TeacherNinja – i am guessing we might actually live close to you, based on your description.

Trentham – Really, you succinctly summed up the point of my whole post: It shouldn’t be this hard for any of us.

James – Thanks! I get sad at the mention of the EARL. I have found decent burgers out here, but not with decent beer offerings, enough smoke to make me feel like I am still a smoker, or that special EARL attitude. . .

Weremonkey – You said, "I’ve heard conversations by developers and architects criticizing schools that are on prime real estate as something that should not exist there." Example A: John B. Gordon school in EAtlanta. Seems they (Inman Park Properties, maybe?) will let that building cave in on itself before they will do anything useful for the community. Concerning coming in after work or on weekends, we will of course do that, and aren’t that far, but it is not the same as living, working, and playing in your own community without getting on a major roadway.

Seth – Interesting. I want to hear more about your thoughts about how the Charter school is working out for you. We did not have that same option close by.

Jim, I think it is awesome that you are sending your kids to Parkside and in fact, if that had been an option for us, we would have probably gone for it. I know people who are sending their kids there, or who plan to in the next few years, and I think it is going to do well. A school like Parkside, however, is a little different than the elementary mine would have attended. I didn’t just say my child would be a minority, I said he would be a less than 1% minority. Meaning less than 1% of the kids there are his race. Parkside is almost 4%. Parkside also has a larger concentration of Hispanic, Mixed-race, and Asian children. It is simply more diverse. Even more telling, though, are the test scores. For 2006, Schoolwide reading proficiency was 72% at Parkside. Skyhaven? 48.4%. That is a pretty huge gap, in my opinion. While i realize that test scores are not everything, I would not feel good about putting my child at a school where less than half the children there are meeting reading proficiency reqs for their age.

I guess that this part is your wordy attempt at calling me a racist:
"The fear that your children will be harmed by being at an intown school is a myth so easily perpetuated by those who want an excuse to fear — and I honestly think it’s usually more a racial thing than most people want to admit."

I did not say that I thought my child would be harmed at any intown school, although i did have my concerns about the particular school that my child would attend being safe. It is not about race, though. It is about not sending my child to a school where it would be a struggle to overcome the inevitable disruptions of a classroom in which there are that many children so far beneath his educational level. Have you ever played sports? It is pretty much a given in sports that if you play people at or below your level, you will not see as much improvement in your own abilities as if you challenge yourself by playing someone who is better. I think learning is like that. I want my child to be challenged. I don’t want him to be taught at a level that does not challenge him. (I have friends who teach – don’t try and convince me that at a young age, particularly, there is not a phenomenon of teaching to the lowest common denominator.) Oh, and I don’t really get the SUV comment – I don’t go to the mall, and we both drive Hondas… Doesn’t really seem to apply to the subject we were discussing. I originally thought you were saying that you believed I moved because I fear being in the minority, but I guess you really think it was an excuse to move closer to a mall. Neither of which is the case.

Abby, as always, great comments. For what it’s worth, my kid won’t be in High school for ten years, but currently, the INTOWN high school he would attend does have some great academic offerings, wonderful test scores, AP offerings, etc. The High school in the EATl that my child would attend, i believe, has one of the lowest graduation rates in the country.

Anyway, I appreciate everyone reading and commenting and letting me air my thoughts in this forum.

You know, it’s one thing for a child to get good grades in school, but it’s another for them to get good grades in a school that sets clear, high expectations for all its students, where children are challenged and stimulated by teachers who are (a) excited about their job and (b) not shackled by their system. As Jim said, "learning that being part of a minority or in a situation people see as less desirable is no excuse not to thrive" is wonderful, and that’s something I missed out on learning in the white suburban schools I grew up in. But is it worth the trade-off of academic quality, AP offerings, honor course options, etc?

I don’t pretend to know this one way or another, so I just wonder if there is any school, including intown public schools, generally offer all these things.

We live intown (Ormewood Park) with our three children (4th grade, 1st grade and toddler), and are incredibly happy with the public school situation here. Our kids go to Parkside Elementary in Grant Park. Yes, they are in the racial minority, but they haven’t really seemed to notice that fact. They are also having great academic success. I can’t really think of any way that they have possibly been put at a disadvantage by attending an intown school. However, I can think of a number of advantages, like learning that being part of a minority or in a situation that many people see as less desireable is no excuse not to thrive.

The fear that your children will be harmed by being at an intown school is a myth so easily perpetuated by those who want an excuse to fear — and I honestly think it’s usually more a racial thing than most people want to admit.

I truly believe that if you had stuck it out and sent your kids to a school here intown, you would be happy you had and would have to admit that the plusses far outweigh any perceived minusses. But you’d have to drive your SUV further to get to the mall ;) .

Public schooling specifically (and schooling in general) is one of the most demagogued topics in our social/political discourse. I’m glad to see that it still is a heavily personal, weighty decision that boils down to *much* more than standard binary options such as right/left, urban/suburban and parent/non-parent.

Even when you can afford the nice neighborhoods, cities are always considered places that are not meant for the presence of children. I’ve heard conversations by developers and architects criticizing schools that are on prime real estate as something that should not exist there. When I offer the response of "well, people in the city nearby do have families" they’re usual response is that parents should be OTP. should be out of the city… and this from frumpy older men with wallets that are already too big by common standards.
Still, if you’re a commutable distance, you can come into town as often as you like. I have freinds who routinely come to gatherings and events, even after work from places as far as Athens, Kennesaw, Conyers, and Alpharetta.

i don’t envy you the decision you had to make. i have NO idea what i would do in your shoes. i’d like to act all enlightened and say i’d send my kid to school here anyway, but when it’s MY kid, who knows?

either way, i look forward to your dispatches from ‘out there’ and we’ll keep a table warm for you at the earl.

We live fairly close to downtown, but our neighborhood school is the most overcrowded in the district, isn’t very diverse and doesn’t have very good test scores. Private school is too expensive for the exact reasons you stated. We tried two different charter schools and were disappointed with the results, one was too far away and having startup issues, the other had various other problems including administrative problems. Luckily, the public school district here allows transfers and we’ve found a reasonable alternative roughly 10 minutes away in a neighborhood that we’d have to double our mortgage to afford, but that is still diverse enough and with good scores and a good culture.

It shouldn’t be this hard for any of us.