eanes vs round rock schools (Austin, West: houses, buying, theatres)

[blincbo]

We are in the process of looking for a house in Austin right now. Excellent school district is very important for us and we looked at the houses in Eanes (mostly in Barton Creek West and Senna Hills) between 400-550K, and also, in Round Rock School district (Elem: Lauren Mountain or Kathy Caraway, and high school Westwood). Can someone, please, give us very convincing reason to choose one school district vs the other, since both have pretty good reputation? Also, maybe because we are very new to the area, but the area of Great Hills (but Round Rocks schools) where we were looking seems much more lively, and closer to a lot of things for adults to do than in Eanes, i.e. restaurants, movie theatres, shopping, etc. Is that true? We both will be working in Downtown area. Our initial impression was that you get more house for the money in Round Rock, but it seems like the houses we looked at are pretty comparable in price and sq footage. We only have a couple of days to make a decision, any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

[Moonlady]

From what I've read on here, Westwood is a highly rated school. Eanes usually gets the attention for the best schools in the area, so you probably coudn't go wrong with either one. So, that leaves, where do you want to live? Even though you say "Round Rock", you're really looking in NW Austin it sounds like. The commute downtown would be easier from Eanes than NW Austin. 183 to Mopac south in the morning is quite a bear. I drive the opposite direction and the traffic is literally stopped on 183 getting onto Mopac at 7:20 AM. Two years ago I would have agreed with you about the shopping, but the Hill Country Galleria as well as the Shops at the Galleria have changed all that. SW Austin is probably equal to NW Austin in that respect and you also have the Barton Creek Mall close by and the Sunset Valley shops just a few more minutes away. Probably the only thing NW Austin has that SW Austin doesn't is lots of restaurants but a lot of them are chains. If you eat out a lot, I guess that would be a consideration, but if you only go out occasionally, you have access to quite a few within a 20 minute drive.

[texastea]

OK, here's one thing you may not have thought about. When your kids are in high school, what do they want to do and how great are they at it? If you have a son that really wants to play baseball or football or a daughter that really wants to be on a dance team or a cheerleader, Westlake High School is highly competitive (the school is large so there's a larger talent pool). Both Westlake and Westwood are highly competitive academically, so it would be a wash if your child's goal is to be in the top 10%.

[say]

I totally agree with whatever texastea said. However,
Westwood has higher population of Asian, and its orchestra program is (i think ) better.

[koalabebe]

From what my research (I have not moved to Austin yet.... an outsider's view), both HS are considered top schools (check on the national rating and both of them are highly rated.) It depends on other stuff what you are looking for.

[chickenfry]

don't forget that eanes will expect you to contribute $$$$ .....and i am not talking about buying a can of popcorn during the fundraisers
my kids are now in college and we moved from the eanes district because of "character issues" with the admin. ( we were already gone, but the debacle with the physic's teacher last summer/fall was a perfect example of the eanes admin's character....hard to tell your kids "character matters" when the the school they are attending shows them that character isn't important in the district's vision for eanes students).

[koalabebe]

Originally Posted by chickenfry

don't forget that eanes will expect you to contribute $$$$ .....and i am not talking about buying a can of popcorn during the fundraisers
my kids are now in college and we moved from the eanes district because of "character issues" with the admin. ( we were already gone, but the debacle with the physic's teacher last summer/fall was a perfect example of the eanes admin's character....hard to tell your kids "character matters" when the the school they are attending shows them that character isn't important in the district's vision for eanes students).

How about ES and Middle school in Eanes? Are they ok? I heard a lot of negative stuff about Eanes. But mostly, just fancy car, rich kids and drug (which every high school has drug problem to different level).

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by blincbo

We are in the process of looking for a house in Austin right now. Excellent school district is very important for us and we looked at the houses in Eanes (mostly in Barton Creek West and Senna Hills) between 400-550K, and also, in Round Rock School district (Elem: Lauren Mountain or Kathy Caraway, and high school Westwood). Can someone, please, give us very convincing reason to choose one school district vs the other, since both have pretty good reputation? Also, maybe because we are very new to the area, but the area of Great Hills (but Round Rocks schools) where we were looking seems much more lively, and closer to a lot of things for adults to do than in Eanes, i.e. restaurants, movie theatres, shopping, etc. Is that true? We both will be working in Downtown area. Our initial impression was that you get more house for the money in Round Rock, but it seems like the houses we looked at are pretty comparable in price and sq footage. We only have a couple of days to make a decision, any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

I live in the great hills area that is part of the RR school district. We are just down the street from laurel mountain. This area is much cheaper than eanes and we like the fact that is close to all the NW austin stuff. Depending on where you are in eanes then you are much closer to downtown, but the part of westlake south of 360 and 2222 is very suburban with very little shopping nearby.

Our housing prices are around 150-200/sq ft. some of eanes way out west isnt too expensive, but then it is far out. The part that is closer in is extremely expensive.

The domain has higher end shopping that is unique in austin.

[experienced]

www.keepeanesinformed.com

[centralaustinite]

Anderson High in AISD is also an excellent school and you would be even closer to downtown etc and everything in NW Austin. The middle school is Murchison and I hear great things about it too.

http://www.austinisd.org/schools/website.phtml?id=001