Yeah it looks like you live in south Smyrna, so I can see why many opt for private. Many of the northern Smyrna schools are better fwiw.

One thing to remember in Cobb County, is that you are allowed to send your kids to any school you choose in the Cobb district.

I highly encourage everyone to really do research wrt schools. Talking with the school’s teachers, with neighbors, etc is a much better way to go about it. Great schools is extremely flawed in their rankings. Ask any teacher and they will explain. .

For example, a school who’s low income students (regardless of how many are at the school) score lower on testing than upper income students, will have their “score” lowered significantly as they see that as a deficiency in teaching. Many of their metrics are flawed and should be taken with a massive grain of salt. Not saying it’s completely wrong, but when my wife was teaching in another district, her school was ranked 4/10 on the site but was regarded as the best in the area, including many higher ranked schools. Locals knew it, but if you weren’t from the area, you’d have no clue.

Great schools is the Zillow of schools. A place to start, but I wouldn’t make decisions based solely on it. Just something to consider.

Good to know. Thanks for the inside info. Also great tip about sending your kid to any school in Cobb. Didn't know that.

Anyone live(ed) in Brookhaven or have had kids that attended Marist School? If so, would you recommend the neighborhood and/or school?

Thank you in advance!

North side is awesome there is no other pilots, very crowded, two hours drive, but night life is amazing once you have kids schools are 5 out of 10, but private schools are not bad and only around 18k per year. Night life is great.

I would avoid the brookhaven/buckhead area... Lots of crime happening up there lately. But thats just my opinion. Plenty disagree with me.

As far as in the perimeter, Brookhaven is pretty nice, depending on the specific neighborhood. I know a decent number of people that live in the area and like it. Public schools are a mixed bag overall in Dekalb County. I can't speak about Marist from experience. I know a few folks with young kids that go to OLA (another Catholic school nearby) and like it.

Generally speaking, living anywhere in the perimeter, there is a higher chance of crime than outside the perimeter. Brookhaven has it's own police (instead of through Dekalb County, etc.). You can look up a crime map on their website to make more informed decisions for yourself.

Driving would likely be more like 30mins without traffic and 1 hour with, again depending on where in Brookhaven you live.

look at dunwoody instead. Roswell would work as well. If you go as far as Alpharetta it could take you 20-30 minutes to get to Marist.

Thank you for the reply. Why do you recommend Dunwoody over Brookhaven?

Thank you for the info. I visited Marist and talked to some folks that live in Dunwoody and Brookhaven. They liked the area, and to my surprise, said they regularly use MARTA to go to the airport when they travel (not in the middle of the night though). I grew up in the Atlanta area and always remember hearing folks talk about the crime on MARTA, but perhaps that's changed since I moved away 30 years ago. Thanks again!

Dunwoody. Less crime and bigger lots.