just wondering, what's wrong with Lumumba?? You don't say what's wrong with him other than he's going to dig the city's grave. How? Why? What is that supposed to mean? I've followed Lumumba's career and I personally think Jackson has needed somebody like him since the 1960s (well they had it with Medgar, but he got killed). Lumumba is probably too militant for white Mississippians, but I think that's what Jackson's majority population needs is a militant mayor who has a proven record of organizing and leadership rather than the long string of uncle toms that have dominated that city's government.
Nothing's wrong with Lumumba, except that he doesn't kowtow to anyone - Black or White. He's been a city councilman for several years and has done nothing "miltant" while in that role, except make sure that Jackson construction contractors hire significant amounts of Black folks. And I don't consider that to be militant...
Quote:
Originally Posted by DiogenesofJackson
Anyway, to answer the OP's questions, as for schools, I wouldn't send any of my children (if I had any) to any public school in Mississippi. While the state has this fancy system of leveling schools as either 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 (5 being the best) provides some salve and balm for Mississippi parents who are actually harming their students by sending them to public schools. And just so I'm not misunderstood here, the schools lack quality because the state government and many of the county districts have given up on public education. The state has a long track record of ambivalence and outright hostility to public ed. Schools are not funded equitably and teacher training standards are among the worst in the nation. Even the state's GOP governor questioned how the state's higher ed institutions train teachers, claiming that the standards needed to be raised. All of the heads of the schools of edu in the state opposed the governor, claiming that if they ramp up standards for prospective teachers, then they'd have to expel about 75% of those currently enrolled.
Hallelujah! I've been saying this for years. Even the "best" public schools in MS pale in comparison to schools in other states. But no one wants to hear that, because either they have vested interests in the status quo, or they know they have no choice but to send their kids to these schools and aren't going to up and move to another state.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DiogenesofJackson
I know profs at each of the Mississippi's collleges. They are all history and philosophy professors. Each of them claim that their education majors are among the worst students in their classes. Many of them, they have informed me, read on a six or seventh grade level and are college juniors and seniors. So that's an indication of how bad the public school system is.
Teaching is no longer a passion, it's now just another job. So if teaching is just another job, that pays poorly (especially so in MS), you are not going to get high-quality students to select that major. Smart, dynamic kids are choosing engineering, law, and business. Feel free to visit a public school and listen to the teachers who can barely talk, saying "skreet" instead of "street," or "skraight" instead of "straight." Any wonder why the kids can't talk, given what they hear all day long? Or the few male teachers in the schools spend their time and energy trying to be the "mac daddy," hitting on and sleeping with the other teachers.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DiogenesofJackson
Outside of Jackson proper and the suburbs, there are some horrible private schools or derisively called 'segregation academies'. You don't want your kids going there either. Jackson and the suburbs, however, have some fine private schools. Jackson Prep and Jackson Academy and Madison-Ridgeland Academy are fine schools. The hands-down best school in Mississippi is St. Andrew's Episcopal and it's very, very pricey. All of these finer private schools are pricey, but are really the only game in town since the public schools suck so bad.
JA is a segregation academy as well - check the date they opened. No coincidence. I wouldn't recommend any minority send their child to a school built by and for the institution of white supremacy, no matter how many black kids they recruit for their football team.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DiogenesofJackson
Madison Central, Clinton, Ridgeland have good public schools, but consider the fact that the faculty there has likely been poorly trained at either Ole Miss, Southern or Miss. State.
The best of a bad lot is all they are... See if their test scores are any better than Murrah (hint: they aren't). But because they are majority white people assume they are better (hint: they aren't).
Back in the 1980s my mother worked as a teacher. When folks asked her what she did for a living, out of shame, she said "i'm a homemaker" because she didn't want her peer group to "know" that she had "failed" in life.
I do agree though that those eschewing a challenge generally gravitate toward the field of education. And then there's the coaches. In Mississippi, the highest paid public official is a football coach.
Bill Lee, a football coach and athletic director at Meridian High (don't know if he's still there), but as of 2006 he was the highest paid "teacher" in the state, drawing an annual salary of $121,000/annually. The Northwest Rankin High baseball coach, who taught study hall (how do you teach study hall) earned that same year $109,000.
Coaching is admirable probably because of the dollars it generates. Teaching English, like my mom did was considered shameful.
Back in the 1980s my mother worked as a teacher. When folks asked her what she did for a living, out of shame, she said "i'm a homemaker" because she didn't want her peer group to "know" that she had "failed" in life.
...
Coaching is admirable probably because of the dollars it generates. Teaching English, like my mom did was considered shameful.
But ain't America great!
I don't know where you grew up, or the type of people you lived near that would consider teaching to be shameful. But I don't think that opinion would be the norm...
"The best of a bad lot is all they are... See if their test scores are any better than Murrah (hint: they aren't). But because they are majority white people assume they are better (hint: they aren't)."
The ACT composite scores at the schools the poster referred to (Madison County, Clinton) are very substantially higher than for Jackson Public Schools. I couldn't find a site listing Murrah's scores separately.
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