Oldham County Schools (Louisville: home, transfer, high school)

[shan117]

Hello,
My husband is being transferred to Louisville after Christmas. We're a Christian, conservative family with one school-aged child. We drove around Louisville a few weeks ago and have decided that Oldham County will probably be the best place for us. I am a teacher and my contract doesn't end until the summer, so my husband will be moving up before we do. My son will be entering high school next year and I want to make sure that I choose the area best for him. My concern is that he will be misjudged because we are from Mississippi and there are many false negative stereotypical images of Mississippians all across this country. There are actually only a few areas of MS that fit the stereotype and they pull the average way down for the rest of us. My older two children scored very well on standardized national tests, such as ACT, PSAT, and SAT. Both were National Merit Finalists and Merit Award winners and always scored in the 99th percentile on a national basis. Our high school is a blue ribbon school, and with only 120 graduating seniors, six had a score greater than 30 on the ACT last year. That being said, I really hope to find a school where he won't be ostracized and it won't be assumed that he is behind or a low achiever because we're from MS. Of the three Oldham county schools, which one would be most likely to allow him to be involved in activities, take advanced classes, accept him in social groups, and have a majority of Christian students and teachers?

[kingcopper]

are you from anywhere near Batesville? If so, you'll fit right in. If not, you still will.

[shan117]

No, we're in South Mississippi, about 40 miles south of Hattiesburg.

[tomocox]

Shan117, welcome to the absolute best place in America to raise a kid, work and worship your God. I, too, am Christian, have had a kid in OC schools, and live here too.

[shan117]

Thanks Tom! It's hard to move away from family and a place you've lived most of your life, but the wealth of information on this forum and the informative posts by you, have really made this move easier for us to accept. I feel like I know the area pretty well, even though I've only been there once! Thanks again! I will be reading this forum for many months to come, I'm sure.

[tomocox]

Originally Posted by shan117

Thanks Tom! It's hard to move away from family and a place you've lived most of your life, but the wealth of information on this forum and the informative posts by you, have really made this move easier for us to accept. I feel like I know the area pretty well, even though I've only been there once! Thanks again! I will be reading this forum for many months to come, I'm sure.

Shan, if there is one thing I can help you with, it's an honest and clear view of the various congregations, their styles of worship, and the intrinsic values both obvious and subliminal.

You will love Oldham County! I moved here in 2002, but only from Jefferson County. You seem to have your goals set very high, don't you dare compromise. You won't have to here, just be patient, ask questions until you are sure, and get involved. We'll love you and hopefully you'll love us, too.

[sellinggreaterlouisville]

Shan,

I graduated from South Oldham in 1995. Since then they have added a 3rd high school. All of the schools do very well. What activities and hobbies does your son have?

You do realize you are talking to a group of people about Kentucky, right? We know all too well about false negative stereotypical images.

[shan117]

Originally Posted by tomocox

Shan, if there is one thing I can help you with, it's an honest and clear view of the various congregations, their styles of worship, and the intrinsic values both obvious and subliminal.

You will love Oldham County! I moved here in 2002, but only from Jefferson County. You seem to have your goals set very high, don't you dare compromise. You won't have to here, just be patient, ask questions until you are sure, and get involved. We'll love you and hopefully you'll love us, too.

Thanks Tom. I really would love to talk to you about the different churches in the area, especially as we get closer to moving. We're Southern Baptist, and I noticed several when we drove around. I've looked at several online also. In fact, my son has added a few youth pasters from the area on his myspace or Facebook.

Shan,

I graduated from South Oldham in 1995. Since then they have added a 3rd high school. All of the schools do very well. What activities and hobbies does your son have?

You do realize you are talking to a group of people about Kentucky, right? We know all too well about false negative stereotypical images.

Yes, I do realize that KY has to deal with that sort of thing, too, but with MS ranking last or worst in everything, people I've talked to always say that schools automatically assume their child is behind in school when they move. I would imagine if South Mississippi was ranked separately, it would be somewhere in the middle on most things.
My son is 13 and in the 8th grade. He loves playing his guitar. He plays in a praise band at church. He's talking about playing football because everywhere he goes people ask him if he plays because he's 6' 1" and solid. He really doesn't like to play that much though, so I don't know about that. He loves baseball. In school, he's on the student council and he's an officer in a Christian club on campus. He's a walking encyclopedia. He would be great on a debate team. In fact, the high school coach of the quiz bowl team here is going to be quite upset when he finds out he won't be getting him next year. He's on the tennis team at school. He likes it that y'all have swim teams and would like to try that. He also liked that one school had an engineering club and the other had a German club.
I guess he's interested in quite a bit. His favorite thing, however, is the praise band at church and participating in youth activities. His brother just graduated last year and he was very active in everything, so he pretty much followed his footsteps. He won't have that now, but I think he'll make his own way. He gets sad sometimes about the move, but overall he's excited about it. He's a popular kid here, but he knows he'll be completely starting over, and of course, he wonders if they will like him or not, which is a normal concern for any teenager.
My 23 year old daughter will be coming with us also. I'm happy about that. She wants to work on her doctoral degree in math and computer science.
My 18 year old son will probably want to get involved in the community and church in the summers and holidays when he comes home from college. Now if I could just get my parents and inlaws to move up with us! Then, I know we could be very happy there!

[tomocox]

My wife and I are members of Dehaven Baptist Church (the new church that meets in the old building in downtown LaGrange) and we love the people. I feel that we truly have a group of missionaries serving throughout the region and then gather weekly to renew, refresh, share and worship God, but this doesn't mean that everyone will find our church the best place for them to serve and worship. Oldham County is full of great congregations, and a few churches that will be great with the addition of only one or two leadership oriented families.

[Tav68]

Originally Posted by shan117

Hello,
My husband is being transferred to Louisville after Christmas. We're a Christian, conservative family with one school-aged child. We drove around Louisville a few weeks ago and have decided that Oldham County will probably be the best place for us. I am a teacher and my contract doesn't end until the summer, so my husband will be moving up before we do. My son will be entering high school next year and I want to make sure that I choose the area best for him. My concern is that he will be misjudged because we are from Mississippi and there are many false negative stereotypical images of Mississippians all across this country. There are actually only a few areas of MS that fit the stereotype and they pull the average way down for the rest of us. My older two children scored very well on standardized national tests, such as ACT, PSAT, and SAT. Both were National Merit Finalists and Merit Award winners and always scored in the 99th percentile on a national basis. Our high school is a blue ribbon school, and with only 120 graduating seniors, six had a score greater than 30 on the ACT last year. That being said, I really hope to find a school where he won't be ostracized and it won't be assumed that he is behind or a low achiever because we're from MS. Of the three Oldham county schools, which one would be most likely to allow him to be involved in activities, take advanced classes, accept him in social groups, and have a majority of Christian students and teachers?

Oldham County High it the best of all the schools here.
I graduated from there in 1987 my graduating class won the banner of excellence.
My daughter gradauted from there last year and she recieved a scholarship to MIT.
It is a wonderful school and you would be making a good choice. There is a church everywhere you look in Oldham County. It is a wonderful place to live and I do not see how anyone would make fun of your kids for being from Mississippi. We generally do not have a big problem here with kids being outcast because of where they are from because we Kentuckians have to deal with the same thing.
I am perceived as being Dumb all of the time based soley on where I am from.
People make fun of Kentucky all of the time just as they do Mississippi.
I really do not think you have anything to worry about there.