I’m a homeowner in Everton. Recently, school district zoning has been a hot topic and a point of contention in our neighborhood with homeowners passionate on both sides of the issue. I recently read Neil Sullivan’s piece refuting some of the “facts” mentioned in another letter to the editor. I have some thoughts of my own. Please share the following with Neil directly, and/or include it in The Citizen.
Neil,
You make many fair and accurate points about how the whole Everton school zoning issue happened and some of the misconceptions about it. However, I take issue with a few parts of your opinion piece in the PTC paper and would like to provide another opinion from somebody who “got what he paid for.”
My first issue is with your apparent assumption that your Centennial home buyer paid more because of inclusion in the Booth/McIntosh district. Did you ask your buyer why they were willing to spend 100k more than buying a new house in Everton? If they didn’t say specifically that it was the school zoning, then perhaps they liked your home’s layout or size better. Perhaps they wanted a yard with established trees and landscaping. Perhaps they didn’t want the hassles that come with buying a new home like buying and installing lights, fans, towel rods and toilet paper holders, painting rooms, warranty issues, etc. Many Everton Parkside homeowners are claiming the same thing; their houses are more valuable than the rest of Everton simply because of the school district. They say this while ignoring the fact that their homes are on average bigger and with more rooms, built with completely different layouts by a different builder, and with more premium features than those in Creekside and the Villages. What’s especially ironic is your claim that the school district made a $100k difference for you while in multiple paragraphs you insist that all Fayette County schools are great and that nobody should have any issue sending their children to Flat Rock and Sandy Creek. While Flat Rock and Sandy Creek may be great schools, their ratings and scores for college prep, college success, advanced courses, and test scores all lag those of Booth/McIntosh. What parent wouldn’t try to give their kids the best education possible?
One aspect of this issue that seems to have not been articulated yet is Peachtree City’s identity. If you talk to just about anybody who knows anything about Peachtree City, they’ll remark about two things: golf carts and great schools. And that used to be true. If you look at the school district maps, every student in Peachtree City limits attends Booth/McIntosh or Rising Starr/Starrs Mill, except for three-quarters of the Everton neighborhood and all of Cresswind (which shouldn’t have any students). In fact, the school district lines are clearly drawn in many areas to directly follow the city limits. I’ll be honest, we didn’t know we were buying a house in a non-Peachtree City school district. We needed to move, we liked the house and the neighborhood, and it was inside Peachtree City limits. Our builder’s website advertised great schools. As in many house-buying and selling decisions, myriad things lined up to put us where we are, not just the school district. Did we get duped? Not exactly. But some things like the great schools in Peachtree City were taken for granted for good reason.
Our children are going to be neighbors, friends, and teammates with kids in Peachtree City, but who go to different schools. However, their friends, teammates, and classmates from school may live considerably further away from and not as readily identify with life in Peachtree City. The furthest part of the Sandy Creek district is 18 miles from Everton. The furthest part of the McIntosh district is 9 miles from Everton. While all of that may not be completely unique in many other school districts around the country, it is unique here. I don’t think it’s crazy to want the whole Peachtree City life we were looking for, not just half.
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Jon Ralston
Everton Creekside
How does one not know what schools a home they’re looking at is districted for?
From Zillow to Redline, all three schools (elementary, middle, and high) are listed prominently as part of the MLS listing.