I live in rural NJ. I work in NYC next to a noisy and sometimes violent NYC high school.
Every day, I thank God I never had to send my kids to a school like the one across the street.
I grew up in the Bronx...went to Catholic Grade School then Catholic HS because the public schools stank that bad. at the end of the 10th grade my folks decided it was time to flee. we moved out to the Island and did not look back. Dad was NYPD and new the dangers of the city...it took him a while but he got his family OUT.