Best elementary school in Mt. Juliet (transfer, elementary schools, zoned)

[SouthernBoi]

What is the best public school in the Mt. Juliet area? My nephew will be in the 4th and will be transfering in the next few weeks.

[OKtoTN]

My family and I are currently in the process of moving to the area from Oklahoma. I used the website SchoolMatters - Home to look up the schools. It gives you all kinds of info on the schools and a link to their website. You can search by city, district or if you know the name of the school you can put that in as well. From the info I've seen the Mt. Juliet elementary, middle and high school are rated well, as are the Stoner Creek Elementary (a new one I believe), West Middle and Wilson West High.

[ExIslander]

Mt. Juliet has seven elementary schools. I know people with kids at all of them. I don't think any of them are a bad choice for a decent student, although some have higher test scores than others due to the typical demographic variances. My view:

Lakeview -- Generally considered the best in MJ. Test scores are the highest, parents love it. May not be a good choice if you don't want to debate religion in schools, however...

Stoner Creek -- Next on my list. Great community feel. I know at least one family who fudged the residency rules to get their kids into Stoner Creek, and recommendations don't come much higher than that.

In no particular order from here on out:

Mt. Juliet Elementary -- Very good school. Primary problem in previous years (overcrowding) solved now than Elzie Patton has opened.

W.A. Wright -- Academics are very solid. The only negative I'd heard was that the administration wasn't as open as at other schools and the PTO was more clique-ish, making it more difficult to get involved in the school. That could be old news, though.

Elzie Patton -- New school in the old Mt. Juliet Middle building. Most of the kids were zoned for MJE before but some came from other schools too. The ones I know, most like it fine but a few chose to come back to their old school. That's probably par for the course.

West -- No one talks about it much but the families and teachers I know from there are terrific.

Rutland -- Ditto. Its historical test scores have lagged the other MJ schools, although they have been coming up now that a number of its students come from the new Providence developments.

[Nashter]

Stoner Creek gets my vote.

[concernedparentinmj]

This person has probably already relocated....but I wanted to chime in...i think that Elzie Patton is one of the worst schools. Everyone was so excited about it because it was to follow the curriculum of Stephen Covey's 7 habits. Instead the school has focused so much on these leadership qualities that several the educational programs that were a foundation for many of the students at MJ Elementary have fallen by the wayside. In fact, the first 6 weeks of the opening of school many of our students didn't even have text books because the principal refused to make arrangements to get the books from MJ Elementary to EPE...just so that students could focus on the leadership qualities first. An example - is the AR reading program. Reading is only pushed with specific goals through 2nd grade. I have three children in the school in 2nd, 3rd and 5th grade and the reading program is basically gone after 2nd grade. There is no AR math program and no real way for students to excel in the academics. I am so frustrated with Elzie Patton that I am considering transferring the 2 younger ones back to MJ Elementary after this year.

Even with MJ Elementary was crowded they did an excellent job of making sure that all of the students had equal opportunity to participate in all programs - example the reading awards - which EPE does not do...and they ensured that just because the school was crowded that if there was a special need...it was met. Kudos to MJE - EPE you have many years to go.