Sandy Springs

Just north of Atlanta is Sandy Springs, one of Atlanta's most affluent suburbs and the second largest city in the Atlanta metropolitan area. It's bounded by Cobb County at the Chattahoochee River to the north and west, Roswell to the north (also at the river), and the DeKalb County line defining Dunwoody and Brookhaven to the east.

Kenny Rogers chose Sandy Springs for his nearly 12,000-square-foot Mediterranean estate, but most of the housing stock is more within reach of professional people who don't need that much space to display six decades of AMA, Grammy, ACM, CMA and lifetime achievement awards.

With more than 16 parks, the city provides more than 950 acres of greenspace. The Recreation and Parks Department's partnership with the National Park Service is responsible for maintaining 22 miles of shoreline along the Chattahoochee River.

There are three National Park sites: Island Ford Park, Powers Island Park and East Palisades Park. Visitors can rent a kayak, canoe or a raft to float down the river – or "shoot the 'Hooch."

The city publishes a monthly newsletter online. Throughout the year, there are community events and festivals. The largest, drawing as many as 30,000 people, is the annual Sandy Springs Festival, with a juried artist's market, civic and business expo, pet parade and 10K/5K runs. Other special days are the Sandy Springs Artapalooza fine arts festival, the Stars and Stripes Celebration on July 4th and the annual Chattahoochee River Summer Splash – a six-mile float down the river beginning at Morgan Falls Dam.

One notable indoor Sandy Springs activity is a visit to the Anne Frank in the World: 1929-1945 exhibit, which includes a collection of more than 600 photographs retelling the story of the young diarist and remembering the lessons of the Holocaust.

The Atlanta Public School System serves Sandy Springs with seven public elementary schools, two public middle schools and two public high schools.

The elementary schools are Dunwoody Springs, Heards Ferry, High Point, Ison Springs, Lake Forest, Spalding Drive Charter and Woodland.

The middle schools are both charter schools – Ridgeview Charter School and Sandy Springs Charter Middle School.

Both high schools are charter schools, too. North Springs Charter High School was recognized as one of "America's Most Challenging High Schools" by the Washington Post in 2015. It's also been named an AP Honor School and AP STEM school for student achievement.

North Springs is "committed to academic excellence for all students." Students must earn three more credits than any other Fulton County high school or the state requires, and those in the "magnet seal or distinguished diploma program" must earn five extra credits.

North Springs is organized into four academies devoted to related fields of study: Career, Technical & Leadership (CTL); Humanities; Math & Science; and Visual and Performing Arts (VPA). It's the only high school in the state offering both a math & science and a visual and performing arts magnet program.

Riverwood International Charter School, another magnet school, is an International Baccalaureate World School that offers the Middle Years Program (MYP) with Ridgeview International Charter School. And only three other Fulton schools have magnet programs with both the International Baccalaureate and International Studies curricula. As a Project Based Learning School, Riverwood is focused on helping kids understand the connection of what they're learning to the real world.

There are nearly a dozen private schools in the area. Holy Innocents' Episcopal School and Mount Vernon Presbyterian are both preschool to high school. Brandon Hall begins in fifth grade and goes through high school. The Doris and Alex Weber Jewish Community School is a transdenominational Jewish high school offering Honors and Advanced Placement options.

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