Wondering about schools in and around Petersburg, Va (Chester, Colonial Heights: low income, crime)

[IkeaWife]

My family has a house in Petersburg and are actively looking for new tenants (family only). They keep trying to convince my husband and I to go down there; and though my husband is ready to go with no concerns I am not too sure.
Ive heard the school system is horrible. Is that really the case? Ive also heard that there is another option for people who live in Petersburg. Ive heard that there are good schools outside of Petersburg, which Petersburg residents can send their kids to, which have no religious affiliation....is this true? I dont care how much money we can save if my three kids dont get a good education. My kids are 5, 1 and a half and the last is due August 28th.

[goldenage1]

Originally Posted by IkeaWife

Ive heard that there are good schools outside of Petersburg, which Petersburg residents can send their kids to, which have no religious affiliation....is this true?

I wonder if they were referring to Matoaca Elementary School, which has a Petersburg address, but is in Chesterfield County. Otherwise the four Petersburg City Elementary Schools are rated 1, 2 or 3 out of 10 by greatschools.org . Is there some facet of the No Child Left Behind Act which allow city students to go county schools?

Otherwise there is a private military school, and Bermuda Run which is non-sectarian. I would ask your relatives to find out which elementary school their house is zoned for.

[WMBlonde]

I am a teacher in Dinwiddie County, which is next to Petersburg, and can tell you that under NO circumstances would you ever want to consider sending your children to Petersburg schools. The majority of Petersburg is referred to as the "ghetto" around here, with lots of crime and low income families. Dinwiddie or Chesterfield are much nicer places to live if you enjoy the rural life, or you could go 10 minutes north to Colonial Heights for more of a city life: malls, shopping, restaurants, etc. Petersburg in its hay day was a beautiful place with lots of history, but simply take a drive through the downtown area today and you'll see nothing but run-down houses, abandoned vehicles, and lots of thugs hanging out in the streets.

[IkeaWife]

Well the whole point of us moving down theree woulld be to live in my families house which is in Petersburg. Its a great opportunity for us to save money and it would make my family happy to have us in the house but in the end slmy kids education is my main concern. Thanks for the info.

[slowlane3]

Originally Posted by WMBlonde

you could go 10 minutes north to Colonial Heights for more of a city life: malls, shopping, restaurants, etc.

Some people call that suburb "Colonial Whites".

[HorseHockey11]

I'm white and my kid used to go to walnut hill elementary, he was fine. We moved before he got into 6th grade. The schools past elementary are effed up.

I find it funny someone from Dinwiddie is criticizing Petersburg.

[VAOrchid]

I can't speak to the elementary schools; but I will say avoid Petersburg High School at all costs. I am not from Petersburg, VA but came to the area to work as a Registered Nurse with my high school aged daughter. Initially I had planned to place my daughter in a private school in Petersburg, but due to confusion on the part of the private school, I found out...at the last minute...that this school only taught to the 8th grade! While the private school representatives apologized profusely for their confusion during the registration process, it didn't help my family situation at the time; but due to late notice, I had to place my daughter in Petersburg's public school system. When I met with the principal and counselors at Petersburg HS, I specifically asked if the school was fully accredited and they stated, "yes." Well, the school is not fully accredited!!! They have "partial" accreditation with warnings so they may lose that if they don't straighten up!!! This school was not accredited for about 2-3 years (about 1 year ago) and the graduating students during this time frame, had to go to local/community colleges in order to take classes and improve their GPAs in order to get into college. Needless to say, in a matter of months, I had to remove my daughter from the school system. She was bullied, teased, had glue placed in her hair and there were attempts to cut her hair with scissors. When I met with the counselors to complain, their response was, "Well, what do you want us to do?" My daughter is mixed race and found that her only friends at Petersburg High were also mixed raced who had the same problems with the ignorant "ghetto" mentality of the students...and teachers....there. By the time I removed my daughter from Petersburg HS, her friends had already been removed by their parents and relocated to family in the Chesterfield county area. Sadly, this school's curriculum is "behind the times." Information being taught to my daughter in the 11th grade in Petersburg, my daughter learned in the 7th grade at other school systems!!! In the end, my daughter was placed in their "homebound" program and the Petersburg school system was required to send a teacher to our home to teach my daughter for the last 6 months of the 2011-2012 school year. Best thing that ever happened!!! My daughter was able to avoid the hateful kids and completed the 11th grade with high honors....as my daughter says "easy honors". Now she is looking forward to starting her senior year within another school system and she is studying every day this summer to prepare herself for the upcoming/final year of high school with friends.

I know of many parents who live in Petersburg that have falsified their addresses and information (using a friend's/relative's address) in order to get their child to the high school in Dinwiddie, VA. If I had a point-of-contact for this Dinwiddie school, I would have done the same thing.

I see that many parents utilize the GreatSchools.com website to find out about schools but this is not a worthy site to me. I prefer SchoolDigger.com for school ratings and test scores. You will find that Chesterfield county has the better schools (better test rankings in the state) within the area.

Your children are young right now. I hope that in the next 8-10 years, the Petersburg public system shows much improvement in their high school.


...sorry for the long rant....

[Keith430]

Because Petersburg schools are not accredited, can I legally put my kids into another school, in another city, although I am still a resident of Petersburg?

[onevthoki]

I would contact the state Board of Education to find out your options. There is a private school in Blackstone called Kenston Forest. I believe they have a bus that picks up from the Petersburg area.

[novanwbie]

I would avoid Petersburg public schools. As you say, your childrens' education is most important. The system has major structural and funding issues, not to mention the lack of accreditation. but that's an issue for Chesterfield and Henrico too, now, with the new SOLs. Anyway, Petersburg has a lot o work to do to be a quality school system, and you don't want that to come at your child's expense.