Crestwood - Avondale area (Alabaster, Mountain Brook: for sale, 2013, house)

[jpope126]

My wife and I drove around Crestwood/Avondale area for several hours yesterday looking at homes. Currently, we live in Alabaster with our 2 year old daughter. We are looking to move closer to the city as my wife teaches in Tarrant. We are also looking for a family-friendly neighborhood where people might identify themselves as liberal or progressive. We obviously want a safe neighborhood (which is not code for "white") and want to check out the schools. It seems like people are instantly saying "Well, you'll have to send your kids to private school," but we have heard some great things about Avondale Elementary.

We'd be interested to get some inside information from families with children who live there and/or are opting for public schools. Any additional insight into the area would be helpful.

Thanks!

[cpg35223]

We lived in South Avondale for fourteen years and loved it. Never had a problem with crime. However, the schools were definitely not up to snuff -- and I'm not using code words here. The problem are socioeconomic, not racial. We had black friends, a professional couple, across the street who wouldn't send their kids to Avondale, either. So you can either have your kid be a guinea pig in a doomed experiment or you can send your child to a private school in the area such as Montessori or Waldorf of Advent or one of the parochial schools such as St. Rose or St. Francis. There are tradeoffs. If the public schools were half decent then everybody would be living there.

[bluebeard]

Re: the public schools, things may or may not have changed. There is a growing community of people that can afford to use private schools to choose Avondale because the school has improved. I have no first-hand knowledge on the matter, just hearsay.
If you contact the author of this article I know he'd put you in touch with these families
New students, new parents, new reality, and change

[aturner339]

The public school environment is always going to be more challenging. It is now the case that a solid majority of public schools students come from poor families (those which qualify for subsidized /free lunch). I would caution however against viewing this as an experiment or against counting out public schools in the area all together.

I would encourage you to keep an open mind for two reasons. One is personal I myself was a subsidized lunch student (including for four wonderful years ASFA) and I'd like to think that students can learn quite a lot from interacting with student from a wide swath of life.

The second is empirical. The fact of the matter is than on average private school instruction isn't any better than public school instruction. There are plenty of exceptions but you want to take a careful look at any school rather than expressing a general preference for "private".

I think you've got the right idea. Take a look around, get familiar with the area and schools in question and make a decision that's right for you. In this area one-sized-fits all advice is hard to come by.

Avondale is definitely a comfortable place to live and a real up and coming neighborhood. I hope you find something that works for you!

[bluebeard]

If you are likely moving to that area anyway, then it wouldn't hurt to try the schools out for a while. There aren't really any neighborhoods that fit the description of your desired neighborhood that aren't in the Bham city school district anyway.

[bluebeard]

Note that while I support giving Avondale a try, I don't judge anyone for choosing a suburban school district

[cpg35223]

Originally Posted by bluebeard

Note that while I support giving Avondale a try, I don't judge anyone for choosing a suburban school district

I understand. We gave it a go for as long as we could. But we have three kids and, when my daughter was nearing sixth grade, we took a long, hard look at the cost of putting three kids through private high school, which would have totaled roughly $21,000 a year for John Carroll and $48,000 a YEAR for Altamont before we bought the first textbook or pencil. So we hammered the For Sale sign in the yard, made a very tidy profit on the house we had lovingly fixed up, and moved to Mountain Brook. As a result, our total household expenses dropped about $800 a month, $100 of which was nixing the sewer bill in favor of the septic tank.

Mind you, while I like some things about Mountain Brook, we're more Southside kind of people. I like the diversity, the convenience, and the cool vibe of that part of town. I like the access to cultural attractions and the downtown area. If the public schools were worth a damn, we would have been happy to stay there.

So when the last child clutches his diploma from Mountain Brook High School in May, 2017, we'll be moving right back to the north side of the mountain. And be really, really happy about it, too.

[mcalumni01]

i be amazed at how schools are judge. if we keep downing a school system instead of really digging and finding out the good things about them (ramsay and phillips) among others than people ain't gone never wanna move to bham. i will never ever say anything bad about any school system. i went to a public school graduated at the top of the class and went on and graduated with a ba in business from miles. why because i want to learn. it's the kids fault not the schools. so birmingham is the only place with no good schools. i think people get the schools and the school board confused they was the problem not the schools but at the end of the day the schools got the blame

[rsz1983]

Sorry to be a latecomer here, but since I live in Crestwood, I thought I'd interject.

I live in the older part of Crestwood (north of Crestwood Blvd) and love it. We were able to buy a 1920 bungalow for 20-30% below the usual for the neighborhood due to the previous owner's sloppy housekeeping and neglect. We've put a bunch of money and time into it, but I hazard to say that if we sold it now, we'd get $200k for it when we paid $165k just a few months ago. Of course, I'll never get back all the time I took to paint every room in a 5br house, including trim...but maybe the $25k we spent on a kitchen!

Anyhow, I prefer "Crestwood North" because of walkability (not present in Crestwood South and not much more so in Forest Park), safety, closeness to downtown, and "feel". I think Avondale is going places due to the restaurants/brewery/etc., but that is rather disconnected from the actual neighborhood parts, at least those you'd probably want to live in a family with. Crestwood feels much more family-friendly, has an active neighborhood association, would fit your desire of fairly progressive (although there are a number of us who probably identify more moderate-to-conservative...with open minds). In short, it's a great mix of people: old, young, families, single, etc., etc. People don't end up here by accident.

Avondale Elementary has been getting great press the past couple years. My next door neighbor did her student teaching there and was very impressed. My wife has spoken to some who have their kids in there, too, and like it a lot. If you want your white child in a white classroom, then you won't like it. On the other hand, they won't be the only white kid and there are lots from all races (seemingly many Asians, too, interestingly enough.) The issue is more once you hit middle school and high school, but of course by then you may have a better idea of what you want/might win the lottery/etc.

My kids aren't school age yet, but I can heartily recommend the neighborhood. It's a great place full of great people. The city is interested in it doing better, too.