Hunstville/Madison/Decatur

[RocketDawg]

I read an article just a few days ago that the Madison City schools are in the top 1% of school systems across the country. The article didn't say what the ranking criteria were. Regardless, that's pretty significant. I don't think you could go wrong in Madison, even though we used a private school, Randolph. We lived in SE Huntsville at the time.

[needtosellmyhome]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

My son attended Randolph for 13 years, K-12, and there were no bullying problems that I'm aware of. It may have changed, since times have changed and bullying seems to be more prevalent now than 20 years ago when he graduated. There always has been and probably always will be some degree of what may be now called bullying ... you're dealing with a bunch of hormone-producing adolescents. Stricter parental control might help.

I think the same is probably true for Madison Academy (regarding bullying).

Some of the students my kids graduated with at MA had also been at MA for PK-12. That's one nice thing about sending your kids to a private school that is K-12 or PK-12, they can grow up there and it's more of a "family" type atmosphere.

[Sara-Germantown]

Originally Posted by needtosellmyhome

GreatSchools GreatSchools - Public and Private School Ratings, Reviews and Parent Community has reviews for public and private schools but I'm not sure how much faith I would put into that...it's at least worth looking at though IMO.

Thanks! I see rating for public schools but have not seen any for private. Only couple reviews. just like you said, not sure if it would be trusted.

[Sara-Germantown]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

My son attended Randolph for 13 years, K-12, and there were no bullying problems that I'm aware of. It may have changed, since times have changed and bullying seems to be more prevalent now than 20 years ago when he graduated. There always has been and probably always will be some degree of what may be now called bullying ... you're dealing with a bunch of hormone-producing adolescents. Stricter parental control might help.

When we were at Randolph, over half students came from households where one or both of the parents were engineers. I believe that is considered middle class, so the middle class student is predominant there.

It's an outstanding school for students of high aptitude.

That's good to know. You are second parent who said they they did not experience no bullying in Randolph.

[Sara-Germantown]

Originally Posted by needtosellmyhome

I think the same is probably true for Madison Academy (regarding bullying).

Some of the students my kids graduated with at MA had also been at MA for PK-12. That's one nice thing about sending your kids to a private school that is K-12 or PK-12, they can grow up there and it's more of a "family" type atmosphere.

I agree. Do you mind me asking when your kids graduate? Also, would you say that Madison Academy is better than St.John?

[Sara-Germantown]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

I read an article just a few days ago that the Madison City schools are in the top 1% of school systems across the country. The article didn't say what the ranking criteria were. Regardless, that's pretty significant. I don't think you could go wrong in Madison, even though we used a private school, Randolph. We lived in SE Huntsville at the time.

I saw this on the forum, I have not seen the article though. And yes it is very good.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by Sara-Germantown

That's good to know. You are second parent who said they they did not experience no bullying in Randolph.

Our son graduated in 1995, so it's been some time (seems impossible but time flies ....). He went on to college and had a 4.0 GPA with a double major with full scholarships ... so Randolph prepared him well, and it paid off financially. It won't for everybody. But they're exactly what they advertise ... a college prep school.

At the time, they were limited to something like 600 students. Since then, they have built a separate high school building and now take up to 1000, I believe, in K-12. So it's still small and lots of individual attention. The curriculum is pretty rigorous.

I think it's the best in town, maybe even the best in the state, but that's a very biased opinion. I know very little about the other private schools in the area. Randolph is by far the most expensive, if that's germane.

Honestly though, you can save a ton of money by going to Madison or south Huntsville schools. They're good. Madison high schools, and some in Huntsville (Grissom and Huntsville come to mind) are also top-notch. But they're large. That may be a consideration ... it was with us. Plus, we just had one kid so we could afford Randolph.

[Becky2517]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

I read an article just a few days ago that the Madison City schools are in the top 1% of school systems across the country. The article didn't say what the ranking criteria were. Regardless, that's pretty significant. I don't think you could go wrong in Madison, even though we used a private school, Randolph. We lived in SE Huntsville at the time.

I read something similar and also caught an article where it stated "AL is notoriously lacking in education and smarts, except for Madison Co...they are smarter than most places in the US"