I’ve lived in Davidson County for 20 years now. I enjoy living in the heart of the city, right in the middle of the action. I like the advantages of a large urban area, the services and the businesses that you can’t find in a smaller town. The culture.
So much so that for years, I’ve taunted friends who moved to Williamson County when their kids turned 5. [It's a real phenomenon.] Talked about how white-bread our southern neighbor is. How these friends were giving up, taking the easy way out.
Yet now, I am trying hard to figure out a good reason to stay in Davidson County, and I’m having trouble coming up with one. I’m just going to put this out there in hopes that you can help. Tell me where I’m wrong.
No one would argue that our education spending is anemic. In fact, it’s pretty good. But we have a student population with significant challenges in our county’s public schools, challenges which require greater funding. We have a high English language learner population. The poverty rate among Davidson County public schoolchildren is dramatically higher than the county’s rate, because so many middle and upper class families aren’t in the public schools. Last year’s budget woes eliminated real classroom teachers, not just theoretical teaching positions. While I am sometimes encouraged by Dr. Register’s work, I see too many daily examples of poor decisionmaking in the Metro schools to remain heartened for long. And, I have a 5th grader, a 4yo and a 6 month old. So this remains my personal problem for at least 18 more years.
Right now, my family lives 1 1/2 blocks outside [OK I'm biased; the 10yo is a proud graduate] of the best elementary school zone in Davidson County. We were in the zone when I bought the house — that’s why I bought it. Zone changed the next year. I am not even remotely comfortable with what I’m hearing or reading about the school we are zoned for, though I do still need to check it out in person.
A larger problem is that our family is too big for our house. Our 3 kids are spaced just so in gender and age that it would really be best for each to have his or her own bedroom. And in our hip, urban neighborhood, homes with 4 bedrooms are still awfully expensive, even in this economy. For several years now, you’ve been able to get more house for your money in certain parts of Green Hills and definitely in Bellevue, and that’s still the case.
And so for a while, I thought we’d just have to move to the southwestern part of the county. It’s not hip nor nearly so urban, but still not too far out, and we’d get the house our family needed. In a good school district.
But lately? I am trying to wrap my head around it, but I think it makes more sense to move to Brentwood. Here’s why:
* Good schools. Period.
* Good housing value for the dollar is available in some parts of northern Williamson County.
* I don’t hear any bitching in Williamson County about spending on parks and schools. From the outside, those “amenities” of the community seem to be highly valued by a large part of the population.
* They aren’t talking about mortgaging the city or county’s future on a convention center that is difficult to demonstrate the concrete value of. No doubt making it even more difficult to spend on parks and schools in the future than it is now.
There are some downsides, for sure. I’ll be a political minority, but I get along with most everyone. I do know all my elected officials here, and that is nice, but when the awfully smart folks I vote for aren’t able to stop these fool-headed actions by others, I guess that’s not doing me a lot of good, is it?
Sorry if I sound kind of depressed about this. I’m not really — I’m annoyed. Annoyed that housing prices are so high in this neighborhood I love. [It's happened since the local school opened and was immediately so wonderful.] Annoyed that our Metro government is so obsessed with this convention center. Annoyed that my realistic choice is moving so far away.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
* Good schools. Period.
Better? Yes. “Good”…eh. Depends on the education you want them to get. I went to Brentwood HS and my wife went through all 12 grades in Brentwood. I love my wife dearly, but to say that her education failed her in the areas of math and science would be an understatement. I’m a firm believer (admitting that i’m a father of one 7-month-old) that your child’s education is based more on what you do and how involved you are then their school.
* Good housing value for the dollar is available in some parts of northern Williamson County.
I’m not a financial adviser…
* I don’t hear any bitching in Williamson County about spending on parks and schools. From the outside, those “amenities” of the community seem to be highly valued by a large part of the population.
That would be because they don’t spend anything on parks. Last time I checked, Brentwood has a few nice soccer and baseball fields and one park with a band shell… Compare that to Percy Warner, Rador Lake, Centtennial, East Park, etc, etc. They also don’t have anything that compares to the practically free community centers with workout facilities, pools, etc. In Williamson Co these are mostly private or barely public subsidized. They all cost more to use. The biggest difference I can think of is the library system. Davidson Co’s is awesome. Big, has an easy way to order and reserve books online, or for that matter download eBooks and audiobooks online. They also have tons of great activities at the downtown library especially.
* They aren’t talking about mortgaging the city or county’s future on a convention center that is difficult to demonstrate the concrete value of. No doubt making it even more difficult to spend on parks and schools in the future than it is now.
Brentwood will see the benefits of the convention center w/o having to spend the money. True. Same goes for the stadiums, arenas, etc. Of course, it also means you’re a 30-45 minute drive from any of those things instead of a 10-15min drive. If you don’t think you’ll ever attend. For us, proximity to events, the Zoo, children’s museum, downtown library, etc. is one of the main reasons we moved to East Nashville in the first place. Growing up in Williamson Co (and living there while in college) was *boring*. There is nothing to do out there, and the car rides in to anything interesting are a pain. Oh – and that too….absolutely no mass transit is available out there. We want out kids growing up riding mass transit and living in as diverse and area as possible. For us, the diversity, sense of community (which Brentwood could never dream of) and opportunity to easily participate in all sorts of things going on is a major part of our child’s education. To us, those things plus what we do with them at home far exceeds the perceived benefit of a better teacher for a few hours a day.
It is a tough call though. It isn’t as easy as I make it sound above. That’s just been our reasoning.
And yes you can attribute my misspelling of “centennial” to the awesome Williamson Co school system ;-)
Yes, good. This is helpful. Thank you.
I have a lot more chewing-things-over-in-my-head to do before we make any real decisions, obviously. But once we’ve made the decision to leave East Nashville [which isn't a done deal -- that's by far our first choice, to stay here, and move into the Lockeland district -- we just don't think it's very likely], then it gets harder for me to distinguish between Bellevue, Fairview, and Brentwood.
I would be very very very careful about exactly what area of Brentwood or Franklin you decide to move to. There are some rezoning issues going on right now that are mindblowing. Some areas parents feel are “immune” from rezoning, while others have been rezoned multiple times. The mainstream local media has glossed over the story. Read the story “1 Family, 4 kids, 9 schools” and check out videos of the Williamson County Schools Ravenwood Rezoning meeting.