Walk to school (Atlanta, Tucker, Decatur: renting, houses, transfer)

[unsettledITP]

I have been reading the boards for the past few weeks about various areas around metro Atlanta and have a few questions that seem to be unanswered. Currently, we live in Clarkston just inside the perimeter. Although the commute to downtown and Buckhead is good, the schools are horrible (McClendon/Shamrock). I love the Dekalb Farmer's Market and cannot imagine living without an adequate substitute and I cannot bear to think about leaving the vast array of Indian restaurants. I would be willing to commute to downtown to live a better life while I am not working, and while I have read many posts about the trade-offs between larger houses/better schools I have not read if anyone is actually happy. So, I am asking anyone to respond about their communities that fit the following criteria: An elementary school within walking distance where kids actually walk to school. Kids playing outside of their homes with other neighborhood kids. Neighbors who actually speak to one another and have many neighborhood cookouts and events. And while I am looking for a utopian wish list: diversity, liberal, not church dominated, educated, and healthy. Thanks!

[lastminutemom]

I don't know what your price range is -- and while I think it is slightly less economically diverse than it use to be, have you considered the City of Decatur Schools. I think many people are very happy with the schools there.

We live in DeKalb, and while I am not to thrilled with the overall quality of DeKalb schools, I do feel as though my kids' schools are good and I know by their very high nationally normed standardized test scores that they are doing well.

While I think Tucker Middle and Tucker high are struggling, I know many people are happy with Livsey and Midvale. I know of several families that are leaving Tucker for the Lakeside district or private school because of ongoing problems related to the influx of No Child Left Behind transfer students.

However, if your children are little bitty, school quality and even what public education will look like in 10 years is a hard thing to judge.

[JPD]

Brockett school is a good elementary school in Tucker. It's also close to Clarkston, so you wouldn't have to leave behind the things you currently enjoy in that area.

You can easily walk to Brockett school from any neighborhood off of Brockett Road. I do not go to church and nobody tries to get me to go to church with them, so it's clearly not church dominated. The kids in my neighborhood are often out playing with their classmates. Adults are out every evening getting exercise. We find that our neighbors are very approachable and easy to talk to. I live in the "Windy Hill" part of Brockett. I've lived all over Atlanta and I find my neighborhood to be the ONLY place I've lived that I would describe as "diverse". People rarely display their political leanings, but I have seen signs and stickers for both parties in equal numbers displayed during campaign season. If you want a liberal area you need to go to Decatur or Candler Park, or some other intown neighborhoods. The only thing on your list that is missing is picnics. We don't have a lot of neighborhood picnincs, but there have been a few.

Tucker is getting a new high school in 2009, so hopefully whatever problems they're facing will be corrected.

[cmtiger]

Decatur fits your bill. I have one kid who walks to school and the other bikes. My kids are outside running up and down the street with neighborhood kids right now. There are a good number of parents who are either full time stay-at-home parents or who work at home or work part time so there are always people around.

Decatur is ethnically diverse... but only between two races - we have black and white but not a lot of Asian, Hispanic, etc. It is definitely diverse as far as ideas and lifestyles - we have everything from Evangelical Christians to Buddhists to Republicans to far left Democrats on the same street. Your kids will certainly be exposed to a wealth of different ways of looking at the world if you live here. It makes for some really interesting dinner party debates, but everyone seems to be respectful of others' differences so it all works out well.

Problem with Decatur is that it is getting freakishly expensive, even in Oakhurst. There are still some deals in parts of College Heights, Oakhurst and the northeast corner but you have to do your homework. It is defintely possible to find 3 bedrooms for under $300K if you don't need perfection.

And.. yes our house is small by suburban standards, but it's worth it to us. And, yes... we are very happy here.

[backfist]

unsettledITP~

I won't say what you're looking for is a fantasy inasmuch as it's a extremely valuable commodity today. The kind of neighborhood you want--heck, I want it too--is scarce and a hot commodity. You can find various aspects in different neighborhoods, but the entire package is pretty much a thing of the past. I find that tragic.

There are developers who are trying to duplicate some of that kind of neighborhood, but they will always lack new schools and shopping that are within walking distance. What's more, they are second or third ring suburbs, so a significant part of the day is spent in stressful commuting, etc.

We've given up the quest for such a community inside the perimeter, and are (begrudingly) focusing on the outer suburbs of Suwanee, Sugar Hill, Dacula, etc.

[unsettledITP]

While Decatur would be ideal, I think it would be a stretch to buy a home over 300/350k. The kids are 4 and 1 now. Our house is 3b 1.5ba which is ok now but will become extremely cramped once the kids become older. Will the new Tucker high school be a replacement on the existing one, or do you feel that major redistricting is in the works for Dekalb county in the next few years? I can't imagine that Dekalb can continue to ignore this area for much longer.

[JPD]

Originally Posted by unsettledITP

Will the new Tucker high school be a replacement on the existing one, or do you feel that major redistricting is in the works for Dekalb county in the next few years?

The high school is a replacement for the current one. It will be a bit bigger than the current one. (1700-something students. I'm not sure what the current enrollment is, but I'm sure it's well over 1,000.)

EDIT: Tucker High School currently has an enrollment of 1,400 (acording to their website). There is suppodsed to be an "Increased student capacity" of close to 1,800. I'm not sure if that means the new total capacity will increase TO 1,800 or increase BY 1,800. If it's the latter, that's 3,200 students. That's going to be a HUGE school, but it doesn't make sense to build a new $70 million school that can only grow by 400 students considering our population is exploding.


If I may ask, in what way(s) do you feel Dekalb is ignoring Tucker?

[unsettledITP]

I think Dekalb county is ignoring north Dekalb in general and not solely Tucker. If you look at the new schools and proposed schools for Dekalb county, all are in South Dekalb or East Dekalb. In the meantime, the Dekalb schools inside the perimeter appear to be dilapidated at best. I believe Briar Vista received approval recently for improvements, but what about NEW schools to replace these intown schools?

[JPD]

When you said "I can't imagine that Dekalb can continue to ignore this area" I thought you were referring specifically to Tucker since you were asking about the High School. You're right, the school system as a whole is made up of buildings that are quite old, many of which could stand to be replaced. I don't know how they could pay for replacement schools county wide without creating a larger tax base through residential development and large scale business developments. Dekalb citizens go into a frenzy fighting every proposed project, so I can't figure out what it is that people in this county want or expect. I assume they want a world that can only exist if they ignore reality.

Luckily I live in a part of the county that is not getting the shaft (not that there aren't some problems). On the contrary we are getting, or have recently gotten, a new library, new high school, new middle school, and some other new services (curbside recycling, to name one).

[unsettledITP]

Few kids walk, bike to school - Kids & Parenting - MSNBC.com

So how many of you OTP residents have children that walk to school? Going back to my original post, it seems that most move out to the suburbs for quality of life and schools. Is this the case?