Summer break is here! Now is the perfect time to brush up on what is going on in the school districts. Obviously we cannot always predict what schools, principals, teachers, students, etc are going to do. What many buyers do go by however, are the scores or test results if you will, from the schools.
I am strongly urging all agents and buyers to research the schools themselves, or at the very least send the buyers to the schools directly. I am speaking from direct experience when this situation hit home directly. I had initially overlooked a school because of the statistics I found online, but ultimately learned personally what a fantastic school it actually was. The point of this newsletter is not to “sell” any specific school, but to give an example of how a good school can be overlooked.
My eldest daughter has known for some time that she has wanted to be a Doctor, so I wanted her in a top school. After thoroughly researching, Riverwood Charter High School- a nationally ranked public IB school fit the bill. The solution was to buy in that district. The problem was the house I found was in the High Point elementary district, which is not one of the top mentioned schools according to the Great Schools website. This was a potential issue because I have a 5 year old also, who would be going into public school. In social settings I was hearing Sarah Smith Elementary, (which feeds into North Atlanta) and Heards Ferry(which feeds into Riverwood) were great elementary schools.
I decided to not just look at the “Great Schools” website, which often has the state scores posted, but to visit the school myself, and see what I could find out. As it turns out, the school is not new like Sarah Smith, but I found out quickly that the “english as a second language” students were taken out of the main class for portions of the day which left the remaining students to get much more one on one attention. That was a pleasant surprise. Not only that but the school has the test scores of the students divided out between the English as a second language, and the English as primary language students. The ending results were pleasantly surprising: English as a first language students scored significantly higher than the Great Schools website had posted as the schools average! I had thought the overall test score provided online were not up to par, but learning this information made me realize that the school was actually very good.
Highpoint has a very active PTA, more and more neighborhood families are taking their children out of private and putting them into Highpoint.
Highpoint offers prospective families the ability to speak to active members of the schools parents. There are neighborhood get togethers literally revolving around the school topics for mothers with children in the school, and going to the school, which I have attended.
The bottom line, is that If a home in ANY neighborhood is wonderful, and the school is stopping you or your buyers, remember this story, and go get the real facts from the school directly. Look at websites, talk to friends, neighbors, and parents of children that currently go to the school in question. You may be pleasantly surprised, and your buyers may end up with the perfect house in a great school district that they had not allowed themselves to look at due to the school!! Good Luck, and happy house hunting!!