Grenada Ms Schools ?? Best area to live in?? (Tupelo, Southaven: fit in, lawyers)

[38930]

I am just wanting any info I can get on Grenada, Ms.
Home's in the 200-300K range.
Public VS. Private Schools.
Local info.....Thanks.

[MyMinnesotaSky]

To let you know, I used to live in Grenada for six years and attended Grenada High School for two years before I moved to Arkansas.

Grenada High School is very diverse with half of the demographic being white and black students, and it was one of my greatest high schools based on academics (many AP classes offered) and athletics. It's also one of the largest high schools in Northern MS after Southaven, Olive Branch, South Panola, and Tupelo High Schools. Along with Grenada High School, you have Grenada Lower Elementary, Grenada Upper Elementary, and Grenada Middle Schools.

If you prefer a private school for your children, there is Kirk Academy. From what I heard, Kirk is a great school also.

Of course, you definitely can buy many nice, attractive houses between your price range of $200,000-300,000 dollars in affluent areas, such as Oakhaven and areas near both Kirk Academy and Grenada Lake Medical Center. There are many beautiful homes outside the city limits on Scenic Route (333) towards Grenada Lake and Perry Estates and Deerfield Subdivisions.

[SafetyDad]

If the red flag didn't pop up when that other poster considered black and white diversity, just wait until you step foot into this town. This is the most segregated towns I've ever stopped in. I wasn't raised racist, nor will I raise my children to be racist, but if you have kids, the community here promotes it. The citizens with money have somehow built a fortress neighborhood to essentially keep out undesirables (minorities and middle class families). If that's your kind of thing, welcome home. I almost moved my wife and three daughters there. I make enough to not have to live next to a crack house. Most people here don't. The whole town is turning into one. The ENTIRE downtown area looks like a ghost town. I spoke to some of the residents around the area in the nicer homes. I suppose because I am White, they figured it was okay to be honest with me. THEY ARE ALL MOVING OUT OF THE AREA BECAUSE OF INECFFICIENT LAW ENFORCEMENT AND AN INFLUX OF CRIMINAL ACTIVITY THAT THE CITY CANNOT CONTROL! You have rows of beautiful houses that are rotting away because of the sheer numbers of people leaving. My heart certainly goes out to those people who have no choice but to stay. The place is ridden with drugs, crime, classism, racism, and somehow they expect me to pull 175K out of my wallet to live there. HECK NO! Affluent, here, means that it is far enough away from any of the actual problems that the city faces to live in a bubble of ignorance. But you still have to go in to town to buy your groceries, and trust me, its not safe. There are only 3 places to get your food from, and all three of them are in areas where you'd be better of walking down a Chicago back alley in a suit made from dollar bills. I accessed the city's public records, and from the looks of the state of finances in this place SOMEONE IS STEALING MONEY. Millions of dollars going towards random things like road construction, and ALL OF THE ROADS ARE TERRIBLE!! No. Just turn back. Don't come here. I'm writing a letter to the Governor of Mississippi about this place. As for me, I'm taking my money, my family, and our LIVES back home to Vermont. A pitiful sad place, Grenada is.

[brickpatio]

Wow, I'd say that last posting is a bit of an over-statement, although coming from 99% Caucasian Vermont it seems plausible that someone could have that reaction. Personally I've never been a huge fan of Grenada myself; however, it does have its positive points.

As mentioned in the second posting, the public schools there are almost exactly even in numbers between whites and blacks. I'm pretty sure I recall their schools getting some awards over the years due to their efforts to successfully maintain integrated schools and by offering apparently some solid academic programs for gifted students etc.

And they do have a sizable private school which is probably where most of the doctors and lawyers etc send their children. But even with a private school in town (which serves probably 20% of the white population and probably a fair number of black students also whose parents are doctors etc), because they have just one public school that serves the entire county, they managed to have almost perfectly balanced public schools in terms of ethnicity. And this has remained for decades.

I tend to agree with the third poster that the older section of town (right off the town square), while having a pretty good selection of older homes, feels kind of bleak. However, the newer section of town to me has always felt like the main part of town anyway (residentially), right around the hospital. The newer area includes some very big, pretty homes on hilly, wooded lots. There is also nice hilly, wooded terrain and lovely rolling farmland all around town in all directions which makes great property for living on some acreage a few minutes out from town. The other poster also noted some subdivisions on the west side of town closer to the lake. I've seen some of those and they include lots of lots with homes set atop steep wooded ridges, i.e. with winding driveways and homes setting maybe 30 to 50 feet in some cases above street level, amid thick forests.

As far as shopping, there is a strip of retail right off the interstate exit which looks like the rest of America (except for Vermont), with Wal-Mart, Kroger, Taco Bell, Hampton Inn, etc.

They do have a giant lake in town with a very nice golf course. I believe it's the largest lake in Mississippi.

Probably my favorite thing about the area is the community of Carrollton about 20 minutes south of Grenada. It's tiny but adorable, loaded with pristine antebellum homes on spacious lots, with hills, trees, a town square and a little river running through it. It actually could fit into Vermont come to think of it. The other best thing is probably proximity to Oxford which is about an hour north, a place everyone seems to want to move to.

There is also the tiny town of Water Valley, about half way between Grenada and Oxford, which has gotten some great articles written about it due to Oxford and university-related students and professors moving into Water Valley and beginning the gentrification process. There is quite a large section of older homes built over a hundred years ago that seem almost untouched. There is a fairly quaint main street downtown and not really any run-down areas to speak of. The surrounding terrain is hilly and thickly forested. I think the public schools in Water Valley are okay also (see schooldigger.com).

[pinebud1111]

Originally Posted by brickpatio

Probably my favorite thing about the area is the community of Carrollton about 20 minutes south of Grenada. It's tiny but adorable, loaded with pristine antebellum homes on spacious lots, with hills, trees, a town square and a little river running through it.

Ditto on Carrollton. Most. Beautiful. Town. in Missisissippi.

EVER!!