Memorial Area Schools

[icanluv2]

Memorial grad here. I moved back to the MHS zone as fast as I could to give public schools a shot for my two kids. Exorbitant property tax bills, but at least I get the best that tax dollars can buy (and for less than having two kids in respectable private schools like Kinkaid or St. John's). Worth the stretch for my family.

And my take on the snobbiness issue - you will find it at any high school.

yeah, but some alot more than others.

[icanluv2]

My take is that a predominately Caucasian high school will have a better educational plan and curriculum. It is just the way it is. Memorial was that way back in the 80s. Not sure what the makeup is now. If i had kids, i would prefer that they attend a school with different races and cultures.

[VicMan]

HCBU, maybe the solution is to open a sports venue closer to central Houston - maybe allow HISD games at the Robertson Stadium at UH?

And, by the ethnic makeup described, I assume that you are referring to the athletes in some of the sports (Basketball, football, etc). Overall, Lamar and Bellaire are still plurality White (not majority) schools.

When my sister attended Lamar, she had a lot of pride in the school football team to the point where she cried when the football team lost in the playoffs. She states that the dancing team and the cheerleading squad are smaller than they used to be, though.

I have a cousin who attends Lamar, but I forget which sport she plays in, if she is involved in sports.

Memorial is still a majority White school.

Lamar, Bellaire....none of those schools have any pride.....the kids don't attend football, basketball, events, etc. because I guess they think Butler Stadium is too far....that's a big chunk of high school life...no community pride

Most of the athletes at those schools aren't zoned there anyway....most of Lamar comes from the 3rd ward or the Southside just like Bellaire.

Those schools are good if your kid wants to go to school and come back home

We just applied to Second Baptist School. Any "SnootySnot" report on that one?

One of my sister's friends attended Lamar, but was forced by her mother to transfer to St. Pius...

In her opinion (Hey, I do not know anyone at 2nd Baptist), she feels like 2nd Baptist is overly snobby. Maybe I should find her and ask her a few questions about this?

[hbcu]

Texas Southern need a stadium and HISD needs an inner-city stadium to keep Lamar, Bellaire, Wheatley, etc. from playing too far away from their campuses..the solution is build one together

Lamar never draws much of a crowd but I can see how when most of the kids don't live near each other and there's no real sense of neighborhood pride. Plus, if I live in River Oaks and given the option of staying home or fighting traffic to see Lamar play Lee at Butler Stadium, might as well stay home.

Only time Lamar's students show is when they'll play Yates or so and that's because most of the athletes live that way or somewhere in South Park.

[musicman]

My take is that a predominately Caucasian high school will have a better educational plan and curriculum. It is just the way it is. Memorial was that way back in the 80s. Not sure what the makeup is now. If i had kids, i would prefer that they attend a school with different races and cultures.

tell that to kipp academy. evidently their students have a higher rate of graduation and they are performing better. i just saw on the news this morning how they want to expand big time here.

kipp article

kids go to school every other saturday and three weeks during summer. child and parent must sign a contract in order to get in. to have to force parents to do this is ridiculous IMO. parents should be involved with their children's school.

Edited March 20, 2007 by musicman

[TexasCE]

Memorial is an excellent academic school. But I think it you are really concerned about the "snotty" factor, then I would recommend looking at other options. The reputation of Memorial by some is that it is the public "private" school. That is of course to say (and more or less rightly so) that most kids there have a lot of money, and for lack of a better way of putting it, many are not afraid to let you know that. Now, part of that is just the mere fact that Memorial is a very nice area and as such, most of the people that live there with kids are rather well-to-do by most people's standards. Thus, while it might seem overly "snobby" to some one without a significant amount of disposable income, it's probably less so for kids that grow up there and that is more or less their world and it seems relatively "normal" for them (i.e. their peer group).

As far as other schools in Spring Branch, Stratford is significantly less "snotty" using those standards. The school population and the zoned area are less pricy than those zoned to Memorial and as such, kids there (on average) tend to exhibit less characteristics most people would associate as rich or uppity. There aren't as many kids with nice cars, most don't get to go to Europe every summer, etc. Additionally, Stratford is more ethically diverse, although it is still a predominantly "white" school, whereas Memorial is pretty much an exclusively white school. Stratford, like Memorial, also has an excellent academic reputation.

