Tell me about Tupelo! :) (Jackson, Hattiesburg: 2013, crime rate, homes)

[mississippimagnolia]

Originally Posted by Andrew79

Everything you describe might be true if you live in the Delta. But Northeast Mississippi, parts of the coast, and even fast growing areas outside of Jackson like Flowood, and Madison are ideal for anyone that isn't a deadbeat drain on society. Educational opportunities are just as good as anywhere in the nation, people are friendly if not friendlier than anywhere else in the nation, and plenty of good jobs are here if you are educated/skilled in a trade. .

I have very mixed feelings about the way to respond to this. I was born in Mississippi. We moved shortly after I was born and I've lived (literally) all over this country and overseas. My entire family...mom, dad, sisters, brothers, grandparents...everyone is in Mississippi. And we've lived in Mississippi three different times in the last 15 years. (My husband works for the Federal Gov't...we move a lot!) I've lived in Pontoc, Greenville, Tupelo, and Oxford. 36 members of my family graduated from Ole Miss.

So with that background and the understanding that I love Mississippi, I'm going to respond...

Educational opportunities are just as good as anywhere in the nation, people are friendly if not friendlier than anywhere else in the nation,

This is ridiculous. The schools in Mississippi are for the most part horrendous. And even the "best" schools in Mississippi don't compare to average schools elsewhere. I had kids in Oxford schools....supposedly the best schools in the state. They were dreadful compared to the schools in other states. My daughter's gifted teacher at Oxford Middle flat out told us that "there is nothing here for your child". And Tupelo schools were even worse. We pulled our kids out and put them in private school. And of course, they were in private school in Greenville.

No way would I put my kids in Public School in Mississippi. The only exceptions I might make would be Oxford CITY schools...(NOT Lafayette County schools) and maybe Saltillo. That's it.

Sorry folks, but we've lived all over. I had kids in Oxford Schools and in Lee...it was a nightmare. Nothing will change in Mississippi until folks get mad about it. Mississippi kids deserve better.

[ojs0309]

We will be moving to the area and I have two children. My daughter will start school in a few years. Just want to make sure the best area to live for schools. Reading the above forums it looks like Saltillo??

[mississippimagnolia]

Originally Posted by ojs0309

We will be moving to the area and I have two children. My daughter will start school in a few years. Just want to make sure the best area to live for schools. Reading the above forums it looks like Saltillo??

Definitely. Don't even consider Tupelo.

[Listener2307]

Originally Posted by mississippimagnolia

Definitely. Don't even consider Tupelo.

Meh...I dunno. We live in Tupelo, and would not buy in Saltillo.
The reason for that is they don't enforce building codes in Saltillo. Or out in the counties either, for that matter. I'm a home inspector, so I'm pretty well informed on the subject.
Doesn't mean that you can't find a well built home in Saltillo. You might find one and you might not, and you're probably not going to be able to tell by looking unless you know what to look at. Even then, they're hard to spot.

But prices are good these days. Just have it inspected. Can't use me; I'm retired. So use Criterium-Pittman if you need one inspected.

My daughter teaches in the Tupelo Public School system. Our grandson is an A student there. And the kid across the street graduated last year. All A's and got a scholarship. The public school system is failing everywhere, it seems to me. Still, the kids who are well coached and well represented at home do well at school.

We live in Belden (hard to find on the map, but it's part of Tupelo). Most nights I leave my keys in the pickup. Don't hear a sound at night. Joggers. Walkers. Occasional wandering dogs (friendly). Black folks and white folks live around us. 15 year old neighborhood.
We like it.

I could make it to Toyota in about 7 minutes.

[mississippimagnolia]

You're going to get a lot of conflicting opinions. My suggestion is to simply research the test scores of each school. People who have lived in Mississippi all their lives don't know any different. But if you are moving from a state with good schools, you will be in for the shock of your life.

Don't take my word for it. Simply do the research. Go to sites like "great schools", and compare. Mississippi ranked DEAD LAST in education. Again. There are some decent schools in the state. None of them are in Tupelo. So what you're getting in Tupelo isn't even the best of the worst.

Again, don't take my word for it. Just do some research. Test scores do not lie.

Here's a quote from a recent US News and World Report article"

"Bingo! Dead last, coming in at No. 51. Yes, even the folks in Washington, thought to have the nation's worst public schools, ranked ahead of Mississippi. "

[Listener2307]

Miss Magnolia rightly points out that Mississippi education does indeed come in dead last by most measures.
But she wrongly assumes that she is the only one who has traveled enough to make that judgment.

My kids went to school first in Atlanta. I wouldn't want to return there.

Then they both graduated from a school in Vinemont, AL. Hardly on the map. Very few of the Vinemont graduating class went to college, but mine did. Did well, too.

