Building In The Heights

[s3mh]

I don't understand the disdain for Love Elementary. It's a decent school with a good principal. Lots of non-zoned students fight to go there.

 

It is not really disdain as much as a reality that the school is made up of 90% economically disadvantaged kids and about 60-70% at risk kids.  I do not doubt that the teachers and principal are doing a good job.  But the reality is that most of the kids come to kindergarten with no pre-k and many are just learning numbers and letters for the first time.  The kids who have pre-k are ready to learn to read and write.  There is only so much in the way of heroics that a kindergarten teacher can do to manage the wide range of learning levels in that kind of situation.  And things just get worse when it gets close to time for testing. 

 

Love does have a large number of transfer students.  But they are not coming from Harvard, Travis, Helms, etc. 

 

They are starting a dual language program at Love.  That might help get people motivated to send their kids to Love.  But there is still a long way to go.  Most people I know zoned to Love do not consider it as an option at all. 

[terra002]

I dont have a dog in the fight on this one, but just by looking at the demographics on HAR, its 91% economically disadvantaged, 90% hispanic, and 52% limited English proficiency. I could see why a lot of parents would not want their kids going to that school.

 

[BullMan008]

"91% economically disadvantaged, 90% hispanic, and 52% limited English proficiency. I could see why a lot of parents would not want their kids going to that school." SMH. 

[Ross]

Of course, everyone forgets that Harvard was much like Love just a few years ago. I cannot believe the racism/classism I am seeing here on this topic. If you gave a crap about your neighborhood, you would send your kids to an HISD school and get involved.

[BullMan008]

Of course, everyone forgets that Harvard was much like Love just a few years ago. I cannot believe the racism/classism I am seeing here on this topic. If you gave a crap about your neighborhood, you would send your kids to an HISD school and get involved.

You think you see it here? Go on NextDoor, the friendly neighborhood app, and you’ll read how lots of people think.  It makes me sad that some people actually think this way. These local schools and teachers need everyone’s help. Do you think they aren’t trying their best to help EVERY child get a good education? I'll tell you this, if you teach your child at home what is right or wrong, they will be fine at any school. 

[Triton]

You think you see it here? Go on NextDoor, the friendly neighborhood app, and you’ll read how lots of people think.  It makes me sad that some people actually think this way. These local schools and teachers need everyone’s help. Do you think they aren’t trying their best to help EVERY child get a good education? I'll tell you this, if you teach your child at home what is right or wrong, they will be fine at any school. 

Oh God... NextDoor is the Houston Chron comments section on steroids.

 

Edit: On Nextdoor, some person started a thread that a helicopter was flying over the Heights and a person repeatedly responded that it's the federal government coming here to invade us simply because we are hostile.............................................................The look on my face.

[s3mh]

Of course, everyone forgets that Harvard was much like Love just a few years ago. I cannot believe the racism/classism I am seeing here on this topic. If you gave a crap about your neighborhood, you would send your kids to an HISD school and get involved.

 

My kids go to an HISD school, just not Love.  The school's demographics are well balanced in terms of economics and race and it is much more middle class than Harvard or Travis.

 

Harvard was NOTHING like Love a few years ago.  Not even close.  You would have to go back well over a decade to see Harvard anywhere close to Love in terms of demographics and on its "transition" trajectory.  Love may very well progress faster than Harvard because the real estate market is much more aggressive than it was when Harvard started to turn around.  But, my kids are already in school and would completely miss that turnaround.

 

HISD has a school choice system with magnets and transfers.  That system helps build up schools like Harvard and Travis as much as  and possibly more so than the participation of zoned parents.  So, you can actually thank all the racists and classists you berate for helping build up Harvard and Travis.  But, the unintended consequence of that system is that it pulls students away from schools like Love and leaves them to bear the burden of a disproportionate number of disadvantaged kids.  While it may be admirable for parents to have their kid attend a school like Love to "take one for the team", the reality is that kids can get a better education at other HISD schools. 

 

If you want to wag your finger at someone and call people racist/classist, look to the people who move to the pastey white burbs as soon as their kids are ready for school or who send their kids to high priced private schools.  My kids are in HISD and I pay plenty in taxes to be entitled to the best HISD has to offer.   

 

[Triton]

To answer your question, I lived here in 91-93 and moved back around 2011. Wouldn't move anywhere else... all the development is coming to us. Don't have any kids and am not married (have a girlfriend), but we have no intention of leaving anytime soon. The Heights just keeps getting better.

[txcat84]

Racism and classism, huh? Go on. Tell me more about how the world works.

[jmontrose]

Ok this is not a thread about the quality of the schools. We will be in a private school no matter what.

My question is: is there any indication that people with kids in grades 6-9 are moving to the heights into any of the newly built single family homes?

So far the answer seems to be "no"....

[txcat84]

I wouldn't say "no", but I would say "slowly".

[Heightsfamily]

jmontrose,

 

I will try to give you a balanced answer as there is already a lot of finger-waging going on . We lived in Timbergrove up until Allison/flood. We ended up in the Heights (west - between Shepherd/Yale and 16th/11th) as a result. This was in 2002 when no one was really moving to the Heights. We had already decided to stay in "the loop" and not commute, a radical decision at that time. So we are biased. In Timbergrove we were originally zoned to Sinclair but were suddenly sectioned off to Love El . No matter, as we were already pretty dedicated to private schools at that point. Our first child tested into Travis back when you could only test at one Vanguard school and she got in, but we decided to take another path. Our reasoning was based on the testing that was starting to go crazy (ha, ha, compared to now!) and the specter of middle school. We felt like we could carve out a pretty good (or better) elementary experience but would be really scrambling for MS. Middle School is a crap-shoot where ever you are thanks to the age range, but HISD middle schools are really a low point. We followed our heart and instinct into private schools and never looked back. We are pasty white but not willing to sacrifice our kids to the whole studying to the test among other things. My opinions are pretty fixed but here they are:

 

The test that sucks up so much time in public school is really a joke. In private schools, the annual test (ERB) is one that is much broader in application and thus is a better marker of "achievement". What they serve up in public schools is such a lower benchmark compared to this so kids who are "passing" would not make the mark in the private school arena. I probably just brought a lot of hate on me with that statement, but it is true. 

 

Private schools do not have to spend all that time on the "test".  

 

Diversity: Private schools don't have the same diversity as public schools in Houston, but they definitely have diversity - it is just different. 

 

Bottom line - one of my kids would have been lost to MS and HS would have been a sad addendum. The other would have been lost to different forces but with not much outcome. They are both thriving - one in a post-grad situation and the other in a terrific though unknown in NE school. Would they have done OK in HISD and TX colleges? Who knows but I don't think they would have done as well.

 

Let the hate begin . . . .

 

 

[Heightsfamily]

And to the original question - sorry for the segue - I think there are tons more kids in the Heights than there used to be. The challenge is how to bring them together in a neighborhood kind of way. That wasn't much of an option for my kids since we moved to the Heights at a different time. I don't know the answer. We always signed up for all the kid oriented things: MFAH classes, HMNS classes, zoo classes, etc. Naomi Smulian was a great exception with the art classes, but most of the things we had available where elsewhere. I did put an old-fashioned bell hose along our driveway recently to warn walkers as there are so many more and we have a bit of a blind driveway situation. There are lots of folks walking dogs and babies that I never had seen before. The Heights is at heart a choice, but for the right folks a very good one. You just have to want it and make it work. just my humble opinion!

[9075]

As of next month, I will have been in Sunset Heights for 6 years.  There were hardly any families with children living here in the first few years.  The neighborhood was turning around, but it still felt pretty sketchy with lots of stray dogs and shady people wandering in from Airline and North Main.  It was hardly a family friendly environment.   

 

Now, I see parents out walking with their kids almost every evening.  Granted most of these kids are probably under age 10, but lately I have noticed a few new families with middle school and high school age kids.  It seems like most of the new families around me are young couples with newborns/toddlers who have outgrown a townhome, or empty nesters who have decided to move back to city, since schools are no longer an issue for them.

 

I know Heights schools have come a long way, but I'm with Heightsfamily.  I have a lot of issues with HISD and their approach to educating children.  Regardless of what Houston neighborhood I live in, I will only consider private schools for my children.

[BullMan008]

I went to school at Love around 1980. It wasn't the best school but I was zoned to it. Was a little rough but I learned a lot and moved on to Middle school. Parents taught us to respect everyone and to treat everyone the same. I had some friends that knew no English when they started at Love and learned English as they grew up. I didn't know about classes back then, thanks to my parents. I hear it is an up and coming school. Good luck to them.

Welcome to the Heights!

[BullMan008]

*classism/racism

[bedmondson]

In the Woodland Heights here. I have nieces around that age in the neighborhood and they seem to have lots of friends within walking distance around them.  

 

To answer the question about who is moving in and out, new neighbors in the past years seem to be 50% doctors and/or lawyers (seriously is everyone moving in a doctor or lawyer??) with one or two small kids and then 50% emptynesters. The people moving out seem to be a mix of cases with a lot being related to old age issues.  