I would say that both of the schools have strong school pride and high levels of parental involvement which is a definitely plus.

Outside of those schools, the only other in-the-city public schools most people consider are Lamar, Bellaire, and Westside, as several have mentioned here. Both Lamar and Bellaire are similar in some ways and different in others. Both have strong academic reputations, although Bellaire is considered the stronger of the two. Unless your child is extremely academically motivated (in addition to being intelligent to begin with), it will be harder for him or her to excel at Bellaire than it would be at Lamar. Lamar tends to be a little more well rounded in terms of diversity and school experience. Lamar has the overall stronger sports program. While Bellaire is know for their great baseball teams, Lamar has a very strong (although less than Bellaire's) baseball program as well. However, Lamar tends to run circles around Bellaire in just about every other sport. Most notably football where Lamar regularly sends kids to NCAA D-1 football teams (and even the NFL), the school also very good basketball, track, swimming, lacrosse, tennis, and other teams most of which tend to be significantly better than Bellaire's teams in those respective sports. Several people mentioned that kids from Lamar don't want to drive all the way over to Butler for football games. Yes and no, I've been to Butler to see Lamar play a number of times and their games are generally slightly better attended than most schools they play (although not all schools they play) which are mostly other HISD schools. Lamar and Bellaire also play several games a year at Delmar stadium (290 and 6-10) and the attendances at those games are more or less comparable. Regarding the "snotty factor", both schools can have some kids like that, but by and large they tend to be less so than Memorial tends to be. I would put them more or less on par with Stratford in terms of comparison to perceived levels of student arrogance or humility. I don't know a great deal about Westside, but I think the school makeup is similar to that of Stratford as well, as it is close to the same area of town, although south of where Stratford draws students, but still in what is a nice and rising Westchase area.

Hope this as of some help to you.

[KatieDidIt]

All High Schools have SNOTS and SNOBS.

Memorial is no worse than any of them.

[The New Juniper]

They are snobby. No doubt. But so worth it....Best public schools in Texas. Maybe Alamo Heights in SA, but top 2 for sure.

[N Judah]

I think Newsweek recently came out with a listing of the top 100 public high schools in the US (or if not Newsweek, Time or US News). Several Dallas schools were in the top ten, and the only Houston school to make the list was the one having to do with health professions.

[VicMan]

I think Newsweek recently came out with a listing of the top 100 public high schools in the US (or if not Newsweek, Time or US News). Several Dallas schools were in the top ten, and the only Houston school to make the list was the one having to do with health professions.

No, I don't think DeBakey is on it because DeBakey, as an admissions only school, wouldn't be on it.

I KNOW that Bellaire, Westside, Lamar (Houston ISD), and Memorial (Spring Branch ISD) are on it.

[N Judah]

Are we speaking of the same list? I am referring to the one that was available as of last week. I read the rankings while in the grocery checkout line. Do you remember which magazine it was? I am trying to find it online.

[VicMan]

Are we speaking of the same list? I am referring to the one that was available as of last week. I read the rankings while in the grocery checkout line. Do you remember which magazine it was? I am trying to find it online.

I'm talking about the Jay Mathews list/Newsweek.

Are you talking about the Texas Monthly list?

[N Judah]

No, not Texas Monthly. I guess it was the News week list -- whichever one was on the stands last week.

Edit: Here's the list -- Bellaire is in the top 100, and DeBakey and Memorial are in the top 200.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18757087/site/newsweek/

Edited June 8, 2007 by N Judah

[Reefmonkey]

Depends on where you are zoned, even within Spring Branch. My wife is a school psychologist, has worked in SBISD very recently, knows the character well.

Stratford (the high school my stepson will ultimately attend) and Memorial are both excellent schools, academically. Memorial tends to be very snobby though, a lot of spoiled rich kids, and a lot more recreational drug use among the rich kids.

Basically, the rule with Spring Branch is that the further west you get, the less snobby the kids are, and the nicer the faculty are, too. It even starts in elementary school. In Frostwood Elementary School, the administration and faculty think they are running a private school, and any kid with a learning disability, maybe some social adjustment issues, they don't want to deal with him. Even the parent volunteers are snobby, and were very nosy, trying to get my wife to tell them about students they had no association with, even though that is federally protected confidential information, because they think they have a "right" to know if there are any potential troublemakers in "their" school. Now Meadowood and Rummel Creek are great.

