Cedar Park elementary schools? (Austin, Round Rock: credit, home search, neighborhoods)

[sumfirth]

We are relocating to the north Austin area from Sacramento, and have 3 children - the oldest will be starting 3rd grade. Our priority in the home search is finding a great school and have the obstacle of doing so from far away. From what I have seen online, Leander ISD is highly regarded. It seems that the Cedar Park area has good reviews and high school ratings. I'm seeing mixed reviews of some schools and am concerned since I have no personal references to go off of.... would appreciate some opinions and info. In particular, Ada Mae Faubion has received "great" reviews, but some that are complaining of a lot of bullying and teachers who don't care, have no motivation, etc. Should we be concerned about any of this...or any of the schools in this area? Any guidance in finding a family-oriented community with an excellent school we can feel secure about would be appreciated!

[Runemaster]

Look into Parkside Elementary. It's technically in Georgetown, but a stone's throw from Leander, Round Rock & Cedar Park. Parkside is in the Leander ISD, gets great ratings and the surrounding community embraces the school with tons of support.

[usernamenottaken]

I don't give online reviews much credit now. No one takes the time to write a positive experience. Of 500-700 kids each school year, one parent writes a bad review, that's not a high percentage of dissatisfaction IMO. As for test scores, that's a challenging measure too. Especially when a school is Title 1 and has a larger non native English speaking population. There are obviously some schools that stand out on test scores, maybe due to the population in attendance. Or maybe because they do a good job "teaching to the test". Does that make it a better school for your child? That's for you to decide.

So that was little help to answer your question I know. But my point is you just have to find a place to live in a neighborhood you feel comfortable and a price you can afford and then the school will follow. You can be involved in your child's education and get involved in the PTA to make it the best experience for them.

We moved here last year and I picked a school in Leander ISD I liked - based on the program there IB, because we were at an IB school in NC, so I thought it would make for an easier and familiar transition. But we wanted to buy something after a year and realized prices were going up faster than we were prepared to handle and we got priced out of the school zone I selected. Which was actually OK, because I despise driving on 620 and can't wait to move!

Not knowing anything about any other schools, I recently narrowed it down to the areas we could afford and that I like the feel of the neighborhoods. It was down to Cypress Creek, Lakeline area and Avery Ranch areas. We settled on Cypress Creek, zoned to Nauman, CP Middle and CP High. Some of the areas zoned for Faubion and Reed were zoned for Henry and Vista Ridge and I didn't like the distance that would need to be traveled for M & HS and I don't like 1431 traffic and congestion.

I went to Nauman, after school got out, and talked to the staff. The school is being downsized this year since Reed opened, so they will have about 500 kids vs. 700. I discussed my concern about the reviews and test scores and was satisfied with the response I got (although it wasn't from the principal, but the very nice front office lady whose kids have gone to the school for several years). She said the PTA is very active and teaching to the test is not their top priority, it's focusing on the individual child's learning needs and providing a quality education. That's what sold me.

Now I just have to hope we made the right choice. I know a lot boils down to the individual teacher and the fit with the child, so that will be my next thing to assess. (The last school was great, but the teacher was terrible. Luckily for future students, she won't be there next year. Grandview Hills.)

I would say that most of Cedar Park is family oriented. $250k would be the minimum price of a home to be in a "decent" area. Personally I like Cypress Creek because of the closer proximity to conveniences. 1431 is too congested and the neighborhoods out that way are more cookie cutter, slapped together suburbia IMO. Just the "feeling" I got driving around there. Also too many pick up trucks in every driveway, my husband might get beat up since he doesn't drink beer, watch sports or own a gun LOL, JK. Also way too many cars on the street. One of my pet peeves. The neighborhood we chose unfortunately has some of that, but the trade off is we are close to Milburn Park which I thought was a bonus. If our budget was $350k+ there are nicer options! But we were under $250k.

Good luck in your decision! Hope this helps a little, I know it's tough to do from afar. Feel free to PM me.

[Acuda]

My wife and I live in the Buttercup Creek area and we are zoned for Faubion (our daughter is only 2 though). Our next door neighbor teaches at Faubion and has three boys attending the school. She raves about Faubion! It is a Title 1 campus, but has a lot of parental involvement and good scores. There is also very little teacher turnover, so it is unlike many Title 1 schools that suffer from mass teacher exoduses every year. I believe the superintendent, Brett Champion, began at Faubion and has a special place in his heart for the school, as it is the oldest school in the district. I agree with Username, any online reviews on sites such as Great Schools should be taken with a grain of salt. 16 reviews from parents over the course of 11 years makes most of them borderline useless. But, being far away does make things difficult.

Both my wife and I are teachers in other school districts (both at fantastic schools rated very highly) and I have no worries about the Faubion-Henry-Vista Ridge track. There are many schools in the south part of Cedar Park that I have heard good things about. So you have options if you find a place not zoned for Faubion.