Best public high schools Knoxville suburbs/rural areas around Knoxville (Oak Ridge: school districts, live in)

[kookiedoo]

Hello, I am looking at all the smaller towns around Knoxville and trying to find best high schools/school districts. I see a lot of positive reviews for Maryville High School, Alcoa and Oak Ridge as well as Farragut. What about North and East of the city? Any good ones that are a little farther away from Knoxville, in more rural areas? My son will be starting high school this year and the plan is to move over the summer. He is in Honor and AP classes and has really high test scores...I would like to continue with a school that will continue to push him and challenge him. We're trying to move away from the city and looking at the smaller towns/rural areas, but would like to stay in a pretty good school district...
Thank you!

[SunnySkies100]

We just did a scouting trip to Knoxville this past week. I do not live in Knoxville, and never have, however in doing research of the schools I can tell you that it is a county system, and the Board of Education will answer your questions if you call. If you call the individual High Schools, they will connect you with the proper person to answer your questions. The people I spoke with were helpful, so definitely an option. Oak Ridge Schools are in a different county, so a different school district, but I also heard several people indicate they were a good High School. The Hardin Valley area is the newest school "district" and actually has a very different structure (as an option) for the high school - four "concentration" areas. You would have to look at the Hardin Valley website to see each of the areas, but a call to the school (guidance counselor I think) answered many questions and clarified their system. Also, if you look at the Knox County Schools website you will see that there is some school boundary lines that are changing in the west school district(s) - for the upcoming year it is only for middle school, but may extend to High School boundaries the following year. Overall, my impression is that there are several good school districts, but you would do yourself a favor and look at the details of the high schools as they are similar (same system) but have certain uniquenesses to address a variety of needs and interests across the district. Other than that I cannot speak to actual experience in the schools! Good Luck!