So yeah, Spring Valley is pretty far east, and my wife didn't have the best things to say about the snobbiness of kids, parents, and teachers there.

Lanier Middle and Lamar High are rated highly and are located about 9 miles from your Garden Oaks house.

Lamar may be good, but I disagree on Lanier. Before we moved to Memorial Area a year ago, my stepson went to Poe Elementary, which feeds into Lanier, and Poe is always highly rated as one of HISD's best elementary schools, being a fine arts magnet school (whatever that means at the elementary level). I found it very lacking. My stepson was clearly struggling in math and getting frustrated, and I was spending a lot of time tutoring him, yet we never got a note of concern from his teacher, and when I emailed to ask how she felt about his math performance, she seemed very blaise about it. I got to talking to a lot of other parents, many of whom had similar experiences. I learned that the principal who had made Poe so good had left, and it had really slid. Then we started to hear more and more about Lanier, how it was the same way, in reality no longer living up to its reputation. It was one of the reasons we decided to move, and I have noticed a marked difference in the quality of instruction at his new school in SBISD. He was still a little behind at the beginning of the year in math skills (I helped him catch up through flash cards and math workbooks during the summer), but by the end of the year was doing great.

And that girl who stabbed that boy to death in Ervan Chew Park? She went to Lamar. It's got some gang problems.

So, thumbs down on Poe and Lanier. I know, they have reputations for being such great schools, but remember this is relative - they a great for HISD schools, but just mediocre compared to many of the schools in the districts to the west and northwest of HISD. What can I say, some people find them "good enough", are willing to compromise on their kids' education in order to live in a fashionable zip code near the hip restaurants. We ultimately decided we weren't.

... after I point to the fact that Bellaire HS and Lamar HS (of West University Place and River Oaks) are open to most city residents... AND are still very successful schools.

Bellaire is another HISD school that has a better reputation than it deserves because parents rationalize living there because they want a fashionable address in town. It has developed some real problems with a culture of recreational drug use among its rich kids. I think Lamar, HSPVA, and Westside are still good HISD high schools, but not Bellaire. Here is a summary of some recent incidents (from Wikipedia):

In 2005, several Bellaire High School students were involved in violent incidents, somewhat hurting the reputation of the school in the local community. In December 2005, two students, Jonathan Finkelman and Desmond Hamilton, were murdered in separate off-campus incidents, and a third shot and injured. In January 2006, a female student was accused of and admitted to killing her mother. In February 2006, a stabbing involving two male freshman occurred in a school stairwell. The victim survived the stabbing while the perpetrator was arrested and prosecuted. The attacker was a national of Mexico.[11] The events have triggered HISD schools to review security policies.

On March 20, 2007, Tamara Ryman, 37, a Bellaire High School algebra teacher, was arrested after being found with a 16-year-old male and former student of Ryman's, who was naked from the waist down, in a van. The current charge is trespassing. She was found in a parked van with the boy. When the deputy approached the car, the boy had his trousers lowered, and Ryman had just jumped into the driver's seat, according to police reports[6][7].

By the way, I want Spring Branch ISD to merge with Houston ISD so Memorial High School is open to all Houston residents. MHS can establish a magnet program and get kids in Houston.

It's not going to happen. That's what the "Independent" in Spring Branch (or any other) Independent School District stands for.

Edited July 27, 2007 by Reefmonkey

[VicMan]

You mean "Crazy Crew"? Well, I know the apartments that house those guys are being torn down in Montrose. Benton, by the way, went to that school for a few months before the stabbing. She probably fell into the "wrong crowd" quickly (she lived in Montrose and socialized with the Crazy Crew kids). Benton previous went to Lanier MS, Hogg MS, some school in La Porte, and some high school in Cy-Fair and exhibited many behavior problems once she was in high school. Even if she stayed in the suburbs, she probably would still have been trouble.

Did your stepson go to Lanier? Or was he only at Poe before you moved?

Also, did you hear statements like "Then we started to hear more and more about Lanier, how it was the same way, in reality no longer living up to its reputation." from people in Vanguard/IB or people in the regular program? My sister graduated from Lanier in 2001, and my cousin graduated in 2004 (both in Vanguard). Did the school change since then?

