Question for RiverOtter about Schools

I read that you said people are shocked at how bad the school are in that area when they relocate. I had heard the opposite. Which schools are bad?

The private schools are world class. The county schools stink UNLESS you move to Lookout Mountain, Signal Mountain (There are 3 on signal, 2 ele and 1 middle). There is a good Magnet school called CSAS (Chattanooga School of Arts and Sciences). CSAS has people camping outside of the doors for days to get their kids in.

The privates schools Bright, Baylor, McCallie, GPS are world class and charge for that $10,000 for K-5 at Bright and $17,500 for 6-12 at Baylor, McCallie (all male), and GPS (all female).

I figure by the time my kids are ready for Baylor or McCallie the price will be $20,000 per year per kid. Thats almost $300,000 for high school. After that I hope they can get jobs cause I sure as hell won't be able to afford colledge.

Edit: Whoever told you the schools were good was flat out lying unless they were talking about the mountain schools or any of the private schools. The mountain schools are great because the parents are very involved. Not the case for the other county schools. Do some research. Hamilton County schools ranked as D's and C's.

Now if you'll excuse me .... I'm going to go sit by the window and wait for the tourches and pitch forks

RO...one perk of paying for private school is that once they get to college, you are so used to that tuition flowing out of your checkbook that it isn't as much of a shock as it is for public school parents! Unless of course, the little otters go to schools with $45,000 costs! That's when you start saying..SCHOLARSHIP NOW! My son attends Mizzou (out of state tuition for us) and it is still a great deal...very close to his tuition in HS! If your kids go to state schools for college, you'll wonder what do to with all the extra $$$!

After that I hope they can get jobs cause I sure as hell won't be able to afford colledge.

(laughing with you ;-) )

Now if you'll excuse me .... I'm going to go sit by the window and wait for the tourches and pitch forks

... still torch heretics down your way, eh?

RO...one perk of paying for private school is that once they get to college, you are so used to that tuition flowing out of your checkbook that it isn't as much of a shock as it is for public school parents! Unless of course, the little otters go to schools with $45,000 costs! That's when you start saying..SCHOLARSHIP NOW! My son attends Mizzou (out of state tuition for us) and it is still a great deal...very close to his tuition in HS! If your kids go to state schools for college, you'll wonder what do to with all the extra $$$!

Colledge will in effect give me a raise . Yesterday on some news website (one of the few Whitey will let me view) I saw the 10 most expensive colledges. The most expenesive wan "only" $35,000 or so. I was surprised.

(laughing with you ;-) )

... still torch heretics down your way, eh?

You know it my friend

I thought the point of paying for McCallie/G.P.S. was so that kids could get full-ride scholarships to any college they choose ;-) . Pay now so you can save later? Then again, we are surprised at how many McCallie grads stay in Chatt. and go to U.T.C. Is that because they didn't get scholarships and now the parents are out of $$$??

We have nephews at McCallie and I'm very impressed at the quality of their education. It truely is world-class. We have also have a niece that started at G.P.S. this year. Their mother (my sister-in-law) was a strong supporter of public school--P.T.A. president, etc. However, she got so fed up with the poor decisions that the school board is making and the down hill turn that the schools made, that she and her husband pulled their kids out of public schools after 5th grade. The live on Signal Mtn., so the elem. is good, but the middle school is not what it used to be.

cck...middle school is the armpit of education! Even your most elite private schools struggle with that! Think about that age and all it's inherent craziness!

I thought the point of paying for McCallie/G.P.S. was so that kids could get full-ride scholarships to any college they choose ;-) . Pay now so you can save later? Then again, we are surprised at how many McCallie grads stay in Chatt. and go to U.T.C. Is that because they didn't get scholarships and now the parents are out of $$$??

We have nephews at McCallie and I'm very impressed at the quality of their education. It truely is world-class. We have also have a niece that started at G.P.S. this year. Their mother (my sister-in-law) was a strong supporter of public school--P.T.A. president, etc. However, she got so fed up with the poor decisions that the school board is making and the down hill turn that the schools made, that she and her husband pulled their kids out of public schools after 5th grade. The live on Signal Mtn., so the elem. is good, but the middle school is not what it used to be.

According to friends/clients of mine (the ones with money) these "full ride" scholarships really aren't there. Especially if you have money.

You are correct about the Sig Mtn thing. They have announced a new High School and the property values just shot up big time. Everybody is saying that this will "hurt" Baylor, McCallie, GPS. I call BS on that! Egos and Keeping up with the Jones in Chattanooga will keep these schools in fine shape.

When you meet somebody in Chattanooga one of the 1st questions asked is :idea: "Where did you go to school?" You might say MIT, Harvard, Yale... Wrong answer :nono1: . The question really is "Where did you go to high school?" That's all anybody cares about here :roll: .

Colledge will in effect give me a raise . Yesterday on some news website (one of the few Whitey will let me view) I saw the 10 most expensive colledges. The most expenesive wan "only" $35,000 or so. I was surprised.

Sounds like old info to me...many are up to $40,000 + not including books, travel, living expenses!

Sounds like old info to me...many are up to $40,000 + not including books, travel, living expenses!

Not the ones the Otter will be paying for

Not the ones the Otter will be paying for

I get it...you were looking at colledges not colleges!!!!! Those are cheaper...no spelling skills required!

