schools (Austin, Round Rock, Lost Creek: houses, neighborhood, where to buy)

[new in town]

Hello,
Can someone, please, compare middle/high schools in Eanes school district and magnet schools in Ausin school district? I know Eanes schools are exemplary, but houses are much more expensive there and I am not sure if the price difference is worth the difference in quality of education. We are moving to Austin soon, will be looking for a house and it is very important for us to choose good school district. We both will work in downtown and don't want to commute more than 20 min.
Appreciate any comment about these schools. Area in Austin school district we are thinking about is Great Hills. Any other suggestions? Ideally, did not want to spend more that $400K for a house, but if convinced that Eanes schools are much better, can probably go up to 500-550K.


Thanks.

[southdown]

I am new in town too and have been asking the same question, so although barely qualified to comment - I will anyway! I have been looking in the NW area and I am hearing endlessly that the Northwest Hills schools - Davis; Murchison;Anderson - are fantastic, altho not rated as high as some others. Look at the individual schools rather than the ISD overall, Eanes only has a few schools, Austin & Round Rock are bigger ISDs and have good and bad schools. GreatSchools.net is a good resource with parent's comments and data on results, demographics etc, and if you use Google Earth with the community layer switched on showing schools, you can link straight to the site.

I'm after some advive on schools too, in the Avery ranch area - does anyone have knowledge of the Elementary & Middle schools there. It seems Forest North is the local Elementary, but it's 4 miles away!

[new in town]

I am interested in Magnet schools in particular in Austin school district and how they compare with Eanes schools. I would really like to get more information on those schools, such as how difficult it is to get accepted, safety of the neighborhood they are in, academic strengths and weakness, environment in the schools, etc, etc. Essentially, if anybody had any experience with Magnet schools, I would love to hear about it. Does anyone know of advantages of going to Eanes vs Austin Magnet schools and vice versa. I know there are other good districts (leander, round rock), but unfortunately the commute from those areas would be too much for us.

[Trainwreck20]

The two magnet schools that I am familiar with are the Science Academy in LBJ HS and the Arts Academy in McCallum HS. I did not go the the science academy, or LBJ, but I did substitute teach at the regular portion of LBJ and it is a rough school. I work with a young lady who went to the science academy and really liked it, though. Personally, I would not live in the area directly around LBJ.

McCallum is in a better neighborhood, and the overall high school is less rough.

As far as getting in, I have no idea. Comparing directly to another school, such as Eanes, is somewhat difficult, but you can definitely get more house for you money outside of eanes.

[new in town]

Hi, TrainWreck,

What do you mean when you say that LBJ science academy is rough school? And how would a child feel that if he is in the magnet part of the school? I don't think we would want to live close to LBJ, I thought they bus kids from all over Austin school district if you get into the school.

[Trainwreck20]

The science academy at LBJ is a subset of the LBJ HS. The HS itself is a typical HS, but the science academy is a portion of the HS, with academy students being bussed/driven in from al over the district. I substitute taught at LBJ many years ago, and I think the science academy is almost completely separate from the rest of the school. I am pretty sure that there is zero class overlap, and I think that the science academy is in one general area. I will ask one of my younger co-workers tomorrow about the Sci Acadmey, since she went there 8 or 9 years ago.

[GreenPlastic]

The Science Academy is top notch but that is a pretty rough school and area. Sounds like Eanes fits what you want. Find a cheaper Eanes home in 78733 or Lost Creek.

[new in town]

Hello, GreenPlastic

What do you mean by rough school and area? Can you, please, elaborate on that? Do you have any personal experience with either magnet schools or Eanes school district?
I need to make a decision on where to buy a house pretty soon and really appreciate any advise you have for us.

Thanks a lot.

[Trainwreck20]

I talked to my co-worker, who graduate from the Science Academy 10 years ago this spring (so things might have changed some). She highly recommended it and said it was a great program. She rode the bus (Capital Metro organized) from SW Austin to LBJ Hs on a daily basis. She said that their core science classes were pretty much all SA enrollees, but their basic language arts, phys ed, band, etc. were part of the larger HS.

She had to take a specific test to be allowed to enroll (and she thinks maybe right an essay). There were no fees and you must be a resident of AISD. She thinks the academy has expancded to include some of the liberal arts classes that are similar to the ones at McCallum.

I asked her if she thought the school was very rough, and she said she had no issues with it, but that you knew what halls to avoid...hmmm...

[austinaggie]

Hi New in Town. I got your PM and tried every which way to respond but I kept getting an error. I finally tried to respond to you by putting you as the bcc. If it worked let me know. It was a long post and I'll be bummed if it did not get to you! If not I'll try again. Terri