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Hi, we are interested in moving back to Louisville, and we have kids who will be entering 6th, 8th, and 10th grades. If we live in Norton Commons, where would they attend middle and high school? Thank you!
You'd think it would be, but it isn't that simple. Jefferson County has some hinky school assignment methods. Areas are to assigned elementary school clusters, generally in groups of four elementary schools. Middle and high schools also, while in some ways more straight forward, still aren't as simple as saying I live here, therefore my kid will go to _____ school. You might want to read the link below.
Just as Oldhag1 said, definitely check out the link he provided. JCPS uses a cluster system. To my knowledge, it will include the school closest to you, and many others quite far from you that will require a long bus ride and more than likely even a bus transfer (yes, school bus transfers are a thing here, I did it for 4 years way back before I got my drivers license). It's an attempt to get students from "good areas with good schools" to go to schools in "bad areas with underperforming schools."
Do your research on the schools and what not. I'm not sure how much it has changed, if at all, but when we chose a high school for my little brother, we had to put a first choice, although it was not guaranteed, and had he not gotten into his first choice, he would have gone where JCPS told him to go.
Would highly recommend having your children apply to get into Manual High School. As long as they have great grades and no conduct issues, they stand a chance to get in, and Manual is one of, if not the best, high schools in the city, and it works different in that you have to apply to get in, not just sign up and go. However, if Manual is first choice and they do not get in, then there's a risk of going to where JCPS tells them. It's too late to apply now for this upcoming school year, but for next year it's worth considering for sure (may be difficult for your 10th grader, though. 8th grade year is the best time to apply and get accepted).
Best of luck. It's easy to get frustrated with JCPS.
Hi, we are interested in moving back to Louisville, and we have kids who will be entering 6th, 8th, and 10th grades. If we live in Norton Commons, where would they attend middle and high school? Thank you!
Don't listen to the naysayers here....oldhag does not live in Louisville. I do. My kids are in JCPS. It is one of the largest and most diverse school districts in the USA, certainly a top 25 or 30 district in size. With that said, there a few challenges...but not for you.
You are pretty much GUARANTEED Kammerer Middle and Ballard High for your kids. Both are A rated, top notch schools. and Ballard is Ranked in US news as one of the best high schools in the state. So have no fears.
Type in the address of the home that you want to buy here:
Resides Middle School - It is not necessary to apply to your resides middle school.
All middle school students are assigned to the middle school which serves the home address
Resides High School - It is not necessary to apply to your resides high school.
All high school students are assigned to the high school which serves the home address.
But, don't take my word or any online message board word for it. It looks like the elementary schools may do more bussing for Norton Commons, as I am quite sure the new Norton Commons Elementary is already full. Call JCPS to confirm what that online school finder says.
Norton Commons is one of the nicest communities I have seen in the USA. We almost moved there, but lived in an area like that called Celebration FL, so we wanted something more historic. We have friends there and attended a great concert with food trucks there recently. I can say with 100% certainly there's absolutely nothing as well done as far as new urbanist in the OH/KY/IN areas as Norton Commons.
The advantages of JCPS are well educated children, whose parents apply early (ie for next year) can get into one of the magnet schools. Manual is the most prestigious, and is ranked in the top 100-200 high schools in the USA. It is the best for college prep. There are however, trade magnet schools. Ie, say your son wants to be an electrician....they have a school for that where he can enter into a high paying job straight from HS for all the skilled trades.
Don't listen to the naysayers here....oldhag does not live in Louisville. I do. My kids are in JCPS. It is one of the largest and most diverse school districts in the USA, certainly a top 25 or 30 district in size. With that said, there a few challenges...but not for you.
You are pretty much GUARANTEED Kammerer Middle and Ballard High for your kids. Both are A rated, top notch schools. and Ballard is Ranked in US news as one of the best high schools in the state. So have no fears.
Type in the address of the home that you want to buy here:
Resides Middle School - It is not necessary to apply to your resides middle school.
All middle school students are assigned to the middle school which serves the home address
Resides High School - It is not necessary to apply to your resides high school.
