May be relocating for work and would love some objective advice about the high schools in Midland. I have a son who will be a sophomore next year, this will be a hard move on him, and I would love to help him land as softly as possible!

I'm a product of Midland High, and I think I came out ok.

I think Midland Greenwood is the choice of a bunch of folks. It is a 3A, where Lee and Midland High are 5A.

I think your choices are:

Midland (Public, 5A)
Lee (Public, 5A)
Midland Christian (Private, 4A TAPPS ~2A UIL size)
Trinity (Private, not sure of size, but smaller than Midland Christian)
Midland Classical (Private, not sure of size, probably a little smaller than Trinity)

I graduated from Midland Christian and it was a decent school. I have 2 siblings that graduated from Lee and I don't think Midland Christian has much, if any, of an advantage over the larger public schools academically.

I know Midland Christian, and have heard that Midland Classical, has a strong political aspect to them. Kids with certain last names will get special treatment. This is good if you want your kids to learn early that life's not fair, but I don't know that it's the most conducive to a good education.

Currently, I only have one kid and he's several years from attending school. If I had to make a decision about where he would go to high school today, I'd probably say one of the big 5A high schools. I'm more interested in academics than sports and I feel like a good student with involved parents can get every bit as good an education at the big public high schools as the private schools. Also, I know I was a little sheltered which I discovered moving from a small, private high school to Texas A&M. I think I would have acclimated more quickly if I had attended a larger, more diverse, high school.

As far as Lee High vs. Midland High. I'd say Midland High has Midland's equivalent of "Blue Blood" kids and the more of the very poor kids. Call it upper and lower class. Lee High has more of the middle class kids.

Greenwood is an option but it's more of a town outside of Midland with its own school district.

Lee HS
Location: NW
My kids went here and did very well.
Daughter #5 and son in top 10%.
Midland HS
Location: Downtown
My kids friends went here and did well.
Both of my kids know and went to earlier school with their class years valedictorian.
Midland Greenwood
Location: SE Rural
Supposed to be a very good school.
Midland Classical
Location: North
Teach a different method than most schools. (Greek?)
As far as I know affiliated with Midland Bible church
Midland Christian
Location: NW (East of Lee)
Kids went early and Son as Freshman. Sports school. Golf Course Church of Christ school.
Midland Trinity
Location: NW (North of Lee)
Know the least about it. The most like a Preparatory school in Midland.
The story I thought I heard was it was brought about by Lutheran, Episcopal and Catholic churches in Midland.

[This message has been edited by LoudestWHOOP! (edited 3/28/2012 4:27p).]

Grew up un Midland, graduated from Midland High, I will agree with pretty much everything thats been posted.

Also if your boy is an athlete, specifically football player I would recommend Midland High or Lee. There is just something special about playing football in that district. I had heard they are bringing back the old little SWC district (midland high, lee, permian, odessa high, abilene high, cooper, and san angelo central) not sure how true it is, but sure do hope it is.

My son and daughter are at Midland Classical. Comments by TxAg20 are totally out of line about the school.
MCA is a classical education, there is NO bias towards anyone. Very tough academically and it is not a school for everyone though. Most seniors are getting into the colleges they are applying to. This year's senior class (about 20) has kids going to A&M (largest group), texas, tech, Colorado School of Mines (1) and a few going to Midland College for one year. Great bunch of kids that do almost everything together.
Coming in as a sophomore could be difficult, but doable if he is a good student.

If interested, google it and read up on the school.
One thing I love about MCA is all the kids get along, no bullying, etc. My son is a pretty good basketball and baseball player, he has his group of friends, but he and the other kids get along with everyone.
Older kids are encouraged mentor the younger kids and it makes for a great environment to learn.

Thanks so much for the input, it is always hard to make a move. Academics are very important to us he does very well, athletics are important to him. I think we will look at both of the 5A schools, but we were unsure if there was one of the schools that was better than the other.

It sounds like, all things considered, that they are both good choices, we will be visiting Midland in a few weeks and will get to see both schools.

Midland Aggie, I was told that by a parent of 3 Midland Classical students. Particularly, kids with the last name Leach seem to get the most desirable teachers. He said he was still happy overall with the school.

If heading into the public schools being a sophomore might be preferable. I am not a fan of the Freshman schools.