[Purpledevil]

Longtime former Heights resident as many of you know. My family lived on East 26th from 1947-2002. The schools have come a long way since then. I went to Waltrip because my parents looked at John H. Reagan for what it was back then, a cesspool. Things have changed tremendously from just 15 years ago. Sure, the Heights is much cleaner now, the biggest portion of the original occupants of the bungalows have died off, and businesses that never would have set foot in the Heights back then, are now beating down a path to set up shop in the old neighborhood.

The Heights has gained a lot in the last 2 decades and lost an equal amount in the same time frame. The biggest gain is that the area is overrun by yuppies as opposed to gangbangers these days, the biggest loss would be the charm. The Heights used to function as its own little community, and a very tight knit one at that. Sure, it was significantly rougher then than in it is in its current state, but we survived, we learned, and we were more street smart for it.

The commentary above is somewhat amusing to me. People are scared to send kids to Love?!? Love Elementary? Simply wow...please be careful. There's a significant chance of rain this week, and with that nose so high up in the air you just might drown.

What a travesty if your child ends up going to school and ends up sitting next to a poor person.

Let's also add that a significant amount of those old people that moved out of the Heights did so because they were priced out of their homes that they had owned for decades and decades.

When taxes doubled and tripled on these Heights homeowners in the late 90s, many of them that relied solely on thier SSI check just to get by, didn't have much of a choice other than to move out. Think about this, my grandparents house on 26th wouldn't sell in 1992 for $38,000. We couldn't have given it away, if we'd tried. Same house, no major changes, sold in 2002 for $105,000. The guy we sold it to removed the 220 window unit, stripped the aluminum siding from the house, added central AC & heat, repainted the house, and took out the carpeting re-exposing the hardwoods, turned around and sold it in less than two years for $190,000. A lot of people left their homes because they had to do it. Others unfortunately were rent houses and the slumlord owners that owned those falling down disrepaired shacks, pulled a Steve Miller and took the money and ran. That's what started the whole thing right there. Slumlord owners that saw the chance to dump their beaten down old bungalows to a developer for big land money, they sold, other landowners saw what the developers were paying for the run down properties and figured what the hell, they can have mine too for that kind of money. I mean, you show 100 grand to someone that hadn't made that much money in their entire lifetime, and of course they're going to jump on it. That was big money to my parent's and especially my grandparent's generation.

In conclusion, I'd like to offer a one man standing "O" for both Bullman & Ross. It would be my privilege to shake hands with both of you gentlemen. You are spot on with your responses.

[Purpledevil]

Btw, before I'm accused of being one of those that moved out of the Heights to the lavish lifestyle of the ritzy 'burbs, as of last Saturday, I live in Acres Homes now (N. Shepherd @ Parker). Prior to that, my wife and I lived in Camden Park (Vets Memorial @ Antoine). Not exactly the wealthiest class of neighbors, either.

[tanith27]

Have two kids, walking distance to Travis.  Not ready for Kindergarten yet, but will soon.  No other kids on our tiny street, but lots in the area.  Seen many homeowners change, about half are empty nesters (many of whom are now grandparents whose grandkids are potential playmates for ours down the road) and younger families that may be just starting out.  There is a definite price jump when you look at Harvard and Travis zones and the houses that are within.  If HISD schooling isn't an issue for you, I'd start by looking outside the prime elementary school zones since you'll be paying a premium and wont need it.  Its an extraordinary neighborhood though, I can't imagine being anywhere else.  

[terra002]

Its not racist or classist to not want to send your kids to a school that's not up to par. Im not sending my kids to a school where more than half cannot speak english.  What kind of education are they actually getting??  Also, 92% hispanic is not diverse, so you cant say that not wanting your kids there shows that we're scared of diversity. 

[BigFootsSocks]

No that's Xenophobic

[s3mh]

I went to Waltrip because my parents looked at John H. Reagan for what it was back then, a cesspool.

The commentary above is somewhat amusing to me. People are scared to send kids to Love?!? Love Elementary? Simply wow...please be careful. There's a significant chance of rain this week, and with that nose so high up in the air you just might drown.

What a travesty if your child ends up going to school and ends up sitting next to a poor person.

 

 

So, it is just fine when your parents decide to send you to a different school because of concerns about the affect the student body may have on your education, but when parents of children zoned to Love do the exact same thing, they are monsters.  Please.

 

It is easy to wag your finger at someone when it is not your kids. 

