Who here has kids in the Dallas ISD?

[homesick_american 1]

We're thinking of where we're going to plonk ourselves down in the Dallas area. We were thinking of simply fleeing to the suburbs, but we're hearing a lot of buzz about the DeGolyer and Gooch elementary school catchment areas. When I was growing up, you just didn't go anywhere near Webbs Chapel Road, particularly if you were from the Preston/Forest area.

At this point there's no way I'd live in the Hillcrest H.S. catchment area...not like we could afford it anyway. I went to Hillcrest H.S. but it has really gone down the crapper in the last few years whereas W.T. White and Woodrow have sterling reputations. We can't afford anything more than a shack in Lakewood, so if we bought anywhere in the Dallas ISD it would have to be in the W.T. White catchment area. We would definitely NOT want to end up anywhere near TJ.

Any current or recent Dallasites have an opinion here?

P.S. I've heard that the area around Bryan Adams HS is also getting trendy. THAT I would have to see to believe!!!!!!!!!!! I've heard about north Oak Cliff and Kessler Park and I'm not surprised by that, but some bits of Dallas between White Rock and Mesquite are just...ew.

[LaGreenEyes 0]

We're thinking of where we're going to plonk ourselves down in the Dallas area. We were thinking of simply fleeing to the suburbs, but we're hearing a lot of buzz about the DeGolyer and Gooch elementary school catchment areas. When I was growing up, you just didn't go anywhere near Webbs Chapel Road, particularly if you were from the Preston/Forest area.

At this point there's no way I'd live in the Hillcrest H.S. catchment area...not like we could afford it anyway. I went to Hillcrest H.S. but it has really gone down the crapper in the last few years whereas W.T. White and Woodrow have sterling reputations. We can't afford anything more than a shack in Lakewood, so if we bought anywhere in the Dallas ISD it would have to be in the W.T. White catchment area. We would definitely NOT want to end up anywhere near TJ.

Any current or recent Dallasites have an opinion here?

P.S. I've heard that the area around Bryan Adams HS is also getting trendy. THAT I would have to see to believe!!!!!!!!!!! I've heard about north Oak Cliff and Kessler Park and I'm not surprised by that, but some bits of Dallas between White Rock and Mesquite are just...ew.

I would probably still consider the burbs...but a friend of mine is in N. Dallas, east of 75 and her daughter goes to Richardson ISD and she has never mentioned any problems. Oh definitely still stay clear of Webb-Chapel...I think now all the Preston/Forest kids go to private after elementary school pretty much. Kessler is up and coming...but Sunset High...can go either way, I don't think it's changed much in that aspect.

[homesick_american 1]

I would probably still consider the burbs...but a friend of mine is in N. Dallas, east of 75 and her daughter goes to Richardson ISD and she has never mentioned any problems. Oh definitely still stay clear of Webb-Chapel...I think now all the Preston/Forest kids go to private after elementary school pretty much. Kessler is up and coming...but Sunset High...can go either way, I don't think it's changed much in that aspect.

Even when I lived in Preston/Forest, a lot of kids went private after elementary, but that neighborhood...at least my parents' neighborhood...has switched from Pershing/Franklin/Hillcrest to Adams/Walker/White. Sunset is one of the only schools in that area ranked as acceptable by the TEA, but when we played them my senior year there was a shooting and their band, on the field at the time, had to hit the deck.

Kessler isn't up and coming, it's already arrived. I'm not paying that kind of money for a house surrounded by open sewer (the Trinity) and ghetto (the rest of Oak Cliff).

If our kids go to public schools at all in Dallas, they'll only go to good elementaries that ultimately feed into either White or Wilson. I kept getting told that the Wilson area was out of my price range, but I looked online and it's at the upper edge of it, but definitely not out of my range altogether. I'd love to live in that area of Dallas; it has always been my favorite part of town. My brother and I went to Pershing/Franklin/Hillcrest and even though those schools are smack-dab in the middle of a bunch of mansions, they seem to have gone straight down the toilet. I hear demographic shifts are to blame for that.

I'm guessing if your friend lives in north Dallas east of 75 but south of 635, her kids would go to Lake Highlands HS. In Richardson Lake Highlands and Pearce are supposed to be good, Berkner and Richardson less so. Have you found this to be the case? When I was in high school, Richardson and Plano were both rumored to have massive drug problems and to be honest, I don't think I'd put any child that I cared about into the Plano school system.

