Daughter is entering into Kindergarten next year, and we are going through the school choice lottery now. Also, been touring some private schools.

Reading reddit is about the only way to find out information on what's happening in the district. But, there is a ton of typical reddit BS to wade through.

Anyone currently have kids in school? What school? Are you thinking of pulling them out in favor of private?

Where I live the parents swear by Parker Elementary and that's multiple people of all demographics but you can control an elementary

Like anywhere else it gets muddy for middle school and high school as it's about best fit and environment at the time

But HISD always has perplexed me - you cry about test scores, etc. and how it is in certain neighborhoods historically- but you proudly bus the brightest students out the same neighborhoods or see them jump on a crosstown metro on a yearly basis that struggle to put them in high achievement schools that will succeed regardless.

And in some cases you have schools sitting in a neighborhood where none of the students who live across the street will attend whatsoever cause the school mixes in with tons of folks coming from apartment complexes which skews demographics

How can you ever win or is it designed to win?

CheeseSndwch said:

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Furlock Bones said:

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Daughter is entering into Kindergarten next year, and we are going through the school choice lottery now. Also, been touring some private schools.

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So which private school will your daughter be going to?

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it's tough. my wife and i are both public school kids, and we always thought our kids are going public. but it is seems to be such a crapshoot.

talked to a friend that lives in Austin. went through AISD. he pulled his elementary kids and put them in private. said they just weren't getting the education he got.

and the burbs don't seem to be much better these days. i'm hearing of lots of folks taking their kids out of public schools in the "good" ISDs.

southwestag said:

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Where I live the parents swear by Parker Elementary and that's multiple people of all demographics but you can control an elementary

Like anywhere else it gets muddy for middle school and high school as it's about best fit and environment at the time

But HISD always has perplexed me - you cry about test scores, etc. and how it is in certain neighborhoods historically- but you proudly bus the brightest students out the same neighborhoods or see them jump on a cross metro on a yearly basis that struggle to put them in high achievement schools that will succeed regardless.

And in some cases you have schools sitting in a neighborhood where none of the students who live across the street will attend whatsoever cause the school mixes in with tons of folks coming from apartment complexes which skews demographics

How can you ever win or is it designed to win?

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all of this. i'm not so worried about middle school much less high school at the moment. things change over 5-6 years.

some other things I am wondering about. Take Travis Elementary for instance. Its pretty highly rated. but, does that rating come from the Vanguard program. If your kid doesn't get in to the program, is the school still good for the other students? it's almost impossible to know until you subject your kid to it for awhile.

have you noticed any changes after the board takeover?

Furlock Bones said:

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have you noticed any changes after the board takeover?

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No, maybe less substitutes so I've heard about them combining classes when a teacher is out rather than just having a sub in the class.

Lots of kids in the area go there whose parents could afford private schools and Harvard was on of the few HISD schools last year that didn't have free lunches.

Hell to the naw.

Our daughter has been, is, and will be private school all the way.

We are zoned to Sinclair but are planning to stick with First Baptist Academy for Kindergarten next year, assuming we aren't in Montgomery, Conroe, Anderson-Shiro or Iola ISD by that time.

PM sent.

Friend was in Timbergrove and they loved Sinclair but they did not like Frank Black mIddle school or eventual choice of the high school. They moved to NASA area and are happy again now.

Furlock Bones said:

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CheeseSndwch said:

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Furlock Bones said:

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Daughter is entering into Kindergarten next year, and we are going through the school choice lottery now. Also, been touring some private schools.

---

So which private school will your daughter be going to?

---

it's tough. my wife and i are both public school kids, and we always thought our kids are going public. but it is seems to be such a crapshoot.

talked to a friend that lives in Austin. went through AISD. he pulled his elementary kids and put them in private. said they just weren't getting the education he got.

and the burbs don't seem to be much better these days. i'm hearing of lots of folks taking their kids out of public schools in the "good" ISDs.