And that girl who stabbed that boy to death in Ervan Chew Park? She went to Lamar. It's got some gang problems.

Edited July 27, 2007 by VicMan

[wordgirl]

Wow! I didn't expect to see any activity on this thread still. I posted last year when we were looking for a new house. We have since moved to Fall Creek (northeast of Houston near Beltway 8 and 59), mostly because we were priced out of most neighborhoods zoned to Memorial unless we wanted to go the fixer-upper route again. And paying $300,000 plus for a fixer-upper in Spring Valley was hard for us to stomach.

The lack of affordable housing stock was also the main reason we moved from GO. I am sure we could have figured out HISD, but I'm not sure if we wanted to deal with all the hassle.

They are building a new elementary school in our neighborhood and will also be building a new middle and high school to which we will be zoned. I have no idea whether the schools will be good or not, but we will cross that bridge when we come to it. I do know that my daughter will be going to school with kids in her neighborhood, and that was what we wanted for her.

Thanks for all the information!

[Reefmonkey]

You mean "Crazy Crew"? Well, I know the apartments that house those guys are being torn down in Montrose. Benton, by the way, went to that school for a few months before the stabbing. She probably fell into the "wrong crowd" quickly (she lived in Montrose and socialized with the Crazy Crew kids). Benton previous went to Lanier MS, Hogg MS, some school in La Porte, and some high school in Cy-Fair and exhibited many behavior problems once she was in high school. Even if she stayed in the suburbs, she probably would still have been trouble.

Did your stepson go to Lanier? Or was he only at Poe before you moved?

Also, did you hear statements like "Then we started to hear more and more about Lanier, how it was the same way, in reality no longer living up to its reputation." from people in Vanguard/IB or people in the regular program? My sister graduated from Lanier in 2001, and my cousin graduated in 2004 (both in Vanguard). Did the school change since then?

I've heard MS-13 as well. But, like I said, I think Lamar is still a good school. I guess being intown, no public school is going to avoid gang problems completely.

My stepson was at Poe, and when we realized how disappointed we were in Poe despite its reputation, we started asking around about Lanier. The Houston school psychologist community is a really tight-knit group, and my wife got information from them as well as parents of my stepson's classmates who had older siblings in Lanier. There was talk about recent turnover in some key faculty and administration changes as well as dissatisfaction, a belief that it was still riding on a reputation that was starting to not quite match the reality anymore. Had the school significantly declined in the 2 years since your cousin graduated? I don't know, but I think probably not. But our son was just completing 2nd grade at the time, so he had 3 more years before he would start at Lanier, 6 years before he would graduate from it. We just didn't feel comfortable staying put and hoping that the information we were hearing didn't necessarily mean that Lanier would significantly decline during those 6 years.

And after hearing about Poe's great reputation and then seeing for itself that it doesn't measure up, I honestly think that a lot of people must have lower expectations for education, at least than I do. I think they say to themselves "wow, this is a great school compared to the rest of HISD", but after seeing the difference between Poe and his new school, I think a lot of these people wouldn't be so enthusiastic about Poe if they just put their kids in an elementary school like Rummel Creek for a year; they'd really see the difference. So I didn't feel comfortable knowing that Lanier's reputation is kept going by these same pople who have low expectations for Poe.

Sidenote: You might think I am especially picky about schools, and I may be, but I have an advanced degree, my wife has advanced degrees, we value education, it's our thing. I don't think one's child's education is necessarily the worst thing to have demanding standards about. But I know we weren't the only ones who were dissatisfied with Poe. We knew several people who pulled their kids out of Poe after a year or two. Some of them put their kids in River Oaks Elementary's Vanguard program, which some seemed to hate, not because it was a bad education, but because the homework, projects, and in-school expectations of parents were so time-consuming. Others put their kids in First Presbyterian.

[VicMan]

And after hearing about Poe's great reputation and then seeing for itself that it doesn't measure up, I honestly think that a lot of people must have lower expectations for education, at least than I do. I think they say to themselves "wow, this is a great school compared to the rest of HISD", but after seeing the difference between Poe and his new school, I think a lot of these people wouldn't be so enthusiastic about Poe if they just put their kids in an elementary school like Rummel Creek for a year; they'd really see the difference. So I didn't feel comfortable knowing that Lanier's reputation is kept going by these same pople who have low expectations for Poe.

Poe is not the only feeder school, though - Lanier is also fed by:

* River Oaks (I graduated from that school, as did my sister)

* Wilson (partial)

* St. George Place (partial) (Opening in 2007)

* Roberts (partial)

In other words, the Poe crowd is not the only group at Lanier.

Also, I know many people from West University who went to Lanier, despite the fact that West U is zoned for Pershing.

Maybe you should have the people who you know at Poe visit Rummel Creek - Perhaps send video clips, photographs, etc. Poe has every reason to be as good as Rummel Creek, and perhaps Verdon should take a notice of this.

Edited July 27, 2007 by VicMan

[Reefmonkey]

Poe is not the only feeder school, though - Lanier is also fed by:

* River Oaks (I graduated from that school, as did my sister)

* Wilson (partial)

* St. George Place (partial) (Opening in 2007)

* Roberts (partial)

In other words, the Poe crowd is not the only group at Lanier.

Also, I know many people from West University who went to Lanier, despite the fact that West U is zoned for Pershing.

Maybe you should have the people who you know at Poe visit Rummel Creek - Perhaps send video clips, photographs, etc. Poe has every reason to be as good as Rummel Creek, and perhaps Verdon should take a notice of this.

I can tell you at least from what I have heard, River Oaks is still very good. At least the Vanguard program. I'm not sure if it also has mainstream students because everyone I knew was in Vanguard.

I don't have much of a vested interest in Poe's future anymore, but I could suggest it to a couple of friends who are about to have a baby and are struggling on whether to move out of the area or not. Maybe they will get involved with introducing Poe to what Rummel does well, or maybe it will push them to decide to just move out.

I don't mean to disparage Lanier. I can't say for sure about the true state of the education one gets there now, or of the education one would get there in the next 6 years. We just had to go with the warning signs we were getting, not just about Poe, but about Lanier, too, and with our own guts. There were other factors besides the quality of the education there as well. It was also the values of the kids there. And I don't mean worrying about gang activity, I mean the rich white kids. Let's face it, while there are families like yours or mine, because of the real estate values in the area, there are a lot really wealthy people in the neighborhood who have more materialistic values than I do, and who really indulge their kids, both materially and behaviorally. I compare the behavior of the kids in the cub scout den there with the one my stepson is in out here, and it is night and day. Parents from Poe would just sit and watch as their kids ran riot and talked disrespectfully to leaders. My stepson has much better-behaved friends out here. Good education or not, that was just not a peer group I wanted my stepson learning bad habits from. With wordgirl's questions about the snobbiness of memorial schools, I figured she would have the same concerns. From what I have heard, kids who go to Frostwood, Bunker Hill, Memorial Middle and High are cut from similar cloth as rich Poe kids.

Edited July 27, 2007 by Reefmonkey

[VicMan]

River Oaks has mainstream students who live in River Oaks and who are siblings of Vanguard programs. The mainstream students attend separate classrooms, though they have the same enrichment teachers. After I graduated from a private school that ended in third grade, I went into a mainstream class for one year and then hopped to Vanguard. I liked River Oaks, and I felt prepared when I went on to T. H. Rogers.

By all means tell the couple of friends! Why not list the reasons why Rummel is better and have the friends tell the Poe teachers? If I was a Poe teacher, I would be glad to find suggestions for teaching from other schools in order to improve myself

By the way, Mexican American Moose, a forum member, went to Lanier at the same time my sister did. He felt that the richest kids seemed a bit snobbish to him.

I can tell you at least from what I have heard, River Oaks is still very good. At least the Vanguard program. I'm not sure if it also has mainstream students because everyone I knew was in Vanguard.

I don't have much of a vested interest in Poe's future anymore, but I could suggest it to a couple of friends who are about to have a baby and are struggling on whether to move out of the area or not. Maybe they will get involved with introducing Poe to what Rummel does well, or maybe it will push them to decide to just move out.

Edited July 27, 2007 by VicMan

[KatieDidIt]

We recently moved to West Memorial. The boys will attend Stratford High School, however they will got to St. Francis until that time. Our little neighborhood (east of Kirkwood) is for some reason zoned to Spring Forest Middle. While the neighorhood is in revitalization, the school demo changes are not there enough for us yet. Spring Forest has too many issues at this time, but I think it will shape up to be a great school once West Memorial fills with 30-40 year olds with kids and the number of 65+ households depletes.

Its an incredible neighborhood and such a RELIEF after The Woodlands.

Edited July 29, 2007 by KatieDidIt

[Reefmonkey]

We recently moved to West Memorial. The boys will attend Stratford High School, however they will got to St. Francis until that time. Our little neighborhood (east of Kirkwood) is for some reason zoned to Spring Forest Middle. While the neighorhood is in revitalization, the school demo changes are not there enough for us yet. Spring Forest has too many issues at this time, but I think it will shape up to be a great school once West Memorial fills with 30-40 year olds with kids and the number of 65+ households depletes.

Its an incredible neighborhood and such a RELIEF after The Woodlands.

What problems have you heard about? We are considering our options for our oldest, who would be going to Spring Forest in Fall 2009. We are considering Cornerstone instead (my stepson is high achiever). My wife had heard negative things about SFMS, mostly associated with its old principal, and she was under the impression that there was a new principal?

I'd be interested in any information you have on specific issues at Spring Forest. Is it just the demographics? At least for us a diverse population isn't a bad thing unless it is accompanied by problem behavior that could interfere with learning and be unsafe. I'll have to check with my wife, but I was under the impression that the main problems were conflicts between a principal who wasn't well liked and the teachers.

[KatieDidIt]

What problems have you heard about? We are considering our options for our oldest, who would be going to Spring Forest in Fall 2009. We are considering Cornerstone instead (my stepson is high achiever). My wife had heard negative things about SFMS, mostly associated with its old principal, and she was under the impression that there was a new principal?

I'd be interested in any information you have on specific issues at Spring Forest. Is it just the demographics? At least for us a diverse population isn't a bad thing unless it is accompanied by problem behavior that could interfere with learning and be unsafe. I'll have to check with my wife, but I was under the impression that the main problems were conflicts between a principal who wasn't well liked and the teachers.

There was a lot of conflict with the principal, but that issue is too newly resolved and its "too soon to tell" if it changed anything. The Demographic problem is that you have some pretty harden kids coming from the Tully Stadium apartment area. Its always been a socially tough school, but since Katrina its gotten a little tougher. Many try to get their kids into private for the middle school years then return to Stratford in 9th grade.

I guess its all what you are used too and what you are comfortable with. And it also has A LOT do with the personality of your child. Only a parent knows if there child would get eaten alive or fall prey to pressure in such an atmosphere.

Edited July 30, 2007 by KatieDidIt

[VicMan]

I saw a Skylane Apartment complex (like all the others, they look terrible!) at the intersection of I10 and BW8. I'm surprised that it is still there. It should be torn down and replaced with a more beneficial business.

By the way, I know that SBISD accepts HISD students to Stratford High School. One of my friends switched from Westside High School to Stratford (her mom stated that Stratford is a better school). Her younger (middle) sister went from the 8th grade at West Briar Middle School to the 9th at Stratford. The youngest sister, currently at the Village School, will likely go to Statford too.

Edited July 31, 2007 by VicMan

[Reefmonkey]

There was a lot of conflict with the principal, but that issue is too newly resolved and its "too soon to tell" if it changed anything. The Demographic problem is that you have some pretty harden kids coming from the Tully Stadium apartment area. Its always been a socially tough school, but since Katrina its gotten a little tougher. Many try to get their kids into private for the middle school years then return to Stratford in 9th grade.

I guess its all what you are used too and what you are comfortable with. And it also has A LOT do with the personality of your child. Only a parent knows if there child would get eaten alive or fall prey to pressure in such an atmosphere.

My wife said that was one of the big problems with the old principal, my wife's colleagues were telling that principal that the demographic had changed and she needed to adapt, but she stuck her head in the sand about it. General diversity in a school doesn't bother me, but Katrina diversity does. It isn't a race thing, it's a Louisiana culture thing. That entire state has been so corrupt for so long, that even in the school districts there is no accountability. My wife has worked with several Katrina kids, and just in general finds that the education there is awful - the 5th grade level of education in LA is equivalent to maybe 3rd grade, and there is a cultural difference in behavior, too, the kids are allowed to get away with a lot more over there, so they are used to acting that way here.