[yogib37 3]

We're thinking of where we're going to plonk ourselves down in the Dallas area. We were thinking of simply fleeing to the suburbs, but we're hearing a lot of buzz about the DeGolyer and Gooch elementary school catchment areas. When I was growing up, you just didn't go anywhere near Webbs Chapel Road, particularly if you were from the Preston/Forest area.

At this point there's no way I'd live in the Hillcrest H.S. catchment area...not like we could afford it anyway. I went to Hillcrest H.S. but it has really gone down the crapper in the last few years whereas W.T. White and Woodrow have sterling reputations. We can't afford anything more than a shack in Lakewood, so if we bought anywhere in the Dallas ISD it would have to be in the W.T. White catchment area. We would definitely NOT want to end up anywhere near TJ.

Any current or recent Dallasites have an opinion here?

P.S. I've heard that the area around Bryan Adams HS is also getting trendy. THAT I would have to see to believe!!!!!!!!!!! I've heard about north Oak Cliff and Kessler Park and I'm not surprised by that, but some bits of Dallas between White Rock and Mesquite are just...ew.

I don't know too much about the schools in Dallas but I lived in Garland for 3 years. I did not have any kids attend the school but paid the taxes

I hear Garland has good schools there. I lived a block away from a grade school. It was nice and well kept up.

[babybunny 2]

how about north richland hills? this area is nice..

[homesick_american 1]

I don't know too much about the schools in Dallas but I lived in Garland for 3 years. I did not have any kids attend the school but paid the taxes

I hear Garland has good schools there. I lived a block away from a grade school. It was nice and well kept up.

Eh...I hear Garland schools are OK, but I have family out in Garland and I really don't want to live there. It's really far away. Both of my cousins went through Garland's school system. One of them barely limped through high school with terrible grades and did not go to college; the other one ended up at A&M Commerce, failed to get into law school, and is now a paralegal. Can't judge a school district just on their performance, but I've seen enough of Garland to know that I don't really want to live there.

how about north richland hills? this area is nice..

I know a guy who lives out by the Iron Horse; it's nice out there but he said the rest of it isn't very nice. The only part of it that I've seen is his house, which is on a golf course, so naturally it's very pretty. Plus, I wouldn't want to have to deal with that whole 183/820 mess; the roads around there look like someone took a handful of spaghetti, threw it down on the floor, and said "here's your highways." They've only been building on it for what, a decade now?

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Would a suburban school district (Frisco, Plano, ...) work?

[homesick_american 1]

Would a suburban school district (Frisco, Plano, ...) work?

Ugh...I'd rather not unless I absolutely had to. Frisco and Plano are both so...well...WHITE. I wouldn't want my kids to be the ONLY white kids in school, but I also would not want them to go to school with nothing but white kids either. My brother and I attended schools that were extremely diverse both ethnically and in terms of socio-economic backgrounds. You just don't get that in the suburbs, and you can't beat that kind of experience with a stick.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

I know of quite a few desis in the suburbs--as evidenced by the stores/restaurants in Arapaho Rd. and Beltline Rd. areas. And DFW metroplex as a whole has an even larger proportion of Spaniards (aka "Hispanic") than desis.

[homesick_american 1]

I know of quite a few desis in the suburbs--as evidenced by the stores/restaurants in Arapaho Rd. and Beltline Rd. areas. And DFW metroplex as a whole has an even larger proportion of Spaniards (aka "Hispanic") than desis.

That sounds like Richardson, though...not Plano or Frisco.

[prpplague 0]

I know of quite a few desis in the suburbs--as evidenced by the stores/restaurants in Arapaho Rd. and Beltline Rd. areas. And DFW metroplex as a whole has an even larger proportion of Spaniards (aka "Hispanic") than desis.

That sounds like Richardson, though...not Plano or Frisco.

Hurst-Euless-Bedford seems pretty nice as far as schools go. thats where our kids will be when we finally get my wife's visa.

[homesick_american 1]

I know of quite a few desis in the suburbs--as evidenced by the stores/restaurants in Arapaho Rd. and Beltline Rd. areas. And DFW metroplex as a whole has an even larger proportion of Spaniards (aka "Hispanic") than desis.