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For as over-crowded as my kids school is in Katy ISD, I wish more would pull their kids out. Besides having an entire grade be in T-buildings, we've had a great experience so far with our fancy suburban public school.

ha...we had "temp" buildings out in KISD 35 years ago. Glad to hear things haven't changed.

cajunaggie08 said:

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Furlock Bones said:

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CheeseSndwch said:

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Furlock Bones said:

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Daughter is entering into Kindergarten next year, and we are going through the school choice lottery now. Also, been touring some private schools.

---

So which private school will your daughter be going to?

---

it's tough. my wife and i are both public school kids, and we always thought our kids are going public. but it is seems to be such a crapshoot.

talked to a friend that lives in Austin. went through AISD. he pulled his elementary kids and put them in private. said they just weren't getting the education he got.

and the burbs don't seem to be much better these days. i'm hearing of lots of folks taking their kids out of public schools in the "good" ISDs.

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For as over-crowded as my kids school is in Katy ISD, I wish more would pull their kids out. Besides having an entire grade be in T-buildings, we've had a great experience so far with our fancy suburban public school.

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I was in KISD. Had at least 1 class every year starting 4th that was in a "Temporary" building.

No complaints about the monthly lockfowns at Bellaire?

Pin Oak is great if you can get in, but obviously no guarantees.

Middle School is the biggest weak point in my opinion. Outside of the magnet schools, not a ton a great options.

Haven't had any lockdowns that I'm aware of in quite some time. There have been some, but it's usually just some students acting like idiots. I really like Bellaire, great school, great student involvement, spirit, etc.

The hardest thing about Bellaire is that there are so many smart kids, it's very hard to be in the upper percentages of grades. That's a big reason parents take their kids out to private, hoping to be in a higher bracket.

seems like a dumb strategy unless they pick a crappy private school

Sending them to Westbury HS on the other hand!

Agree.. But, of there are fewer kids (private school is considerably less), odds are in your favor to get in a better bracket.

I have family zoned to Love but did the lottery program to get into Field. It was stressful, pretty sure they just ended up going in person to get in. Their second is a couple years from kinder so kind of starting to stress about it again.

We moved to be zoned to OFE so we wouldn't have to worry about it, until middle school at least....

I have 1 kid in college, 1 HS senior and 1 in 8th grade. All attend(ed) private schools since Pre-k. For my HS senior to be top 10%, he has to be in the top 15 kids in his grade. It's extremely difficult and odds are definitely not in your favor.

I've never heard of a kid going from Public to Private to get in a higher bracket, but I know several that have gone the other way. Every kid I've known to transfer from Private to Public was top 5% at the public school they transferred to. At private they were around top 15%.

That is interesting. i can see the argument from both sides. Some family friends of ours sent their kids private all the way through and think they would have gone to Bellaire in retrospect. Different strokes for different folks I guess. Good luck with everything!

I'm not following. Colleges look at percentage and quartile, so what does the size have to do with it?

southwestag said:

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And in some cases you have schools sitting in a neighborhood where none of the students who live across the street will attend whatsoever cause the school mixes in with tons of folks coming from apartment complexes which skews demographics

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This partly describes my neighborhood. There are 4 elementary schools in the "super neighborhood" and they all look nothing like the neighborhood. The schools average out to 49% black, 35% hispanic, and 7.5% white. The neighborhood is 24% black, 20% hispanic, and 47% white. I'm obviously excluding the "other" ethnic categories for simplicity's sake. The schools also average 83% free/reduced lunch kids while the median income in the neighborhood is well above the numbers to qualify for that. From what I can tell from school signs in yards and talking with neighbors, folks in my hood either do private, homeschool, or move to Spring Branch ISD when it's time to put the kids in school. The only people who look to be sending the kids to HISD are the folks in apartments.

I guess what I said doesn't really make sense, lol.. Let's just say that there are alot of very smart kids at Bellaire, so it's tough to be in the upper quadrant. Some parent's don't want to deal with that.