Portland TN Schools (Franklin, Hendersonville, White House: 2009, house, middle schools)

[Mrs5254]

My husband and I live in Nashville. We just found a house in Portland TN that we LOVED. It is so hard to read those reports and see if the schools are up to standards or not. Does anyone know about the schools??? My son would go to the new Elementary school that was just built. There are so many conflicting reports on Portland Schools. I do know the percentage of the people that DO NOT go to college there is 63% Please HELP with any information! THANK YOU!!!!

[LeeB]

We only moved here a little over a year ago and have no kids in school but I can say we love Portland. It is a small town and has VERY friendly people... Good Luck...

[Mrs5254]

Thank you so much for the response. I would LOVE any info on the schools if any one has any?? That is what we are concerned with right now!!

[LeeB]

Wish I could help... All I can say is Positive in Positive out.

If you stay on top of your son and be involved it would be a great help to him in the future. Our kids are 24years old (we just moved here last year) but I attended as many school functions and I could and got to know lots of teachers and parents.

But I am sure these are things you already knew that.

[DonCorleone]

What elementary school are you zoned for? I have a coworker who lives up in Portland with schoolage kids and she seems to be pretty happy with their education. I'll ask her.

[MiddleTNresident]

Here's an interesting article about 6 Sumner County schools (middle and high schools) that fell short this year.

Meanwhile 2 schools in Robertson County, which in the past has been criticized, got upgraded in status.

I know you asked about Elementary, but eventually kids get older and move up to the middle and high schools. Sumner tends to always get rave reviews here, but this article paints a slightly less rosy picture.

Sumner article:
6 Sumner schools fall short of federal performance goals | tennessean.com | The Tennessean

Robertson article:
School system receives passing mark | tennessean.com | The Tennessean

Of course, Sumner will undoubtedly work to improve their scores since this can really tarnish an image that (in my opinion) has been overhyped a bit.

[Mrs5254]

Those articles are VERY scary!! We are zoned for Gate view Elementary, Portland Middle and Portland High

[vivelafrance]

Schools are always cycling on and off this list. Even Williamson Co had a few schools on including Franklin high whis was ranked as one of the top 1000 schools in the nation. Portland has better schools than most similar sized rural cities because of Sumner's nice tax base. However it's still a rural town and there's not as great of a focus on College-track education there as in places like Hendersonville and Franklin.

[46Barb]

I don't have children in school but from what I understand, White House schools would be a much better choice than Portland. A friend of mine just yesterday told me that some of the families she knows in Portland are home schooling their children until high school; they won't even think of sending their children to the Portland elementary & middle schools.

Children & schooling are very important so do as much research as you can.