Metairie?????? (Gretna, Jefferson: how much, magnet schools, place to live)

[queencolleen]

I need to find a place to live around Metairie. My husband will be working there in february. We have 2 elementary school children and absolutly MUST have good schools. We've never even been to LA so we desperatly need advice on a good area to live.

[Doogie]

As for public schools, today there was an article (scores) in the paper (Times-Picayune) that shows one of the rankings for Jefferson Parish (Metairie included) schools. The scores are based on a test called LEAP. This is given to 4th graders and 8th graders to qualify for advancement to the next level. It is also given to and Sophomores / Juniors to qualify for graduation. All of the students advance except the ones that score "unsatisfactory". Labels for the columns: A - advanced, M - mastery, B - basic understading, AB - approaching basic and U - unsatisfactory.

Gretna No. 2 and Metairie Grammar are magnet schools so you can apply to go there regardless of where you live in the parish, HOWEVER, competition is stiff and your children would need to score very well on standardized tests to even have a chance.

Of course there is always the private school route, which is very common around here and there are some very good ones. It just depends on how much money you have