Can someone explain this Williamson County school rezoning stuff to me? (Franklin: rent, credit)
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Thanks all - really appreciate the responses. We're leaning towards targeting the Brentwood area for the schools, but thankfully we've got more time to ponder it all! I'm probably worrying about it way too early anyway. I think a lot of what makes a school good is also the administration and the teachers. The people in those positions will obviously change over the next few years anyway. Good to have some general knowledge about the schools though.
Monitoring the test scores can also get a bit out of hand. Here in CA we live in a top-notch school district. We know a couple who live in one of the fanciest parts of town in a house that probably would sell for about $2.5 million (normal house just has an ocean view thus the price). We live in a nice section of town as well, but it's a mix of condos, townhouses and smaller single family homes. Test scores came out for this year and the elementary school in our area of town came out slightly ahead of the elementary school where the folks with the $2.5 million dollar house live. They recently told us they're thinking about buying a condo in our section of town and moving into it and renting out their house because they want their soon-to-be-enrolled in kindergarten son to go to the best school in the district. Seriously? That's insane - especially over a few little points! Craziness.
Thanks all - really appreciate the responses. We're leaning towards targeting the Brentwood area for the schools, but thankfully we've got more time to ponder it all! I'm probably worrying about it way too early anyway. I think a lot of what makes a school good is also the administration and the teachers. The people in those positions will obviously change over the next few years anyway. Good to have some general knowledge about the schools though.
Monitoring the test scores can also get a bit out of hand. Here in CA we live in a top-notch school district. We know a couple who live in one of the fanciest parts of town in a house that probably would sell for about $2.5 million (normal house just has an ocean view thus the price). We live in a nice section of town as well, but it's a mix of condos, townhouses and smaller single family homes. Test scores came out for this year and the elementary school in our area of town came out slightly ahead of the elementary school where the folks with the $2.5 million dollar house live. They recently told us they're thinking about buying a condo in our section of town and moving into it and renting out their house because they want their soon-to-be-enrolled in kindergarten son to go to the best school in the district. Seriously? That's insane - especially over a few little points! Craziness.
Thanks again all - much appreciate the info.
If I moved again, I would seriously try to buy as close to Brentwood Middle and Brentwood High as possible (they're next to each other). Or I would live somewhere cheaper and go private. The neighborhoods in Brentwood I think are a bit older which is why I didn't go there but if you live close I think you can be assured of your future. Also, Brentwood doesn't have explosive growth. If you live close to Ravenwood, you may be zoned there or you may be zoned to Centennial. If you live between Centennial and Indepence, you'll get ping-ponged. I live in Franklin, most likely in Septimus' neighborhood, and I love Franklin for the friendly neighborhoods but nowhere is safe as far as zoning goes. We may be zoned from our Franklin Schools to Thompson Station (12 miles away) and Leipers Fork. A couple of years ago, the neighborhoods closer in to Franklin than we are got rezoned that way (the school bus picks the high school kids up at 6 am). As far as the new rezoning goes, they show many of their schools at overcapacity in 3-4 years so they'll rezone.
If you don't mind the commute from Thompson Station or Spring Hill, those areas woud also be worth looking at. The schools are good and new. If you want Independence High School, look for a home just to the West of it. I just don't want to be zoned there from an area 12 miles away.
Could someone direct me to previous posts regarding the different Williamson County high schools? I know there has to be some, but I'm not finding any. I've read good things about Brentwood and Ravenwood (and also read some opinions on Franklin and Page) just can't find much discussion on Centennial or Independence....
All of the county schools offer a college prep track. Depending on demographics some are more so... Brentwood and Ravenwood have less than 1% of the student body of free/reduced lunch and the students are very affluent (almost too affluent from some of the behavior I've seen--I went to prep school in the northeast and none of my friends dressed, drove cars, went to concerts like these kids do. Ravenwood also has/had some drug issues.
Page is more rural, but a solid school. It sends students to top schools too. At least 1 student recently went to Stanford.
Independence is solid but going through a massive rezoning right now with a bunch of students being moved out to go to the new Summit High School and another group being moved from Franklin High to Independence.
Franklin High is the only school in the county that accurately reflects the economic and racial diversity of the county. It also has the county's only IB program. IB program gets great reviews and apparently is fairly difficult.
Centennial is a good school but has had some issues because of "white flight". It has one of the highest precentage of students on free and reduced lunch and is 30+% minority. There was a student murdered a few years ago and it was apparently gang related. The Centennial "gang" wasn't a real gang like MS-13, the Bloods, Crips, etc.. but they went down to Columbia and actually found a real gang and that is where the murder took place. If you look at Centennial's college placement it is good. Personally I would rather be zoned for Centennial than Independence but that is because I think exposing my kids to diversity is very important and Centennial is closer to our house.
If I was going to send my kids to public high school (they'll go to boarding school back east) I wouldn't worry about any of the county schools except Fairview and that has to do more with the culture of Fairview than what the county is offering. Fairview isn't seen as a school that sends a lot of kids off to top colleges. 4 year college isn't seen as a priority for a lot of the kids there from my observations.
Wait wait wait ...
Just to be clear: There was no student murdered at Centennial. A CHS student named Juan Castro was killed out in Columbia in 2008 in a sort of drive-by. The same year there was a fight in the cafeteria, and someone was hurt. That started the whole standard attire dress code etc. but please don't think Centennial is our version of Compton, CA because it's not even close.
Wait wait wait ...
Just to be clear: There was no student murdered at Centennial. A CHS student named Juan Castro was killed out in Columbia in 2008 in a sort of drive-by. The same year there was a fight in the cafeteria, and someone was hurt. That started the whole standard attire dress code etc. but please don't think Centennial is our version of Compton, CA because it's not even close.
Oh I agree 100% and hopefully I conveyed that. I did state the murder took place in Columbia....
You did. At first it said, "A student was murdered there..." and so many people read very quickly on these forums. I just wanted to emphasize.
We don't go to Centennial but several friends do, and the way it's being villainized in the whole rezoning coverage is shameful.
I agree. I hope the NAACP and DOE investigate why there is such a discrepency in the number of kids of low SES there vs other nearby schools.
I also would rather be zoned there then where the last zoning proposal suggested.
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