Park Cities over Las Colinas?

[sonshinelife]

Las Colinas in Carrollton -Farmers Branch ISD has a large portion of their population heading to, if not already in college. I'm getting so tired of hearing posters cutting down an area that they have little to no background knowledge on. The parents, teacher, and administrators at LCE have very high expectations for their children. Yes, there may be a few that don't live in the big luxury homes, but that doesn't mean college is ruled out. Some of the "poorest" students I taught at LCE are now in very prestigious universties and are doing quite well. I don't live or teach in the LCE zone,but I do know many of the educators and parents at that school as I worked there just a few years back and still have connections with many of them. These individuals promote excellence and thus the children regardless of background are doing very well.

Money doesn't equal excellence. It is the passion in the individual that makes excellence! Yes, there are some children that live in a situation where they move often and sometimes don't know where their next breakfast is coming from. But overall the majority of the children served by these schools are doing very well and you can't go wrong by sending your child to a school that cares and promotes learning as well as Las Colinas Elementary or for that matter Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District.

[kt2le]

Is Las Colinas Elementary the one that's directly adjacent to Hackberry Creek? If so, it's the one my cousin and his family pulled his kids out of (along with most of their neighors within Hackberry Creek) due to transient apartment kids. They, along with virtually every other family they know in Hackberry Creek, send their kids to the charter school out there. Admittedly, they didn't research the school situation there good enough (my opinion) and didn't think about much beyond elementary school. They liked the idea of the elementary next to the neighborhood but didn't think about all the apartments that would feed it or the fact that, beyond elementary school, their kids would be shipped off to schools waaaaaay far away in Farmers Branch. It wasn't the school, itself, as much as the constant student turnover that turned them off. That plus the schools that they'd be fed into were sort of rough.

[sonshinelife]

again... Las Colinas Elementary is not an apartment building school. It is majority Hackberry Creek residents and a "couple" of apartment buildings.

Besides that just because a school may be a lot of apartment families doesn't make them a bad school. Freeman Elementary neighborhood school that now serves most of the apartments that use to feed into Las Colinas is an exemplary school. The kids may move in and out but that doesn't make them any less of a person or student. These children and their parents still want a quality education and they still receive one.

I really feel sorry for some of the posters on this board. Just because someone lives in an apartment doesn't make them low life. Many of the children that live in these apartments around Las Colinas Elementary and Freeman do move, but usually because their parents have jobs that transfer from country to country or state to state. Many of these children that move come from highly educated families that live in apartments because they are temporarily here on business. Some of the families that live in these apartments are improving their quality of life and bringing their children to a better home and school, because they want their children to have a better education than they received themself.

The kids at Las Colinas are not shipped off to Farmers Branch. There is a high school and jr. high on that side of town now.

[kt2le]

I didn't mean to offend anyone but my cousin said Hackberry Creek would be funneled to R.L. Turner High School. Perhaps I'm mistaken.

[sonshinelife]

RL Turner was a temporary situation until Ranchview High School was built. It has been at least 4 years since Ranchview was built. Unfortunately, the west side of CFBISD doesn't receive the credit they deserve.

[kt2le]

Oh, that's good. Ranchview would be a lot closer to Hackberry. Unfortunately, there are many kids they lost during that period who'll never be part of CFBISD but that may be changing. My cousin and his family moved into Hackberry Creek around 10 years ago and like it.

[sonshinelife]

yep... you are correct about some people not sending their children to CFB schools in the past. I think and feel strongly that $ sometimes influences decisions. "Some" of the people that didn't send their children to RL Turner didn't because they felt only the "poor" (and of course a lot of people associate poor with gangs) went to RL Turner. I also remember the arguments from the newspaper about the distance. If the parents would of been more open minded they would of seen that there was and always had been plans to build a school on that side. It costs school districts tons to build high schools. You have to justify the money for building schools and until the #'s grew it wasn't feasable to build a school. Now the numbers are there and now there are 4 elementary schools, 1 jr. high school, and 1 high school on the west side of the district. There will also be one more elementary school next fall. The district strives for excellence and are meeting the challenges every day.

I imagine, but have not heard any reference made to it, yet, that there will eventually be another jr. high on that side of the district. This last statement is only my thoughts and wishes. I can't imagine 5 elementary schools feeding into 1 jr. high.

[intence]

Regarding the apartments, I don't think there are many extremely low rent apartments in the area. Keep in mind that the area is an IT hub, many people migrate to the area from other countries on H1B visas. Without credit history, they can't move into a house right away, and start off in an apartment. They still have relatively high salaries, and I would guess high expectations for their children.

[sonshinelife]

I have to agree with intence about the high expectations for their children.