Where do people in Grant park, Ormewood Park, Kirkwood, etc send their kids to school??? (Atlanta: neighborhoods)

[kgpremed13]

If you look at the demographics and median income of these neighborhoods, then look at the demographics of the schools in the area, they don't seem to be going to school close to home. I know there are charter schools in those neighborhoods, but still, they don't seem to explain everything. To be blunt how do neighborhoods that are primarily white and wealthy have public schools that are mostly black and poor? Are most of them going to private school? But then again, in the city, there aren't a lot of large private schools either.

[BobbyJayATL]

Originally Posted by kgpremed13

If you look at the demographics and median income of these neighborhoods, then look at the demographics of the schools in the area, they don't seem to be going to school close to home. I know there are charter schools in those neighborhoods, but still, they don't seem to explain everything. To be blunt how do neighborhoods that are primarily white and wealthy have public schools that are mostly black and poor? Are most of them going to private school? But then again, in the city, there aren't a lot of large private schools either.

I'm not sure the school aged populations offhand for those neighborhoods, but Drew and Atlanta Neighborhood Charter are top choices if they can get in (it used to be much easier - nearly a given; that explains nearly anyone that's lived there for more than a few years and has kids more or less in mid-elementary on.)

Otherwise there are a good number of privates that are nearby (and for that matter not nearby) that people send their kids to.

I'm not sure what makes you think there aren't private options in Atlanta - APS population is around 55,000; off the top of my head I can think of a good 20,000 plus private school seats in Atlanta and the immediate ITP vicinity.

[CCATL]

I live in Grant Park, and have kids. I would say that ANCS (the charter school that Grant Park has Tier 1 for) takes a lot of the wealthier and white kids from the area public schools. However, ANCS is relatively difficult to get into, given that they prioritize siblings and therefore, typically have limited slots available. The school-aged children in this neighborhood currently skew very young - mostly elementary school aged. You'll see that Parkside Elementary, the zoned public school, is much more diverse than either the middle school and high school right now. That is for a couple reasons. First, the zoned area for Parkside (and any elementary school) is much closer to the neighborhood it's in - in other words, it pulls from a smaller area than either the middle school or high school. The demographics of Parkside generally mirror that area. The second is that the younger families with elementary aged children have recently (in the last few years) done a major push for kids to go to the public school rather than ANCS. This push has worked, and while ANCS is still an attractive option for many families, a lot of families are choosing to use the public school rather than the charter school. Eventually, these kids will move into King Middle and Maynard, which over the last few years, you can see becoming more diverse, although they are still majority black. Parents with children in Parkside are generally VERY happy with the public school experience there, and the principal is known to be top-notch.

I'll also say that ANCS's reputation is going downhill a bit compared to what it used to be. They are known for doing a good job with the language arts types of subject areas, but they use a very outdated and controversial technique for math. There is little focus on science. Their discipline is also very utopia-like, and doesn't prepare students for when they do eventually go to Maynard Jackson, or in general, the real-world. I've heard parents say that when their children have aged out of ANCS and moved on to Jackson, that they are extremely unprepared for both the public school experience and for homework/testing/etc. There is a group of parents in Grant Park that will swear by ANCS, and there is another group that swears by the public schools. Whichever group you find yourself in will likely sway your opinion of one option or the other.