La Grange Elementary School (Louisville, Buckner: best cities, sale, crime)

[Deaneen]

Hi,
I am considering moving to Oldham County, I've heard such wonderful things about the school system. Recently I came across an article that stated that at La Grange Elementary 42% of students are eligible for free or reduced price lunch, 22% are minority & the school also received full title 1 funding. They also stated that the school had become so overcrowded that they had to re-vamp the system to accomodate the amount of students back in 2003. Is there a big difference between living in La Grange & Crestwood? Crestwood was voted in fortune 500 as one of the best cities to live in, how far apart are the cities? We will be re-locating from Arizona and it has been a struggle living here above Mexico with having so many minority children in the classrooms that the teachers are having to spend approx. 30% of their time trying to translate to the students that do not speak English. We are just trying to be cautious and not pick a bad part of town or an area that our son will have a tough time in the school system. Does anyone know which school system truly is the best?

[Gate]

Deaneen,Liberty elem.is probably what you want.Sits out in country surrounded by horse farms,high ratings,small older school,our grandkids went there.It's a great area.

[JPhillips722]

From the city limits of LaGrange to the City Limits of Crestwood we are about 9 miles apart. There are several elementary schools in the county: Crestwood elementary, LaGrange elementary, Centerfield elementary, Camden station, Buckner elementary, Goshen elementary, Liberty, Kenwood,and Harmony. We are also in the process of building another one on the new campus in crestwood which currently is home of East Oldham Middle school and there will be a high school on the campus as well. Oldham county prides itself in it's school systems and the quality of education and that has attracted a lot of residents and we have really grown! The schools are trying hard to keep up and once the new elementary is built on the east campus that should relieve LaGrange, but for now I am hearing that LaGrange has hired more teachers. We are a very close community as far as LaGrange, Crestwood and Buckner are pretty much one in the same, not far from each other at all. Prosepect and Goshen are that way as well but are on the other side of the county. check out http://www.oldham.k12.ky.us/index.htm (broken link) and click on schools to go to each individual schools website.

[JPhillips722]

This might help as well:

http://www.oldham.k12.ky.us/reports/factsheet.htm (broken link)

[Deaneen]

I appreciate your help, however my questions I guess also pertains to the difference in towns EX: is Crestwood a nicer area than La Grange? Is there a distinct difference in the Towns of Oldham County as far as cost of living and the type of people that live there? I keep hearing that Crestwood is very affluant and yet La Grange elementary qualifies for full title 1 benefits, I am confussed. I have never lived in a small town, I grew up in a suburb of Chicago, then outside of L.A., Calif. then Phoenix, AZ. I know that if you move to a lower income area in a large City you can expect alot of crime, we are trying to avoid picking a so called "bad area". Do you feel that Oldham County may be too crowded? Sounds like alot of people are moving there, are the roads able to handle all the traffic? We just want to make sure that we don't move across the Country and end up in the same situation that we are in here, Arizona has become very crowded, traffic is terrible all day long, English has almost become a second language here with Spanish first, we have also experienced a tremendous amount of crime over the past year (serial killers & rapists) Once we move to Kentucky and purchase a home we plan on making it our forever home, I do not think that the value of homes has gone up there like it has here so we will not be able to sell our home there and make a profit to be able to move again for quite a while. How long have you lived in Oldham County? Do you have an opinion on a certain areas that we might want to look into? Any info. would be greatly appreciated.

Deaneen

[bpdou]

Well, it's all pretty relative. Crowded roads? Sure, at times, but not really. Lots of people moving there? Oh. Not really. I mean consider that the average Louisvillian drives about twenty minutes to work. So a place like La Grange or Crestwood, which is about thirty five minutes, seems like a HAUL to get to work. So there is growth. And yeah there are people moving out to Oldham County. But it's not like Tokyo or anything. Still lots of space. And they're adding schools and facilities at a breakneck pace.

I know the Louisville area (Louisville is in the county right next to Oldham County), having moved here in 1989. I've also spent a lot of time in Oldham County. And I grew up in South Bend, Indiana, so I know Chicagoland. This area is nothing like the suburbs of Chicago, I'll tell you that right now. For example, you travel north out of Louisville on one interstate, and as you drive, it's basically country for quite a while. Even while you're officially still IN the city, it's still looking pretty country-like. Not like Chicago, where you can't tell city from suburb from next suburb. Yes. There are areas of suburb around Louisville, but the two towns you mentioned are truly small towns in the country near Louisville. So, you head on up one four lane interstate, and you get off the exit, and you drive a little while on a state road, complete with Walmart and Arby's and that kind of stuff, and then you're in La Grange! Which is truly a cute little town. Town square, court house, restaurants and shops. Crestwood is cute too, although it does not have quite the central town square setup.

