Marietta City Schools and Cobb Co. School Dist? (Atlanta, Roswell: transfer, best schools)

[veegee56]

We are looking to relocate to the Marietta area, we are from the Chicago western suburbs. We have questions as to why there's a Marietta City school and Cobb County school districts? Our son has a 504Plan (a very light IEP plan sorta). Which high schools/middle schools in the area are very responsive to these situations? Who pays for Cobb Co. and Marietta City schools? Are we limited to which schools kids can go to? If there is ANYONE reading this that is in a similar situation as us, maybe you can give us better pointers about the schools compared to the suburbs and Marietta schools! We've been told to aviod Marietta City schools... any suggestions?!?!
Thanks!!

[lastminutemom]

Why? I suppose that once upon a time (a very long time ago) the city founders of Marietta wanted their own school system. Atlanta, Buford and Decatur are all cities in Metro Atlanta that have their own systems. 50 years ago or more, the state legislature passed a law banning any city from creating a new school system (which is a real shame because smaller systems, the research shows, generally are better ones).

Walton High School, arguably one of the highest rated high schools in Georgia, does not have the best reputation with special needs kids.

What is your child's disability, if you don't mind me asking? Might be able to give you more targetted advice.

[GF72]

Over 70% of Cobb County is unincorporated. An unincorporated area is not within any city limits, therefore that area is directly controlled by the county and the residents of unincorporated areas do not have to pay any city taxes. A long time ago, unincorporated county land was basically countryside while the various incorporated cities around Cobb County such as Marietta and Kennesaw were the developed areas where people live. Marietta was the county seat and largest city and like other old towns they decided to form their own school system to suit their needs.

Over time, population grew to the point where the entire county filled up and the unincorporated parts of the county became far more prosperous and populous than the historic incorporated cities. Marietta retains it's old school system just because it was already in place.

To answer your question about who pays for what, the Marietta city schools are paid for by the residents who live within the city limits of Marietta. This comes out to over 60,000 people with an median family income of around $50,000 to $60,000.

Cobb County schools are paid for by everyone who lives in Cobb County but not within Marietta city limits. As of 2005 this comes out to almost 600,000 people with a median family income of about $80,000.

And yes, avoid Marietta city schools.

The best schools are in East Cobb (the Walton, Pope, and Lassiter high school districts).
The 2nd best schools are in the are between East Cobb and Marietta (Wheeler and Sprayberry), the area around Kennesaw and west of Marietta (Kennesaw Mountain and Harrison).

Every other school district (the high schools in cobb as rule are indicative of the middle and elementary schools in that zone) falls in the range of average to terrible. The southern portions of the county have some of the worst schools in the county, state, and probably the whole country (the Osborne, Pepplebrook, and South Cobb high school districts immediate come to mind).

[veegee56]

Hi and thanks! To Lastminutemom, our son has a mild case of ADD. Thanks so much.

[ATLienGirl]

Originally Posted by GF72

Over 70% of Cobb County is unincorporated. An unincorporated area is not within any city limits, therefore that area is directly controlled by the county and the residents of unincorporated areas do not have to pay any city taxes. A long time ago, unincorporated county land was basically countryside while the various incorporated cities around Cobb County such as Marietta and Kennesaw were the developed areas where people live. Marietta was the county seat and largest city and like other old towns they decided to form their own school system to suit their needs.

Over time, population grew to the point where the entire county filled up and the unincorporated parts of the county became far more prosperous and populous than the historic incorporated cities. Marietta retains it's old school system just because it was already in place.

To answer your question about who pays for what, the Marietta city schools are paid for by the residents who live within the city limits of Marietta. This comes out to over 60,000 people with an median family income of around $50,000 to $60,000.

Cobb County schools are paid for by everyone who lives in Cobb County but not within Marietta city limits. As of 2005 this comes out to almost 600,000 people with a median family income of about $80,000.

And yes, avoid Marietta city schools.

The best schools are in East Cobb (the Walton, Pope, and Lassiter high school districts).
The 2nd best schools are in the are between East Cobb and Marietta (Wheeler and Sprayberry), the area around Kennesaw and west of Marietta (Kennesaw Mountain and Harrison).

Every other school district (the high schools in cobb as rule are indicative of the middle and elementary schools in that zone) falls in the range of average to terrible. The southern portions of the county have some of the worst schools in the county, state, and probably the whole country (the Osborne, Pepplebrook, and South Cobb high school districts immediate come to mind).

Just curious to ask, why avoid Marietta Schools? I have quite a few colleagues who have taught in that district for years and they love it; getting a teaching job in that district is near impossible because the teacher turnover rate is low. As an educator, that is an indication that something in the district is going well, but, maybe you can give me some new insight.

