Moving to Memphis, near St. Jude's - Parent groups? Good Schools? Location? Help please! (Portland: renting)

[ktoldread615]

Hello!
I will be starting my pediatric fellowship at St. Jude's this July and we are looking in to where to live. We currently live in Portland OR and love the feel of Portland (small city, organic, great sense of community) and are hoping to find a similar feel.

We have two young girls, ages 5 and 3, and are also looking for an area with a good school district.

Any suggestions for neighborhoods near St. Jude's (or if not, then average commute time)? Also, are their any online and in person parent groups? A listing of community events for kiddos and familes?

Sorry so many questions. Many thanks!

[ColliervilleMom]

if you want to stay close to St. Jude, you better budget for private schools, Memphis City Schools are not very good. Check into New Neighbors for parent groups.

[fittoac]

Mud Island is a fabulous, family-friendly and safe neighborhood that couldn't be closer to St. Jude. As the previous poster said though, schools are an issue. Memphis City Schools just aren't good, unfortunately. So if you ended up moving to Shelby County for that reason, you'll likely be 25-30 minutes away from St. Jude.

[Pearlbob]

Just make sure not to say "St Jude's" and you'll be fine

Mud island is great for young families and it's almost walking distance to the hospital. But, it's city schools, so you'd probably want to look into private schools as mentioned already. Not sure about the sense of community on the island, it's pretty yuppie and white collar. Not to make it sound negative, just saying it's not really a west coast/organic/small city feel But, it's safe. Which should be your # 1 concern when moving to Memphis.

[one opinion]

First, Congratulations! St. Jude is a great place. I don't think I can be of great help to you, but wanted to add my two cents.

As others have highlighted, memphis city schools are not that well regarded. However, it is important to point out that there are exceptions, such as Richland Elementary, the optional programs at both Grahamwood and Snowden Elementary schools, etc... In other words you can live in the city and send your kids to good schools. I am not familiar with the quality of Downtown Elementary school (the school district for mud island) nor am a familiar with any parents groups that could help you. I do know that there are a number of people living on mud island that work for St Jude; maybe the hospital may be able to put you in touch with some of them?

If you decide to move out to the suburbs, you shouldn't have to worry about any of the county schools being terrible (a worry in some parts of the city). Specifically I know that Dogwood and Farmington are good, but like I said, I think all of them are decent.

If you end up going the private school route, St. Mary's is regarded as the best for girls, but again, all should be decent

[ShelbyCop]

Originally Posted by ktoldread615

Hello!
I will be starting my pediatric fellowship at St. Jude's this July and we are looking in to where to live. We currently live in Portland OR and love the feel of Portland (small city, organic, great sense of community) and are hoping to find a similar feel.

We have two young girls, ages 5 and 3, and are also looking for an area with a good school district.

Any suggestions for neighborhoods near St. Jude's (or if not, then average commute time)? Also, are their any online and in person parent groups? A listing of community events for kiddos and familes?

Sorry so many questions. Many thanks!

If you can snag a copy of the Commercial Appeal, they usually have a page that lists upcoming community events. I see alot of stuff about crafts for kids and other youth activities. I'm not sure what days of the week they print it, probably Sunday.

[Nowizard]

I would second Mud Island or, perhaps, some of the downtown condos. St. Jude is a United Nations of people. That makes for a very diverse environment of employees with all of the related energy of different cultures. It also makes it necessary to understand the culture if you are in a management position. There seems to be some competition among researchers that is positive at times, ego driven at others. This may be less prevalent among clinical staff than research staff. You will not want your children to go to the downtown schools in all probability. One will be entering Kindergarten (?) this year. As they get into first grade, take a look at Grahamwood Optional School. Our children went there, and it is common, even typical, for graduates to move into White Station Optional, top colleges and then to graduate school. Supportive, but challenging school. For example, one son graduated in the middle of his high school class but was Phi Beta Kappa in college, though he did mature between High School and college. Basically, the Memphis school system is African-American with the exception of the optional schools where children must have certain achievement levels (85th percentile at Grahamwood, for example, though the have their own interview and testing for first grade entry). Only about 7% of the children in the Memphis system are Caucasian, and most of those are in the Optional program. Others have left for private schools or home schooling. Unfortunate, but that is the way it is here, though the optional schools themselves have many students who are children of St. Jude employees. White Station High School has often led the state in National Merit Scholars. At Grahamwood, more than 50% of the students qualify for CLUE, the program for gifted children. In reality the program is rigorous enough and CLUE placement is as much a social issue as an academic one since it is only a few hours weekly.

[one opinion]

Just to clarify, you can apply for admittance into an optional school without living in the school district, however seats will be limited with preference being given to city residents; I mention this because I know many people that have lived in the suburbs (and some in the city) and not been able to get their kids into optional program at White Station High and White Station Middle. I don't think there is such a problem at the elementary school level, but recommend that you ensure demand is not an issue if you are interested in Grahamwood.

If you decide to live on mud island and are interested, I have a friend that will be relocating this summer and will likely be renting out his home there. Just let me know and I can forward along contact info. It's a great quiet area, but like I said previously, I have no info about the schools in this part of town.

If you decide not to live on mud island, I would consider East Memphis (mainly for proximity to good public and private schools). One area that you could look is east of highland, south of Sam Cooper Blvd, north of Poplar within the I-240 loop. Also if you are east of the loop, the area between Humphrey's/Wolf River Blvd and Messick is also good. Depending on where you are within this region, it could be anywhere from 25 to 40 minute commute to St Jude. This is quite a large area and covers several school districts, including Richland elementary, which is a good school. It is also put you closer to Grahamwood. Although I am not familiar with the its quality and it is probably not as good as Richland or Grahamwood, White Station Elementary (not to be confused with the middle or high school) is also in this area and may be worth checking out. There are also several private schools (including St Marys) in this area. Actually, if you decide on private schools, there are several areas of town that you may like, including, Chickasaw Gardens (http://memphis.about.com/od/communit...asawgarden.htm), Central Gardens (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Gardens,_Memphis) and the Evergreen Historic District (just west of Overton Park). I have heard positive things about Snowden Elementary which is inthe Evergreen Historic District, but am not as familiar with the school as I am Grahamwood and Richland.