All high school students are assigned to the high school which serves the home address.
But, don't take my word or any online message board word for it. It looks like the elementary schools may do more bussing for Norton Commons, as I am quite sure the new Norton Commons Elementary is already full. Call JCPS to confirm what that online school finder says.
Norton Commons is one of the nicest communities I have seen in the USA. We almost moved there, but lived in an area like that called Celebration FL, so we wanted something more historic. We have friends there and attended a great concert with food trucks there recently. I can say with 100% certainly there's absolutely nothing as well done as far as new urbanist in the OH/KY/IN areas as Norton Commons.
The advantages of JCPS are well educated children, whose parents apply early (ie for next year) can get into one of the magnet schools. Manual is the most prestigious, and is ranked in the top 100-200 high schools in the USA. It is the best for college prep. There are however, trade magnet schools. Ie, say your son wants to be an electrician....they have a school for that where he can enter into a high paying job straight from HS for all the skilled trades.
Oldhag worked for JCPS and has many friends that still work both in schools and Central Office. I know exactly what I am talking about.
__________________
When I post in bold red that is moderator action and, per the TOS, can only be discussed through Direct Message.
Oldhag worked for JCPS and has many friends that still work both in schools and Central Office. I know exactly what I am talking about.
That's great, but perhaps things have changed. You clearly saw if you type in a Norton Commons address it gives you Kammerer Middle and Ballard High. I would suggest the OP call. What year did you work for JCPS? Norton Commons likely was not even built then. We have friends that live there and their teens go to Ballard. There were no issues.
OBTW, the development is building some homes on the Oldham County side too. Not sure if the new homes by St Mary's Catholic school are on Oldham
Oldhag, I do not think this is you....but I am so sick of the scare tactics used against JCPS on these boards. JCPS gives a fine education. There are a few bussing horror stories, but those are usually people who were late applying or did not follow directions. Many of the opinions on JCPS are racially motivated. ie, "My kid is not being bused from the east end to the west end when I pay good money to live in Norton Commons or Lake Forest." This mentality could not be further from the truth, and I am a CURRENT JCPS parent, and attended Manual myself for 2 years after my dad moved us around.
That's great, but perhaps things have changed. You clearly saw if you type in a Norton Commons address it gives you Kammerer Middle and Ballard High. I would suggest the OP call. What year did you work for JCPS? Norton Commons likely was not even built then. We have friends that live there and their teens go to Ballard. There were no issues.
OBTW, the development is building some homes on the Oldham County side too. Not sure if the new homes by St Mary's Catholic school are on Oldham
Oldhag, I do not think this is you....but I am so sick of the scare tactics used against JCPS on these boards. JCPS gives a fine education. There are a few bussing horror stories, but those are usually people who were late applying or did not follow directions. Many of the opinions on JCPS are racially motivated. ie, "My kid is not being bused from the east end to the west end when I pay good money to live in Norton Commons or Lake Forest." This mentality could not be further from the truth, and I am a CURRENT JCPS parent, and attended Manual myself for 2 years after my dad moved us around.
It has been a bit less than 10 years, I was an administrator at a middle school. I had no complaints whatsoever about the JCPS school system as an employer, and in many ways they were better to their educators than most other school systems I have been associated with. The only reason I moved to a different county, taking a rather large hit in the pocketbook, was there was an opportunity in the county I lived in which, between the commute and other factors, increased my free time significantly.
I called a friend to double check, it hasn't changed and I was not wrong. JCPS still has an atypical school assignment system, so people coming from other locations need to be made aware of it, especially if they are coming from locations with smaller school systems. It can be complicated and, for many parents, both confusing and frustrating. This is especially true if they miss deadlines because of when they move. All of which is why I included a link to the school system's offical information on the topic of middle/high school assignment choices as a starting point for the OP.