[jgriff]

Its not racist or classist to not want to send your kids to a school that's not up to par. Im not sending my kids to a school where more than half cannot speak english. What kind of education are they actually getting?? Also, 92% hispanic is not diverse, so you cant say that not wanting your kids there shows that we're scared of diversity.

Correct. It's exactly the opposite. In the new hyper sensitive culture of America, sending your kids to a school that is 92% Hispanic should be showing that you are racist. Unless, of course the people who like to race bait every issue they can aren't logically consistent.

[Ross]

Amazing, folks think Love is awful because of its demographics and won't send their kids there, then delicate flower about crappy neighborhood schools. Look in the mirror, the fault lies with you.

 

As for Middle Schools, the bulk of the people we know in the Greater Heights area are sending their kids to Hogg, Black, Lanier, or Hamilton. Check out the Learn Local folks for information on improving your local schools by sending your kids to them, especially Hogg.

[mollusk]

Once upon a time Travis was in pretty dire shape, too.  What happened?  A group of parents who were willing to put in the effort to make it a good school rolled up their sleeves and made it so, rather than recoiling in horror at the reality that they were the minority at the time.

 

For what it's worth, when I was a little white bread kid I started to learn Spanish in second grade - not by choice, either.  To this day I maintain that it helped with my ability to express myself in English, not to mention being able to navigate around and enjoy places other than homogeneous bubbles.

 

Riffing off of another thread, perhaps it's time to build some front yard dinosaurs of my own...

[Purpledevil]

So, it is just fine when your parents decide to send you to a different school because of concerns about the affect the student body may have on your education, but when parents of children zoned to Love do the exact same thing, they are monsters. Please.

It is easy to wag your finger at someone when it is not your kids.

No, I wanted to attend Reagan. It's where my friends from the neighborhood went and I wasn't happy about going to Waltrip. I'm sorry, I didn't make that clearer in the earlier posting. It was a bad school in the 80s. There's an iron fence around it as a result of that period, but it was my preference. I would've received the very same HISD diploma from Reagan, but in my mind my folks didn't trust me to do what I needed to do to graduate regardless of the surroundings. My parent's decision to know "what was best for me" in their mind, is a direct result as to why I have the opinion I do about it. My parents had that racist side that many of their generation did. That was par for them and so many like them, so it was accepted. Sad to see that their are those out there, here in the 21st century, that share in those antiquated ideas. Please yourself, the poor and foreign born are people too, and neither deserve to be looked down upon.

[august948]

Once upon a time Travis was in pretty dire shape, too.  What happened?  A group of parents who were willing to put in the effort to make it a good school rolled up their sleeves and made it so, rather than recoiling in horror at the reality that they were the minority at the time.

 

 

That's a good idea, but in practice upper middle class parents tend to be more concerned with careers, socializing, and their own personal lifestyles to spend much time trying to improve the schools.  They'd prefer to drop the kids off at a school with "the right sort of people" so they don't have to unduly worry about how the school is raising their children.

 

The only exceptions to that that I've seen is where the parents were raised in large, close-knit, loving families and in particular where one spouse deliberately leaves a lucrative career to stay home and raise the kids.  That can be hard to do in a place like the Heights where two six figure salaries might be needed to buy a house big enough for a family.

 

[tanith27]

That's a good idea, but in practice upper middle class parents tend to be more concerned with careers, socializing, and their own personal lifestyles to spend much time trying to improve the schools.  They'd prefer to drop the kids off at a school with "the right sort of people" so they don't have to unduly worry about how the school is raising their children.

 

The only exceptions to that that I've seen is where the parents were raised in large, close-knit, loving families and in particular where one spouse deliberately leaves a lucrative career to stay home and raise the kids.  That can be hard to do in a place like the Heights where two six figure salaries might be needed to buy a house big enough for a family.

 

 

http://www.houstoniamag.com/articles/2014/8/3/return-of-the-neighborhood-school-learn-local-august-2014

[BullMan008]

I went to Reagan in the late 80's and it was a good experience and I have friends from there that I still communicate with to this day. There were certain groups of kids that weren’t the nicest or some that didn’t want to go there. Minor gang problems, drinking and drugs with certain groups was certainly a problem. I knew many people and was friendly with everyone. People that I know who live out in the burbs or some of these private schools have the same problems. Maybe no gangs, but definitely 'groups' that hang together. They are kids. I point it all to the home where these kids come from. If you can be involved in your kid’s life and teach them right from wrong, they will be fine wherever.

 

 

I read sometimes how some of these new folks think about people not in their same 'level' and it saddens me. You should be able to rub elbows with anyone. That usually starts with your parents. IMO