I get it...you were looking at colledges not colleges!!!!! Those are cheaper...no spelling skills required!

That musta been it

I thought you were talking about the schools in the south walton area a while back...you were talking about TN

RO...one perk of paying for private school is that once they get to college, you are so used to that tuition flowing out of your checkbook that it isn't as much of a shock as it is for public school parents! Unless of course, the little otters go to schools with $45,000 costs! That's when you start saying..SCHOLARSHIP NOW! My son attends Mizzou (out of state tuition for us) and it is still a great deal...very close to his tuition in HS! If your kids go to state schools for college, you'll wonder what do to with all the extra $$$!

I hear ya! Our son goes to the University of Southern Indiana and it's cheaper this year, his freshman year, than the four previous years. Oh wait, hold on, that's because the kid's away at school without a car...no gas bills any more!

RO, the school situation in your town sounds a lot like what we have here in Indy. There's one good public high school but depending on what district you're in, you might still have to pay at least $4K to attend. The free public school you wouldn't send your worst enemy's kid to. We've been paying tuition up the wazoo for years now.

I'm really pushing state universities to our daughter who's a junior. :roll:

Colledge will in effect give me a raise . Yesterday on some news website (one of the few Whitey will let me view) I saw the 10 most expensive colledges. The most expenesive wan "only" $35,000 or so. I was surprised.

My daughter goes to a really good small liberal arts school, and the cost is around $38,000 for tuition without living expenses thus why we do not live in SoWal ( second child). This was not one of the more expensive ones she looked at and the others were higher. Scholarship money is hard to come by unless SAT is really high or your child excells is sports, band, etc. However for an investment, an education is the best place to put your money. No one can take that away from you. My husband and I laugh and jokingly tell our girls when they are rich to give a small place at the beach.

Our daughter's roommate is from Lookout Mountain. small world

I thought you were talking about the schools in the south walton area a while back...you were talking about TN

Yes the Hamilton County Schools which is Chattanooga, TN.

My daughter goes to a really good small liberal arts school, and the cost is around $38,000 for tuition without living expenses thus why we do not live in SoWal ( second child). This was not one of the more expensive ones she looked at and the others were higher. Scholarship money is hard to come by unless SAT is really high or your child excells is sports, band, etc. However for an investment, an education is the best place to put your money. No one can take that away from you. My husband and I laugh and jokingly tell our girls when they are rich to give a small place at the beach.

Our daughter's roommate is from Lookout Mountain. small world

Sounds like a school on Monteagle Mtn :scratch:

Yes the Hamilton County Schools which is Chattanooga, TN.

One of the problems seems to be the school board that is constantly keeping things in an uproar.

One of the problems seems to be the school board that is constantly keeping things in an uproar.

Between the County Commission and the School Board I don't think I've seen so many bickering rednecks in my life. They are doing nothing but damaging Chattanooga. What company would want to locate here after reading the paper or listening to the radio? This city HAD so much potential.

Between the County Commission and the School Board I don't think I've seen so many bickering rednecks in my life. They are doing nothing but damaging Chattanooga. What company would want to locate here after reading the paper or listening to the radio? This city HAD so much potential.

"Bickering rednecks" You got that right. It's entertaining to hear and read about on the news but so embarrassing for Chattanooga.

"Bickering rednecks" You got that right. It's entertaining to hear and read about on the news but so embarrassing for Chattanooga.

That's just it. The media has no idea what they are doing to the reputation of this city. If you were the CEO of a major company would you move here after reading the headlines generated by those friggin hayseed rednecks? I sure as hell wouldn't!

There are private schools, and then there are great private schools. Our daughter went to a private school in Georgia, made in the mid-750's on all of her SATs and SAT IIs, and went to MIT. We thought she was golden. Unfortunately, what we now understand that we didn't understand before is that for bright child to be happy and unstressed at a top 5 university (a) it takes more than being very intelligent and having high SAT scores, and (b) not just any private school will do. The child must be *educated", not just smart. The kids at MIT who were unstressed were the ones whose schools prepared them explicitly for MIT and the Ivys. I didn't see any McCallie kids listed in the MIT facebook when my daughter was there. From what I see, they mostly end up going to schools like Emory, Vanderbilt, or Sewanee, great schools, but not MIT. Many of the kids at MIT, for example, went to schools that use the exact books that MIT uses for its freshman. So when these kids get to MIT, they've already worked all of the p-sets (problem sets), and they breeze through with little stress.

BTW I totally underestimated the power of being a legacy. Legacies don't get any preference at MIT, but they do at the Ivys.

If I had to do it over again, I would have sent our daughter to a private school of that calibre. Oh, well, too late now. For an average student or below, I'm not sure that it matters - might as well save your money and put him/her in public schools. For an above average student, I think you'll get your money's worth at McCallie or Greenhill or private schools of that calibre. But then I've never crossed those bridges, so this is just speculation on my part.

All I know is when the Louisville Baylor and McCallie boys were home for the holidays and summer, it was PARTY time!!!

All I know is when the Louisville Baylor and McCallie boys were home for the holidays and summer, it was PARTY time!!!

All the kids I know who went to McCallie are definitely party animals. But maybe there's a difference between the boarders and the non-boarders?

According to McCallie's website, 50% of students (since 2003) attend college on a merit scholarship, including National Merit Scholarships to MIT.