I'm sorry but, while it may be fine for families that have been in the system for a while, JCPS can be a transplanting parent's worst nightmare and is one of the contributing factors to Louisville/Jefferson County having one of the highest private school to public school enrollment ratios in the nation. Although I'm not exactly sure where in the pecking order they are now, they were the actual highest in the nation when I worked there. The folks at central office keep those stats and that ratio is something they realize needs to be fixed, whether they disclose it to the public or not. You may not realize it, but a school system paying for TV advertisements promoting why they are a great school system is very unusual. Most would consider it a waste of taxpayer dollars but it is a legitimate use of funds for JCPS.
When parents complained to us about their child attending our school it was not racially motivated, it was because their child was on a bus over an hour each way and there was a school they could have walked to in their neighborhood. I can't say I blame them, it just seems counterintuitive both for the child's wellbeing and the school system's finances. I'm glad your children haven't experienced it but try to put yourself in their shoes. I bet you wouldn't like it either. Yes, I agree part of issue in over half the families we talked to was either they weren't proactive enough or the parents didn't do their due diligence and were ignorant of the system, but it is the children that end up paying. In some cases it really was just bad luck. For me, the bottom line why I had a problem with whole cross town busing mess was that I had to deal with the very real academic and behavioral negative impact that hour+ bus ride had on the students. It is a bit tough arguing with a mother who says the reason her kid falls asleep in class is because he spends about 2 1/2 hours a day on a bus.
In fairness to JCPS this mess arose because they were legally backed into a corner in the 70's, for legitimate reasons I might add. However, the system is still wearing the scars and it is past time to start fixing the problems created by the cure.
__________________
When I post in bold red that is moderator action and, per the TOS, can only be discussed through Direct Message.
It has been a bit less than 10 years, I was an administrator at a middle school. I had no complaints whatsoever about the JCPS school system as an employer, and in many ways they were better to their educators than most other school systems I have been associated with. The only reason I moved to a different county, taking a rather large hit in the pocketbook, was there was an opportunity in the county I lived in which, between the commute and other factors, increased my free time significantly.
I called a friend to double check, it hasn't changed and I was not wrong. JCPS still has an atypical school assignment system, so people coming from other locations need to be made aware of it, especially if they are coming from locations with smaller school systems. It can be complicated and, for many parents, both confusing and frustrating. This is especially true if they miss deadlines because of when they move. All of which is why I included a link to the school system's offical information on the topic of middle/high school assignment choices as a starting point for the OP.
I'm sorry but, while it may be fine for families that have been in the system for a while, JCPS can be a transplanting parent's worst nightmare and is one of the contributing factors to Louisville/Jefferson County having one of the highest private school to public school enrollment ratios in the nation. Although I'm not exactly sure where in the pecking order they are now, they were the actual highest in the nation when I worked there. The folks at central office keep those stats and that ratio is something they realize needs to be fixed, whether they disclose it to the public or not. You may not realize it, but a school system paying for TV advertisements promoting why they are a great school system is very unusual. Most would consider it a waste of taxpayer dollars but it is a legitimate use of funds for JCPS.
When parents complained to us about their child attending our school it was not racially motivated, it was because their child was on a bus over an hour each way and there was a school they could have walked to in their neighborhood. I can't say I blame them, it just seems counterintuitive both for the child's wellbeing and the school system's finances. I'm glad your children haven't experienced it but try to put yourself in their shoes. I bet you wouldn't like it either. Yes, I agree part of issue in over half the families we talked to was either they weren't proactive enough or the parents didn't do their due diligence and were ignorant of the system, but it is the children that end up paying. In some cases it really was just bad luck. For me, the bottom line why I had a problem with whole cross town busing mess was that I had to deal with the very real academic and behavioral negative impact that hour+ bus ride had on the students. It is a bit tough arguing with a mother who says the reason her kid falls asleep in class is because he spends about 2 1/2 hours a day on a bus.
In fairness to JCPS this mess arose because they were legally backed into a corner in the 70's, for legitimate reasons I might add. However, the system is still wearing the scars and it is past time to start fixing the problems created by the cure.
Oldhag, I am also a transplant. I lived in Louisville long ago, and have lived here off and on (wel, mostly other places but have always had an affinity for Louisville ever since I was a teen). I just moved here last year and had ZERO problems. My kids excel in JCPS and my wife takes them to school.