[GF72]

Teachers like teaching at Marietta city schools, the school district is really good for teachers, in terms of benefits and things like that. I've heard plenty of times that it's a great place to work.

However, for students it's a pretty average American high school, and the quality of education is nowhere near the levels of the East Cobb schools and not as good as the schools north of west of the city either.

Of course, it's all relative, Marietta High school is much better than any school in southern Cobb County. Really it just comes down to the income of the residents in the area. The East Cobb schools are good because the kids all come from successful well educated families and their parents make sure those schools are the best, East Cobb is a suburban residential area with a median family income of about $150,000 and Marietta is an aging old town next to an air force base, it's really not too hard to put two and two together as to WHY there's such big differences between Cobb County schools. People like to think Forsyth County and Cherokee County school districts are doing something right because all their schools are pretty good, sure but it's also because the entirety of both of those counties is suburban/rural residential areas whereas in Cobb County theres everything from mansions to high-rise office buildings to military bases to poor ghetto areas. High income areas = good schools. The only note being in the suburbs they are usually public and in-town they are private.

But aside from all that, from personal experience all of that is quite true. Basically all it comes down to is that Marietta School District is not bad (it's average, relative to the state), it's just far eclipsed because everything to the east of Marietta all the way to Gwinnett County you basically have most of the best public high schools in the state all in one place, Walton, Pope, Lassiter, Roswell, Centennial, Milton, Alpharetta, Chattahoochee, Northview.... Marietta city schools aren't bad at all but they just don't come close to those schools. Every single one of those school districts contain elementary and middle schools that post nothing less than 90-100 percentile average scores for all their standardized scores. Whereas some schools in Cobb County post average numbers like 60 percentile on an elementary school standardized english test... that is basically saying 40 percent of the kids in those schools effectively can't read which is a serious problem quite honestly...

[ATLienGirl]

Originally Posted by GF72

Teachers like teaching at Marietta city schools, the school district is really good for teachers, in terms of benefits and things like that. I've heard plenty of times that it's a great place to work.

However, for students it's a pretty average American high school, and the quality of education is nowhere near the levels of the East Cobb schools and not as good as the schools north of west of the city either.

Of course, it's all relative, Marietta High school is much better than any school in southern Cobb County. Really it just comes down to the income of the residents in the area. The East Cobb schools are good because the kids all come from successful well educated families and their parents make sure those schools are the best, East Cobb is a suburban residential area with a median family income of about $150,000 and Marietta is an aging old town next to an air force base, it's really not too hard to put two and two together as to WHY there's such big differences between Cobb County schools. People like to think Forsyth County and Cherokee County school districts are doing something right because all their schools are pretty good, sure but it's also because the entirety of both of those counties is suburban/rural residential areas whereas in Cobb County theres everything from mansions to high-rise office buildings to military bases to poor ghetto areas. High income areas = good schools. The only note being in the suburbs they are usually public and in-town they are private.

But aside from all that, from personal experience all of that is quite true. Basically all it comes down to is that Marietta School District is not bad (it's average, relative to the state), it's just far eclipsed because everything to the east of Marietta all the way to Gwinnett County you basically have most of the best public high schools in the state all in one place, Walton, Pope, Lassiter, Roswell, Centennial, Milton, Alpharetta, Chattahoochee, Northview.... Marietta city schools aren't bad at all but they just don't come close to those schools. Every single one of those school districts contain elementary and middle schools that post nothing less than 90-100 percentile average scores for all their standardized scores. Whereas some schools in Cobb County post average numbers like 60 percentile on an elementary school standardized english test... that is basically saying 40 percent of the kids in those schools effectively can't read which is a serious problem quite honestly...

Oh, okay, I see what you are saying, personal experience accounts for a lot.

[annabbear]

can any resident of Cobb County attend either a Marietta City or Cobb County school of their choosing? Was there a new law that passed such a mandate?

[lastminutemom]

No.

The law that passed doesn't permit transfers between systems just within systems. In fact, it will be July at the earliest before the rules are written and everyone should have realistic expectations. There will be very little movement in most systems as a result of this law. Most good schools in Metro Atlanta (and even some not so good ones) are over crowded already.

[chowell10]

I live in mcs district and I hate the whole system. the elementary school are so screwed up you can live walking distance from one and have to drive ur child all the way across town to attend school, the 6th grade academy middle and high school are so over crowded that the children get lost in system. it takes an act of god to get any help for your child for any reason. I want my child to go to cobb county schools, how do I go about doing this. the violence and drug in the mcs system is so unreal, the teachers and admins are completely over powered by the students that they cant really do anything to stop the problem and the high school is so fake it looks good but is so screwed up. they are so worried about image and sports and the ib program that everyone else gets left out and miss treated, unless you are alumni or part of white the upper class that is.