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I'm looking at a homes in both the Matthews and Mckee Road Elementary School attendance areas, and wanted to see if could get input from parents who have children in either one of these schools.
I've studied up on both and know all the ratings and test scores, but I'd love to hear from actual parents as to what your experience was/is at either one of these schools.
It depends on what you are looking at from the neighborhood. McKee area is different from the Matthews area. I personally would choose Matthews over McKee but that's only on liking the neighborhoods better. (plus I know a teacher there at Matthews and I am biased.) I would visit both schools in person and see how you like it.
Thanks, momtothree! It seems that the teachers at Matthews like the school (which is always a good sign). I do wonder about the size of Matthews Elem vs. Mckee. Matthews has almost 1000 students and Mckee has around 500. I was curious about that as well.
The neighborhoods are right across from one another in the same area which is what is making the decision so hard.
Thanks, momtothree! It seems that the teachers at Matthews like the school (which is always a good sign). I do wonder about the size of Matthews Elem vs. Mckee. Matthews has almost 1000 students and Mckee has around 500. I was curious about that as well.
The neighborhoods are right across from one another in the same area which is what is making the decision so hard.
I have no idea what the class sizes averages. You should be able to ask them in the office what they are averaging.
Matthews Elementary is a great school. My daughter went there for kindergarten and 1st grade. They things I didn't like were mainly cosmetic. The school has zero security. The playground is not fenced off and next to a parking lot for the performing arts center. That always made me very nervous. The building is very old and the two classrooms my daughter had were very worn. Ripped rugs, dirty, dilapidated.
Look at the areas zoned for that school. It'll give you a good idea of the demographics.
My kids went to Matthews (they're both out of there now). We were very happy there. I would choose Matthews over McKee not so much for schools - they're both fine schools, but for lifestyle. If yu attend Matthews, you live in Matthews and I like living in a close knit town. With McKee, you'll be in Charlotte - without really being in Charlotte. I haven't paid too much attention to school reassignments lately because it hasn't affected me, but my son actually went to McKee in kindergarten when it was a relatively new school. What triggered us to move was we were being reassigned to McAlpine (a lot of the newer schools didn't exist then). It wasn't that we hated McAlpine, it's just that we planned on getting a bigger house so we figured - how is the time as long as we''ll be changing schools anyway, let's pick the new neighborhood. That's when we moved to Matthews. Had we stayed in our old house, we would have been reassigned to 4 different schools. That would have been awful. It might be more stable now.
Regarding the condition of Matthews, it IS a very old school, however it has had some significant remodeling since my son (who is 23 now) started there (I have a newer experience with my daughter who is 13). The older classrooms are in the front of the school and the 5th grade hallway (back when he went, the 5th grade hallway was the newer part - now it's old). Kindergarten and first grade are in the older parts in the front of the school. There is a newer wing that houses 3rd and parts of 2nd grade (I think) and a very new modular section that houses 4th grade. The Community Center being next door is not a problem - nor is the lack of a fence around the playground (although there is a split rail fence separating the Greenway from the school and a fence that closes off the parking lot of the school from the community center during school hours. In fact, the community center is actually a nice thing to have next door because kids get to walk to see the plays that other schools have to bring buses to. And when there are performances from music and drama - the school uses the community center for the performance. Other schools are quite jealous that Matthews has this at their disposal. It's funny when the other poster mentioned the condition of Matthews - if she thinks it's bad now, yoou should have seen it when my son went before there was any remodels and the new wings weren't built. And it had another section that was actually torn down in the last few years (used to house kindergarten), but there were "hallways" that went outdoors with those old steel bars that help up those ceilings over the outdoor hallways. During our our tour (with my son), we went from McKee that had just opened and was bright and shiny to this. My son went crazy over that though - he had fun spinning around those support beams. I just had to look past the cosmetic and we knew it was the place we wanted to be (taking into account the town as well). But like I said - since he went, there was significant remodeling. and it really looks like a completely different school and those outdoor hallways don't exist anymore
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