We have a resonsbility on this forum to use the latest information to help families, not discourage them from using JCPS or moving to Louisville through scare tactics.
In the case of the OP, who states they are moving to Norton Commons, we have to go with DATA.
This school finder very clearly shows that no matter what address in Norton Commons that one chooses, they will get their resides schools of Kammerer Middle and Ballard High. These are two good schools. There is NO APPLICATION PROCESS for the OP, and as long as they enroll and move in time (I think it is too late for this school year), they will get great schools for all their kids. Lets quit the fear mongering. However, your experience as a JCPS employee is very helpful, even if it was long ago. I do know that Donna Hargens has made lots of changes since you left.
Of course I would encourage the OP to confirm, by calling JCPS THEMSELVES, what the school finder says. In fact, I am so sick of the mis information spewed on this site that I will call JCPS myself. Had the OP had elementary age kids, I would advise more caution with moving to Norton Commons. That is bc the school finder tool above shows that for elementary school only, they are considered to be in "Cluster 10" and are not guaranteed their resides school like they are for Middle and High. There is an application process for families who live in Norton Commons and have elementary school kids. I have heard from a friend that lives in that area that competition for the newly built NC elementary is stiff and that it is already full.
Now, I am not saying JCPS is all cherries and peaches....there are major problems, bussing, poor performing schools, and even violence. But this is relegated to a handful of schools which are fairly easily avoided.
JCPS also has some of the best performing schools in the nation too. Such is the nature of any large city and one of the nation's largest school districts.
Last edited by Peter1948; 07-26-2016 at 06:47 AM..
Oldhag, I am also a transplant. I lived in Louisville long ago, and have lived here off and on. I just moved here last year and had ZERO problems. My kids excel in JCPS and my wife takes them to school.
We have a resonsbility on this forum to use the latest information to help families, not discourage them from using JCPS or moving to Louisville through scare tactics.
In the case of the OP, who states they are moving to Norton Commons, we have to go with DATA.
This school finder very clearly shows that no matter what address in Norton Commons that one chooses, they will get their resides schools of Kammerer Middle and Ballard High. There is NO APPLICATION PROCESS for the OP, and as long as they enroll and move in time (I think it is too late for this school year), they will get great schools for all their kids. Oldhag, lets quit the fear mongering.
Of course I would encourage the OP to confirm, by calling JCPS THEMSELVES, what the school finder says. In fact, I am so sick of the mis information spewed on this site that I will call JCPS myself. Had the OP had elementary age kids, I would advise more caution with moving to Norton Commons. That is bc the school finder tool above shows that for elementary school only, they are considered to be in "Cluster 10" and are not guaranteed their resides school like they are for Middle and High. There is an application process for families who live in Norton Commons and have elementary school kids. I have heard from a friend that lives in that area that competition for the newly built NC elementary is stiff and that it is already full.
Now, I am not saying JCPS is all cherries and peaches....there are major problems, bussing, poor performing schools, and even violence. But this is relegated to a handful of schools which are fairly easily avoided.
JCPS also has some of the best performing schools in the nation too. Such is the nature of any large city and one of the nation's largest school districts.
I suspect someone working in JCPS Central Office in a department associated with school assignments would have the latest information. Did you not catch the part where I said I called a friend to double check?
Explaining legitimate issues is not fear mongering. I'm not trying to scare anyone off JCPS but the better informed you are of the good and the bad when moving the better the move. Please try to not take offense on behalf of Louisville when none is intended.
__________________
When I post in bold red that is moderator action and, per the TOS, can only be discussed through Direct Message.
I suspect someone working in JCPS Central Office in a department associated with school assignments would have the latest information. Did you not catch the part where I said I called a friend to double check?
Explaining legitimate issues is not fear mongering. I'm not trying to scare anyone off JCPS but the better informed you are of the good and the bad when moving the better the move. Please try to not take offense on behalf of Louisville when none is intended.
There is no way this person had the latest information unless you specifically asked about Norton Commons? Each area of the county is different
What is the name of the person you spoke to? I am calling JCPS myself and would like to speak to them. Thanks
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