Relocating and need advice on Knoxville area Schools (Oak Ridge, Maryville: house, school district)

[steph3121]

We are relocating to the Knoxville area and I was wanting advice on schools for my children. One of them has a special need and we are just very unfamiliar with the area. We're still debating whether we should go private or public but due to the financial burden of private, we much prefer public. We are considering knox county schools or Alcoa/Maryville school district. Any information at all would be much appreciated! Thanks!

[designlucas]

Hello, steph3121 and welcome to our wonderful area. You're on the right track with regards to Alcoa / Maryville as they have great schools and convenient access to the mountains, the airport, and in to the city.
You might also want to consider Farragut (depending on where you're moving from you might find it pricey) Hardin Valley / Karns, Cedar Bluff or Bearden. Basically, any of the suburbs west of downtown have terrific school (very highly ranked on greatschools.org). If you wanted to look more of the fringes of the metro area, Lenoir City or Oak Ridge are worth a look. Oak Ridge has very good schools, while Lenoir City is a fast growing area with lots of lake access.

If you're looking at private schools, most are affiliated with churches (such as CAK or Concord) but Webb School of Knoxville is actually one of the highest ranked schools in the state, but it's ridiculously expensive.

Hope this helps.

[DaveC20853]

If you use the search function you'll find numerous threads on this topic.

[steph3121]

Thanks for responding! We will be working in East knoxville but wasn't sure of the Strawberry plains area and haven't heard very good things about the Carter school district. We recently discovered Ft. Louden Lake and are really looking into possibly having a house on the water.

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by DaveC20853

If you use the search function you'll find numerous threads on this topic.

Agree with this. There are TONS of threads regarding this. I've written in most of them and included links.

What is your budget? Looking for rural? Burbs? Where are you from? These sound like nosy questions, but a lot of us have been on here for years and we've learned that it matters. Where you are from helps decide where you will be comfortable.

There isn't a Carter "district." It's all part of the Knox County School District, which includes Farragut, et al. Some schools test better than others due to the socio-economic circumstances of the students that attend, as always.

It also depends on what you and your children have as goals. Lenoir City High School has a college readiness score of 3.4 percent. However, if your children won't be attending college it might work for you.

Lenoir City High School in Lenoir City, TN | US News Best High Schools

[steph3121]

We are coming from the lake of the Ozarks in Missouri so naturally, we love the water. We fell in love with the beauty of Knoxville though for sure and are very much looking forward to making it our home.
Our budget will be $400-500k. Knox county is pretty big therefore looking at all the schools that are in the district has been overwhelming. I suppose I was looking for personal experiences with schools in Knox county or Alcoa.