That sounds like Richardson, though...not Plano or Frisco.

Hurst-Euless-Bedford seems pretty nice as far as schools go. thats where our kids will be when we finally get my wife's visa.

I haven't heard anything about H.E.B. either way. I lived in west Irving for two years after graduating from college, and that's basically on the other side of the airport from Euless. The thing is, opposite sides of the Dallas-Tarrant county line might as well be different planets. I used to work at a small company just off Amon Carter Blvd, only a couple of miles from my apartment...but work was a long-distance phone call whereas I could call my grandmother in Garland for nothing. I lived up near Northgate and Beltline, but this was before 161 met 183...eons ago! I remember once we had a fire at the office and it burned through several cubes while they tried to figure out what fire department was actually responsible for the area directly south of DFW; Fort Worth, Arlington, and Euless all answered the call then argued in front of a burning building about who was going to put the fire out. I think Fort Worth eventually put it out. Gotta love the metroplex.

I have a friend who lives in Bedford up near Harwood but he doesn't have any kids. He's too geeky.

PS....hey, is it just me or does David Finfrock on channel 5 look just like Ned Flanders?

[LaGreenEyes 0]

I know of quite a few desis in the suburbs--as evidenced by the stores/restaurants in Arapaho Rd. and Beltline Rd. areas. And DFW metroplex as a whole has an even larger proportion of Spaniards (aka "Hispanic") than desis.

That sounds like Richardson, though...not Plano or Frisco.

Hurst-Euless-Bedford seems pretty nice as far as schools go. thats where our kids will be when we finally get my wife's visa.

I haven't heard anything about H.E.B. either way. I lived in west Irving for two years after graduating from college, and that's basically on the other side of the airport from Euless. The thing is, opposite sides of the Dallas-Tarrant county line might as well be different planets. I used to work at a small company just off Amon Carter Blvd, only a couple of miles from my apartment...but work was a long-distance phone call whereas I could call my grandmother in Garland for nothing. I lived up near Northgate and Beltline, but this was before 161 met 183...eons ago! I remember once we had a fire at the office and it burned through several cubes while they tried to figure out what fire department was actually responsible for the area directly south of DFW; Fort Worth, Arlington, and Euless all answered the call then argued in front of a burning building about who was going to put the fire out. I think Fort Worth eventually put it out. Gotta love the metroplex.

I have a friend who lives in Bedford up near Harwood but he doesn't have any kids. He's too geeky.

PS....hey, is it just me or does David Finfrock on channel 5 look just like Ned Flanders?

Oh that's so funny!!! He and Troy Dungan!

I actually went to Euless Trinity, and as far as a diverse suburbian experience that's about the best there is. The principal had a story done on him by the Ft. Worth Star Telegram, and it talked about how he is more concerned with communication and education than weather or not a kid has an eyebrow piercing. He was assistant when I was there. I had a great experience there. They have kids from all kinds of backgrounds. Their football team is one of the best in the nation, they were even featured in a Gatorade commercial. They have a bunch of Polynesian background families, and they have brought a whole new cultural side to the game of football! The homes in Bedford/Euless are decently priced, and it's far enough from the 820 mess..just a clear shot up 360 and you're at Grapevine. It's also close to the Trinity Railway for those who work in Dallas.

[homesick_american 1]

Oh that's so funny!!! He and Troy Dungan!

I actually went to Euless Trinity, and as far as a diverse suburbian experience that's about the best there is. The principal had a story done on him by the Ft. Worth Star Telegram, and it talked about how he is more concerned with communication and education than weather or not a kid has an eyebrow piercing. He was assistant when I was there. I had a great experience there. They have kids from all kinds of backgrounds. Their football team is one of the best in the nation, they were even featured in a Gatorade commercial. They have a bunch of Polynesian background families, and they have brought a whole new cultural side to the game of football! The homes in Bedford/Euless are decently priced, and it's far enough from the 820 mess..just a clear shot up 360 and you're at Grapevine. It's also close to the Trinity Railway for those who work in Dallas.

I'll have to think about that; where we live is going to be heavily influenced by where we work so if I end up getting a job in the telecom corridor it's not likely that I'll live in Tarrant County, but you know how DFW is.

Looking at its TEA rankings from 2006, it paints a much prettier picture than the DISD. :lol: :lol: