Living near Leesville

[Duck Butter]

If you had to work in Leesville, where would be the best place to live with a family with decent schools? Alexandria/Pineville?

[Jordan]

I live in Rosepine. Small town. Good schools. Alot of country. 30 minutes from leesville. Pickering is another good choice. Small town, decent schools--Good spots program. 15 minutes from leesville..

My choices in this order (First place to last place to live) Rosepine, Pickering, Anacoco, Hornbeck, DeRidder

[MathGeek]

Originally Posted by Duck Butter

If you had to work in Leesville, where would be the best place to live with a family with decent schools? Alexandria/Pineville?

Different parents have different educational priorities. "Decent schools" may mean something different to parents hoping for their children to be well prepared for college than it does for parents of children without college aspirations.

The Louisiana DOE publishes fairly complete report cards with a lot of data that allow parents to determine which schools are the best fit for their children's needs:

http://www.louisianabelieves.com/data/reportcards/2014/

Given our family's preferences, we would be likely to prefer a school like Bolton High School in Alexandria. Review of the data suggests that the high ACT scores and below-average graduation rates reflect a high standard of academic rigor and college preparation. Schools like Pineville High that have lower ACT scores and higher graduation rates often reflect lower standards of academic rigor and college preparation.

[Duck Butter]

Originally Posted by MathGeek

Different parents have different educational priorities. "Decent schools" may mean something different to parents hoping for their children to be well prepared for college than it does for parents of children without college aspirations.

The Louisiana DOE publishes fairly complete report cards with a lot of data that allow parents to determine which schools are the best fit for their children's needs:

http://www.louisianabelieves.com/data/reportcards/2014/

Given our family's preferences, we would be likely to prefer a school like Bolton High School in Alexandria. Review of the data suggests that the high ACT scores and below-average graduation rates reflect a high standard of academic rigor and college preparation. Schools like Pineville High that have lower ACT scores and higher graduation rates often reflect lower standards of academic rigor and college preparation.

thanks for the link

[Smalls]

Leesville?!? What you askin about SLeesville for? Lol

[silver_snipe]

DB I agree with MG go look at the report cards. All the schools in Vernon parish got either an A or B. I can tell you that Vernon parish school board is pushing hard to continue to improve and they are already well above most in the state. Also looking at the state report cards there were a higher percentage of students on grade level in the Vernon schools than the Rapides schools.

Not sure where you will be working near Leesville area but Alexandria/Pineville would be a hour commute. Also working in the emergency services. I can tell you I responded to a lot more violent crime calls in Alexandria. That being said there are some areas of Alexandria that are very upscale and we never seemed to go to. Pineville was pretty quiet.

Vernon parish is a nice place to live. I would reccomend one of the smaller towns surrounding Leesville. I have lived in Rosepine for well over 20 years and can say it is a quiet area with a low crime rate to live. Anacoco rated very well on the school report cards. It is also close to Toledo bend. I differ with Jordan on my ranking of Vernon choices of places to live in Vernon. I would choose Rosepine (ok I'm prejudiced to it), Anacoco, Pickering, Leesville, and Hornbeck.

Just my .02 we all have opinions

[BassYakR]

sounds like rosepine wins! ive done some 4wheeler riding in rosepine... beautiful country over there.

[meaux fishing]

I vote Anacoco...Just because it is fun to say
Here's another site where parents can review schools http://www.greatschools.org/

[AceArcher]

From a school perspective, Anacoco would be top of the list with Pickering as second and Leesville itself as third. (although all of them rate quite high statewide)

We currently send our kids to Leesville, and the programs they have for younger kids is second to none... from pre K thru middle school. Leesville falls off in Jr high and High school, They are quite a bit better in Anacoco and Pickering. With our older child going into Middle school soon, we are strongly considering switching them both to Anacoco (We live in a zone where our kids can go to either school & have busing for both)

In particular the School Organized sports activities for Anacoco are very strong.

With that said, your children will have greater exposure to variety and diversity in Leesville as compared to other schools (because so many of the leesville students are military family's) (This may be a plus or a minus in your book... depends on how you view it)

As far as where to live... well i guess that is gonna depend on what type of oyster it is that you like to shuck... Me... I would shoot for the country life on one of the basically local lakes and live like i do now on Vernon lake... or even on southern Toledo Bend. (that would probably put you in Florien school district, not sure how they rank)

P.S. Unless you just really like a long commute... Alexandria / Pineville would be a bit to far for most to stomach. 50+minutes for Alex, 1 Hour + for Pineville.

Leesville and surrounding area's have healthy supplies of McMansion's if that is your thing, alternatively if you prefer more land and less house move out towards the country a bit.

Happy to spend some time with you some day and show you the area's which would be high on my priority list... shoot me a pm if that works for you. (no i'm not a real estate agent and don't have one to refer you to)

[Duck Butter]

thanks for the responses

[C-Bass2mouth]

I graduated from Rosepine in 08 and have a younger brother who is a senior there now. Im probably a bit biased towards RHS but when I was there it was great compared to surrounding areas (good kids, caring teachers, and involved parents). I know they have made some administrative changes recently but from my understanding it was for the best. As far as sports goes it fluctuates from great years to bad years, since it is a 2A public school with larger 4A schools surrounding (Leesville / DeRidder). Baseball / softball is by far the dominant sport there. Not sure that your kids even play baseball / softball but they do send kids just about every year to play at the next level. I can think of about 10 guys since I was there that continued to play (LSU, Mcneese, Northwestern State, Pratt CC, Hutchinson CC, LSUS, LSUE, Faulkner CC, Meridian CC, LC, North Arkansas CC). Christina Hamilton who pitched for UL this season in the CWS also. They will send at least 3 more guys this year as well (1 commited to Northwestern, my brother and one other will most likely take the Ju Co route). I'm not sure but I don't think they have won a football game yet so yea lol. It's a growing community with all kinds of housing developments popping up. Still plenty of country there though. I grew up on family land there, and have killed A LOT of deer on our property. My PB came from our front yard one morning before school lol. My girlfriend's first year teaching was last year, and she taught at RHS (biology/chem/AP). She really enjoyed the kids and staff. She graduated from Anacoco, and that place is like an academy compared to other public schools. The principal back then is now at RHS I believe. We have both moved back to LV since finishing college and have been there over a year now. We don't plan on having kids anytime soon if ever, but if we did no way I would send my kid to LHS. I have a good bit of friends that went there and turned out great but still yet, not happening lol. If I had to rank the local schools I would say Rosepine, Anacoco, DeRidder, Pickering, Leesville, Hornbeck. I work in DeRidder and it's about a 40 minute drive from the North side of LV. Like Archer said, Alex/Pineville is an hour haul and I almost die everytime I drive in Alex lol.

P.S. - Toledo is 30 minutes from my house. Huge factor in the decision lol

[Jordan]

Shoot me a PM if u need to ask more "?" 's

[youmyboyblue]

Went to Deridder yesterday for a funeral. First time ever there, cool little town but not much to do.

[redroaster]

Anacoco, hands down best school to raise children and live, 10 minutes to Leesville
20 to Toledo Bend

[swamp snorkler]

Looking at the link that Dink posted all of the schools in Vernon Parish at least a B and most have A's. Seems like a good school system.

[Duck Butter]

Very good school systems in Vernon, didn't realize that and you can get a big house and acreage on a lake for what you pay to live in a subdivision in Laffy.

Thanks for the responses

[AceArcher]

Yeah it's not all bad up this way keep in mind that cost of living is a bit higher here than other parts of central Louisiana. Business tends to milk the military a little heavy round here. Ie. Gas is typically ten cents out so more expensive than like Alexandria etc

[ddear]

I graduated from Rosepine last year and c-bass is dead on.


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