Is Crestwood more affluent? I'd say yes. Is La Grange a slum? Not by a long shot. To be honest. And this is just my opinion. Given where you're coming from, if you're looking for some quieter, slower, easier, more peaceful life, you can't go wrong in Oldham County. Period. Personally, I'd let the kind of house you want to live in, and what you can afford, guide me, more so than "is it the right kind of people" kind of thing.

If you're thinking of moving across the country, I'd say a visit is in order. I'm not sure how you feel about rolling green hills, as opposed to desert, but I'd be willing to guess it's prettier here.

[Kamsack]

Deaneen,

I agree with the previous posts about Oldham county....if there is any place I would consider living in Kentucky it would be there and certainly the school system is top notch in Kentucky. One thing I have learned about looking at those web sites which give you numbers such as crime rank, school rank, etc is that you have to be really careful of how their data is gotten. But I have no reservations recommending Oldham county. Remember, it is a county school system. There are a number of elementary, middle and high schools but they are all part of the same school district.

As for La Grange, it is the county seat and has been (and still probably) the largest town in the county and thus it would have a more mix of older and newer homes, and a mix of newcomers and those families that have lived there for generations. Thus you would get more a mix of surburban mid and upper class and rural older neighborhoods. That would perhaps explain the higher percentages at La Grange. But in other locations in the county such as Crestwood, it was a very small town to start with newcomers probably out numbering the old timers, and with most newcomers being surbanites wanting to escape the big city life of Louisville your percentage of poorer kids/families would be less. That's how I would explain it. I personallly would live in the many new subdivisions cropping up between La Grange and Crestwood, or between Crestwood and Pewee Valley. My brother's kids and now my neice's kids are going to Centerfield Elementary which is very nice and also they went to the newer middle school located in the same area.

Traffic will be heavy at times...as most roads are still two lane and curvy (last time I was there was in late 1990s) so roads may be different now and more 4-lane.

One thing you might not know and I just remembered is that many counties in Kentucky are "dry", in terms of alcohol. I grew up in a dry county and personally I thought it was nice as I didnt see the bars, liquor stores growing up. I checked the KY web site about dry/wet counties...and Oldham county is a dry county...but does allow sale of alcohol by the drink in larger restaurants and also at golf courses. But in terms of having bars, stores to buy the stuff there are none in that county. Louisville and Jefferson county is wet.

Oldham county is pretty religious too and a very conservative Republican area (for the most part at least)...and as with most of Kentucky Baptists are pretty strong there. So in other words...families there are very family oriented and love their schools and church. That is my opinion at least.

Dan

[bpdou]

Originally Posted by DaninEGF

One thing I have learned about looking at those web sites which give you numbers such as crime rank, school rank, etc is that you have to be really careful of how their data is gotten.

Yes. Good point. And not only how it was obtained, but how old is it? A lot has changed in Oldham County in the past six or seven years. So data from even as "recent" as 2000 might be a bit off.

As far as a dry county goes... It's actually rather nice. You can have alcohol in your home, of course, and as was mentioned, restaurants can serve it, if they are large enough and do enough business in food.

I remember one restaurant I used to go to in Oldham had no problem if you brought your own, and that was perfectly legal.

[rbryant]

Things have changed considerably since 2000. Oldham county is now "moist," meaning that restaurants with a certain seating capacity can sell beer/wine. As for LaGrange and Crestwood..good luck telling them apart in regards to numbers of affluent people. LaGrange is a larger town, but by no means is it a ghetto or rundown area.

[LouisvilleGirl]

Originally Posted by Deaneen

Hi,
I am considering moving to Oldham County, I've heard such wonderful things about the school system. Recently I came across an article that stated that at La Grange Elementary 42% of students are eligible for free or reduced price lunch, 22% are minority & the school also received full title 1 funding. They also stated that the school had become so overcrowded that they had to re-vamp the system to accomodate the amount of students back in 2003. Is there a big difference between living in La Grange & Crestwood? Crestwood was voted in fortune 500 as one of the best cities to live in, how far apart are the cities? We will be re-locating from Arizona and it has been a struggle living here above Mexico with having so many minority children in the classrooms that the teachers are having to spend approx. 30% of their time trying to translate to the students that do not speak English. We are just trying to be cautious and not pick a bad part of town or an area that our son will have a tough time in the school system. Does anyone know which school system truly is the best?

Liberty is a good school and there is going to be a new private school built this FALL that will consolidate a private school in Lagrange and eastern Jefferson County. The tuition is suppose to be low since they are expecting a large number to enroll
Go to this website to get more info on the area and housing that meets your area wanted
http://www.glarhomes.com/lisatoombs or go to realtor.com to seach the oldham area