Prentiss, MS (Hattiesburg, Petal: crime, school district, live in)

[petalite]

DH and I are thinking of moving from Petal to Prentiss. Can any one tell me about the area. We have 4 kids and want to move closer to DH's job. The commute is killing us financially and emotionally. Petal has a level 5 school district, we're close to great medical so this move would be a bit change for us.

thanks

Peggy

[auntbee]

I haven't lived in Prentiss, but I do know from seeing the news that there seems to be a lot of crime in that area, mostly drug related. There isn't a very large city very close so I imagine your shopping choices would be very limited, as well as medical care. I just moved to a small town from a larger one and I'm having a hard time adjusting to the lack of places to shop. I'm not a big shopper, but I would like to have more than one grocery store.

[Somiss]

I lived in Prentiss from 1969 to 1983 and it was a decent town. We had to go to Hattiesburg for most shopping and entertainment which is about 35 miles away.

I still have relatives that live in Prentiss and we visit a few times a year. The There are some many good people that still live in Prentiss. The town has really gone down the past 10 year and the public schools have done the same.

I might think twice about moving unless you want to send your children to a private school (Prentiss Christian is in town). The public school in Prentiss is not where I would want to send my children. There has been a big "white flight" out of the public schools over the years. When I graduated, there were about 60% black and 40% white in the schools and we all got along well. It seems now that the schools are 90-95% black and most whites with children send them elsewhere. The schools are having financial problems due to a $1 to 2 million dollar deficit due to mismanagement of funds. It's been in the news quite often the past few months.

The drug problem is very bad in Jefferson Davis County also. It seems like law enforcement either won't or can't control the situation regarding drugs.

I love the time that I lived in Jefferson Davis County but times have changed and I wouldn't want to move back there again.