Top ranked Stone Mountain, GA school (when we were there) to a lower ranked remote school? I'll take Vinemont.

But I never faced the agonizing disappointment, as Miss Magnolia surely did, of being told that my child was so brilliant; so advanced; so prescient; so ingenious; so developed; such a visionary; so effulgent that the gifted teacher in Oxford was forced to admit that the school system simply had "nothing to offer" her.

No, my kids were just kids doing the best they could. You know. Chores. Accountability. Soccer. Homework.

[mississippimagnolia]

But I never faced the agonizing disappointment, as Miss Magnolia surely did, of being told that my child was so brilliant; so advanced; so prescient; so ingenious; so developed; such a visionary; so effulgent that the gifted teacher in Oxford was forced to admit that the school system simply had "nothing to offer" her.

Not all my kids. Only one. The others are just your average kids. And even they weren't challenged in Oxford schools. My kids were in Tupelo schools for a year. A total waste of a year. I have three family members who have in the past or currently work in Tupelo City schools. None send their kids there.

It will not get better until residents face the problem instead of pretending it doesn't exist.

Again, I'm not suggesting anyone take my word for it. A simple google search is sufficient.

[mississippimagnolia]

All the statistics you see about MS that make it look poor and uneducated are because of the Delta region. Exclude that region and I would bet money we wouldn't look nearly as bad. I have traveled quite a bit and have loved visiting other parts of the country but I wouldn't want to live anywhere else but Mississippi.

This sounds great, but it's just not true. Tupelo schools are bad. And they are getting worse.

Don't believe me? Here: Schools, housing pull families from Tupelo

From the site:

According to the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey, nearly 1,700 people relocated from Tupelo to another Lee County residence in the past year. Most settled in an unincorporated area.
The outward migration didn't just start last year. It has been consistent throughout the past decade, responsible for a paltry 1 percent population gain in Tupelo versus a 76 percent growth rate in Guntown and a 40 percent increase in Saltillo.

If we were moving back to Tupelo, I wouldn't even consider Tupelo Schools. They were horrible years ago when we lived there, and they are quickly getting worse.

[oldenfatt]

Tupelo schools are not the nightmare that schools in the Delta are. An influx of a relatively small number of "urban" blacks from Memphis City Schools, and the fear that the school system was going to turn into something worse was enough to cause a self-perpetuating "white flight".

If I actually lived in the district, I would not hesitate to put my children in the school system here.

[mississippimagnolia]

Originally Posted by oldenfatt

Tupelo schools are not the nightmare that schools in the Delta are. An influx of a relatively small number of "urban" blacks from Memphis City Schools, and the fear that the school system was going to turn into something worse was enough to cause a self-perpetuating "white flight".

If I actually lived in the district, I would not hesitate to put my children in the school system here.

No. They are not anywhere close to as bad as the schools in the Delta. But they are slowly heading in that direction. Read the article I posted. Tupelo is seeing "white flight". It's not politically correct to say it, but I don't think it does any good to pretend it isn't happening.

For comparison: In Greenville, when the schools started to get bad, people (mostly white folks) pulled their kids out of the public schools and put them in private schools. That marked the end of decent schools in Greenville. Once the schools go, it's hard to convince industry to move and stay in the area. No one wants to relocate to an area where they have to pay for private schools. And that destroyed the Delta. We moved as soon as we had the opportunity. Why should I continue to pay $40,000+ a year to keep my kids in private schools if I have an option to live somewhere with very good public schools? It made no sense for us to stay.

Now look at Tupelo High School. It used to be a very good school. Now?

"The Tupelo Public School District has been assigned a rating of "Academic Watch" for our performance."

From Tupelo Public School District - District News

Tupelo High School eyes future change - WTVA.com

There are countless other articles discussing the problem. A simple google search reveals example after example of Tupelo High School, and the District as a wholes, decline.

Tupelo High School was one of the best schools in the state at one time. In just a few short year, it has become a lower performing school. Discipline and school safety weren't even on the radar ten years ago. Now? Huge problem. To put it in perspective, the school resource officer won't send his kids to Tupelo Schools. That's pretty bad.

I love Tupelo. It's my home-town. I want to see solutions. And I am strongly against this whole "putting our heads in the sand" and pretending there aren't huge problems. Tupelo will become the next Greenville if City Leaders don't intervene in a major way. Look at the statistical data.

Schools, housing pull families from Tupelo


People are leaving the City in droves. Look at the dramatic increase in the populations in Saltillo, Mooreville, Guntown, and other surrounding towns. Is that we want for Tupelo? If something isn't done, it will happen. Tupelo will become another Greenville.

In answer to the problems, people always say "but, but, but...Toyota". Yes, the factory will bring people and jobs. But the question remains, will they live in Tupelo? Will they stay there when they realize the schools suck?