I know 2 kids who graduated from Midland Classical and both are really good kids. I would read up on the school then ask questions of a few parents of kids there. As Midland Aggie said it is not for all kids. But I would also say their teaching method is probably better for some kids and the smaller class sizes help with some kids also.

If sports are an issue, check to see what is offered at each school.

There is a school for everyone in Midland I believe, we tried out a handful and think our kids turned out much better for it.

Disclaimer: I have experience with a handful of Midland's schools.
1) My kids started at Midland Christian until late elementary. (Really good start for the kids, public speaking is encouraged at chapel, we left over cost and little things that bothered us being Catholic at a Church of Christ School.)
2) Moved to St Anns Catholic for late elementary and JH. (Daughter liked it at first then but moved to Abell mid 7th. Son liked Midland Christian better. St Anns is a very good school that places many kids in top 10 of the Public schools graduates. I would recommend starting them from Kindergarten if going there or ASAP. If we had started them early the kids may have done better. Being a member of the parish and volunteering a lot seems to help their situation.)
3) Son went to Midland Christian again as a Freshman (He was always well liked there) and finished at Lee. (He was top 10% of his class at Lee not taking honors classes). He enjoys school.
4) Daughter left St Anns for Abell JH then Midland Lee Freshman then Lee HS. (She had just had enough of the same 20 people all the time at St Anns and many of her friends had already left for Abell. She loved Abell JH. Got into the Gifted and Talented (GT) program. If the kids want it fight for them to get into it. We had to. Lee Freshman knocked her GPA that she had to make up for later. She would not have traded her GT friends for anything else. We are just not fans of the Freshman schools as I said before. Lee HS - she kicked it in gear. Still in GT classes that she excelled in. She is #5 out of 600 kids. We are very proud of her.
5) My only "failure" is that neither will attend Texas A&M as 4th generation Aggies. So many of their friends will be going there that I hope they go down to visit and participate some. Being able to pay as much of their own way for a BS was more important to them. Maybe they can get their Masters or PHD at A&M. funny that all of their t-shirt tsip friends growing up are heading to A&M in droves.

For public schools the districts are chopped up in a funny way (gerrymandering?). It is not like east of Midkiff is Midland High and West if Midland Lee. Pay close attention to that when house shopping.

Agbucket, MCA's basketball team really needs a point gaurd next year. We are going to be really good in TAPPS 3A next year, but we could use a point gaurd! Just say'n

TxAg20,

You have to take what One family says with a grain of salt. The Leach family were MAJOR financial contributers to MCA, paying for improvements that most families at the school could not afford. They have very nice facilities and NO DEBT, thanks to people like the Leachs among others. I might add that both Leach boys graduated with honors and are now doing well at A&M. In private schools, you always have those families, at Midland Christian you have the Browns and others. Every school has issues, but you have to look at the overall results, not one family's opinion. That result for MCA is about 90-95% of the graduates wind up in the school of thier choice on graduation.

quote:

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For public schools the districts are chopped up in a funny way (gerrymandering?). It is not like east of Midkiff is Midland High and West if Midland Lee. Pay close attention to that when house shopping.

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This needs to be repeated. I could stand in my parents front yard and bounce a golf ball of off Lee's auditorium, but I had to go across town to Midland High. My dad's business is located a couple miles South of the interstate on Rankin Hwy (re: whitetrashville, but also East of Midkiff and way closer to Midland High) and the nearby houses have Lee High School letters in there yards.

Makes no sense to me.

Or you could live in Stanton and be an Old Sorehead.

Thank you for all of your input! We will be moving in July and I think we are set! We will have a boy in Hillander, one at San Jacinto and one at Midland High!

We are excited to be heading to West Texas, we have always heard that the folks out here are as good as it gets, and from everything that we have experienced, that is so true!

Welcome Bucket.

Midland High Bulldogs!

There are great people.

There is also a lot of trash.

^^^^^^^^^^
This! But I guess thats everywhere.

Great choices. Hillander is about as good as it gets for math and grammar in elementary.

SJ is not as popular as Goddard right now but is light years ahead of Alamo.

Midland High will work out fine.

I think MCA does produce tight knit friends which is something to note. Most parents with kids there will argue the math is strong but I don't believe that to be true. Have known several smart kids that struggled to catch up at TAMU

All high schools in Midland are glorified day cares. Being a (somewhat) recent grad it was surprising to see how many people struggled their first years in college due to not knowing how to study.