http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7370586.html

I'd love to see Lamar become a school where people who lived in River Oaks, Medical Center area, Rice Village area & West U would actually WANT to send their kids. I'm not sure if ditching the magnet program would change anything or not. I went to Lamar from 79-82 (after it had already gone to hell in the wake of HISDs idiotic bussing program). No way would I send a kid there as things currently stand. If you live in that area now, you pick private schools if you can possibly afford to avoid Lamar.

Ummm Alot of RO people send their children to Lamar for the IB program.

I don't know where you are getting the notion that the local children don't go there. Sure, the areas have a high private school enrollment, but of the families on our street, I'd say more than half attend Lamar or a Lamar feeder.

It may be an exaggeration to say NOBODY in the zone wants to send their kids to Lamar, but only a slight one. Everybody I know who lives within the Lamar attendance zone is trying to avoid sending their kids to Lamar.

Look at the demographics and then ask how many really live in West U, River Oaks, and the Rice Village area. According to TEA, over 40% of the students are "economically disadvantaged". The average SAT score is an unimpressive 1033 out of 1600 (Bellaire's is 1143 and Memorial's is 1157).

St. Johns has something like a 15% acceptance rate because they're swamped with quality applicants. Episcopal HS has really thrived on people fleeing Lamar with escalating test scores and tuition rates. St. Thomas Episcopal has also benefitted from this, being just outside the Lamar attendance zone.

Lamar used to be Houston's equivalent of Highland Park High School through the 1960's. Now its just another unimpressive HISD high school.

Episcopal is a glorified daycare that comes with a laptop and a hefty bill. When our kids went through the private school gauntlet, there were two top city choices: St johns and kinkaid ( they have had a wait list well before Lamar began to get rough) and then strake outside the memorial village west u RO area. Episcopal and St Thomas are where the kids that couldn't get in anywhere else went (some St Thomas boys were legacies ad Thts userstandable). Outside of strake and st johns and kinkaid, the other private schools were hardly the rhode scholars of Houston.

The admission criteria for kinkaid and St johns is different depending upon initial enrollment. If you enter into the blue door at kinkaid, you will get in if you have the money (same with St johns). Then, 1st, 6th, and 9th grades are the easiest with all other grades essentially accepting maybe 1-2 new students per academic year (usually legacies) . Off the top of my head, I'd saymost of both of our sons friends went to Lamar. Females were more likely to attend private school, but that fits in with national private school enrollment trends.

Episcopal HS has made surprising gains in their test scores in the last few years. Until very recently, I thought of them the same way you described, but they have apparently improved. The last average SAT score I saw for them was about 1200 on a 1600 point scale.

As far as I know, St. Thomas, the all male Catholic school, is still a joke. However, St. Thomas Episcopal, the coed school next to what used to be Meyerland Plaza is also getting a lot stronger academically.

Basically you have:

1) St. Johns firmly in the #1 spot academically (average SAT over 1400)
2) Strake/Kinkaid(average SAT scores between 1300 and 1350)
3) A few schools like St. Thomas Episcopal/Episcopal HS (average SAT scores between 1200 and 1250)
4) Then you have the best few public schools with average SAT scores between 1100 and 1200
5) Then you have a giant mediocre cluster of public schools with SAT scores under 1100 - thats where Lamar falls overall.

Coming back from my long tangential post, Lamar is still a sad shadow of its former self. The only way I can see that it will ever go back to being a desirable school is if they shrink the attandance zone to exclude some concentrations of apartments on the periphery.

"If you enter into the blue door at kinkaid"

What do you mean by "the blue door"?

Blue door is the earliest possible enrollment at Kinkaid. It is essentially equivalent to prekindergarten/early daycare.

The 10% acceptance rate applies to the early grade admissions as well.

SJS list for admissions applicants starts at birth (and is closed after 150 sign-up) and Kinkaid offers 8 non-legacy slots for all of Pre-k. I think something like 300 apply.

[This message has been edited by nick_t (edited 1/8/2011 9:31a).]

^
^
don't know where your getting that from. Was on KS board for the entire tenure of our sons enollment, and the portion related to kinkaid only accepting a fixed number of non legacies is incorrect. When my son started blue door, of his class of 23, I can count at least 14 that werent legacies.

It's more about $$$ than legacy for the blue door. If your a legacy, your in, but I can tell you right now we wouldn't turn down the CEO of shell or marathon or the likes because we only had 8 non legacy positions open. The admissions process to both are not nearly as draconian as the above poster is trying to portray.

Demographics of Houston have changed in the last 20 years and hence the increased enrollment.

And what is "blue door"? Are you talking about Pre-K?





[This message has been edited by nick_t (edited 1/8/2011 9:43a).]

Wait wait wait, you knew all about our admissions process, but don't know what the blue door is? ROFL. And FYI, kinkaid has had the same student demographics since intergration. The demographic shift of Houston doesn't concern them.

Also, enrollment is fixed and only increased after significant renovations to the elementary school, middle school, and high school, as well the purchase of the adjacent property btwn memorial and kinkaid drive south of San Felipe. From inception of the san felipe campus from the old richmond
Campis to the most recent renovations, Enrollement was constant. After the renovations, class size was allowed to legally increase by 15-20% due to the fact we were no longer in violation of pineypoint village occupancy code. Thus, the enrollment increased, but not due to demographic shifts.