Because of your post yesterday, my wife and I talked more about what we are going to do in two years, and we are now pretty much decided that we are going to get our oldest into Cornerstone, with WAIS as a backup.

[KatieDidIt]

Hey Reef, when did you graduate from SMU? I graduated in '91

Regaurding SFM, gets keep your ears open the next two years. I know the dynamics of the area are changing quickly and more young families are moving in. There are some whispers that Westchester HS may have to reopen in five years to handle the influx of kids. My husband graduated from there and we would love to make it a generational thing.

[VicMan]

My wife said that was one of the big problems with the old principal, my wife's colleagues were telling that principal that the demographic had changed and she needed to adapt, but she stuck her head in the sand about it. General diversity in a school doesn't bother me, but Katrina diversity does. It isn't a race thing, it's a Louisiana culture thing. That entire state has been so corrupt for so long, that even in the school districts there is no accountability.

I wouldn't worry too much about Katrina people. When the NO people came here, they were pleasantly surprised by Texas schools.

As for the crooks, they started getting hit big time by HPD, so many of them are back in New Orleans.

Houston's Noble Experiment: http://www.city-journal.org/html/16_2_houston.html - Wonderful, wonderful article!

There are some whispers that Westchester HS may have to reopen in five years to handle the influx of kids. My husband graduated from there and we would love to make it a generational thing.

Good - This would make Westchester a mixed zoned and magnet school, I would assume.

Since I know SBISD allows some HISD kids to come, this goes further towards the magnet school consortium that I have in mind (along with attendance zones, open enrollment across Houston, with high schools accepting and rejecting applicants).

Edited July 31, 2007 by VicMan

[Reefmonkey]

Katiedidit - I graduated from SMU in 98

Vicman - I noticed you said more than once that some HISD kids are allowed to attend SBISD schools. I have never heard of this. Can you elaborate?

[VicMan]

Reefmonkey: I do not know where/if SBISD has this on its website, but one of my friends had her mother send an out-of-district application to Stratford High School. Stratford is allowing a number of kids in HISD that it chooses to attend the school for free. I heard that SBISD is not providing transportation. I do not know if the HISD kids are taken because they are in HISD or because they are simply out of district. I can tell that SBISD picks and chooses who (in terms of out of district) gets to attend Stratford.

EDIT: Here is its enrollment information packet: http://www.springbranchisd.com/admin/admin.../enrollment.pdf

In Stratford's case, call the school and ask about its out-of-district enrollment.

Edited August 3, 2007 by VicMan

[KatieDidIt]

Vic, I doubt they will ever let the districts totally merge and/or an application process occur for the basic reason it would KILL property values in SBISD. People move there and pay more to live there for the schools. If anyone could go to a SBISD school from anywhere in there area, what would be the point of moving there? Taxable values would plummit as would educational funding. No one in SBISD wants there kids going to school with the Westchase Apartment District "students."

Merging school districts would make previously nice areas decline, previously great school districts average and more of a flight to the burbs . Just little disorganized pockets of nice neighborhoods would remain in Houston, that attend private school. Remember, its the people who live IN the district , and the tax dollars they provide, that make it a good one or a bad one.

As to the Stratford and Memorial HS out of area attendance,I have only heard the chronic rumor that people rent cheap apartments for an address so their children can attend one school or another. MOst of the time the student has a relative that is a District employee. However, I have heard that they make allowances for the crazy area of Barkers Landing and Fleetwood from time to time. That zoning to KISD is weird.

I think I'll call Stratford when the offices are open and ask them about HISD students attending. I'm curious as to how this out of district education occurs. Are their voucers, scholarships or is there a surplus they are using to do this that should be rechanneled back into the district?

As to Westchester, I understand that it would most likely return to a neighborhood school, redistricting Memorial and Stratford. The revitalization of the areas that attend Memorial on the North side of I-10 are creating more students, as is the rebirth to a family neighborhood from a retiree one of Wilchester and Nottingham and Nottingham Forest. But I am sure its years off.

Edited August 3, 2007 by KatieDidIt