When I say enrollment is fixed, I mean we can't put someone in a spot if placing them there put the school in violation of city occupancy.

So please explain what "blue door" is?

Also, I find it terribly ironic we're discussing a private school's exclusive admissions process that's obliquely a function of status and money on a forum dedicated to a state-school that emphasizes middle-class and middle-America airs. This isn't a list-serve for the porcellian.

just sayn'.

But seriously, what is "blue door"?

Sorry, I used a change in demographics when genetrification would work better. My point is more rich and educated people live intown than did 20 years ago. There are more affluent houeholds looking for private school and daycare inside the loop than there were 20-30 years ago.

Almost every daycare and private school now has a waiting list as opposed to 20 years ago when only a select few did.

[This message has been edited by nick_t (edited 1/8/2011 10:13a).]

I already explained what it was earlier. Guessing you decided to skip that post.

Your seeming to have a hard time understanding that kinkaid has had a waitlist since the 1950's. Gentrification doesn't effect a school that's probably 85% white. If anything, it's become less gentrified wit the increased number of Hispanic students enrolling.

The thought of riveroaks, west u, or the memorial villages being more gentrified than they were 20 years ago is humorous.

And I asked if you were referring to their Pre-K class. You said it was the earliest possible admission which I believe is Pre-K. Is this correct? And why are you calling it Blue Door.

Or is it one of those "if you need to ask, then you probably can't afford / probably aren't worth of it" type deals.....

Check out my 11:26 post. It uncovers the mystery of the blue door.

quote:

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The thought of riveroaks, west u, or the memorial villages being more gentrified than they were 20 years ago is humorous

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There are other nieghboorhoods in those respective zip codes that experienced gentrification. The disparity in home price and income between the aforementioned neighborhoods and their adjacent neighborhoods continues to shrink, and I would call that a form of gentriciation. Hell, 20 years ago, those places were islands inside the loop.

And I would argue West U average income/home price as increased faster than that of Houston.

Neghborhoods don't equal zip codes. I understand 77024/19 has areas now that ate more gentrified, but the areas unlisted are not among them

quote:

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Check out my nebulous 11:26 post. It uncovers the mystery of the blue door.

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FIFY

Why is it so difficult for you to explain exactly what it is? Is the need to perpetuate exclusivity that strong with you? Its not like I'm asking for the initiation rites of Opus Dei.

No, I just figuredthat since you could type, you could read too. It's called not wainting to explain something twice typing on a iPhone.

Also, how hard is it to understand that they don't call it prek/k and instead call it by a series of colored door. I could spell it out for you again, but youd probably come up with some attempted elistet attack. It's apparent you have little to no experience with the claims you made about the school in your original post. It's like you think it's some top secret: it's not.

quote:

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It's called not wainting to explain something twice typing on a iPhone.

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in favor of 6 posts avoiding explaining further or answering my initial question.

Seriously, how hard is it to comprehend the explanation provided yeterday. You had a reserved spot on the short bus didn't you?

I should have stop paying attention when you said RO WUP and mv were their own zipcodes with other neighborhoods dispersed amongst their delineated boundaries.

quote:

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Also, how hard is it to understand that they don't call it prek/k and instead call it by a series of colored door. I could spell it out for you again, but youd probably come up with some attempted elistet attack. It's apparent you have little to no experience with the claims you made about the school in your original post. It's like you think it's some top secret: it's not.

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Because the website calls it Pre-K4/K/1st/2nd/etc....

There is no mention of colored doors.

I would use aristocratic in place of your use of elitist, that term applies more to SJS where admission are independent of money, status, and other trivial factors. After all GW Bush was denied admission to SJS and went to Kinkaid.

I call elitism the belief of those who feel more capable than others because of their talents and accomplishments, think MacArthur, as opposed to those who get by on money and status, think the Kennedys.

me short bus; you chauffeured....

[This message has been edited by nick_t (edited 1/8/2011 10:51a).]

Buck,

not sure who you know, but I live in Bellaire, kids went to Pershing and we know tons of people in West. U and River Oaks who send their kids to Lamar. The IB program at Lamar and the AP program at Bellaire are the equal of St. Johns. Sure, there are some who don't want that, but to say that everyone is going to private schools in tht area is ridiculous.

What HISD needs to do is create four to five college preparatory high schools where the students have to test to get admission and good education is available for those who know they want to go to college. The only students that would attend are students serious about their education. Provide busing.

Then keep the niche magnet schools as is: DeBakey High School for Health Professions, High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, Barbara Jordan High School for Careers, and High School for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice. Provide busing.

Then turn all the other schools into "traditional" high schools where little no busing is needed and you attend the high school in your neighborhood.

"but to say that everyone is going to private schools in tht area is ridiculous"

I did not say everyone from the affluent areas IS going to private schools. I'm saying the ones for whom private options are not feasible (limited openings, prohibitive cost, can't test in, etc.) have to hold their nose and hope for the best at Lamar. My original sentiment at the beginning of the thread was:

"I'd love to see Lamar become a school where people who lived in River Oaks, Medical Center area, Rice Village area & West U would actually WANT to send their kids."

Just because people in the nicer neighborhoods send kids to Lamar doesn't mean they like it.

[This message has been edited by Buck Turgidson (edited 1/8/2011 6:25p).]