Prospective HPISD Mom/Dallas Transplant Needs Reassurance (Austin, Plano: transplants, neighborhood)

[UnfairPark]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

Commenting so OP knows you’re a tremendous Plano booster and have zero personal experience setting foot in any HPISD school.

As if you never commented on any district you never attended. I recommend private schools for OP’s middle schooler, it’s a delicate phase of life with his health condition, private cocoon, teen age and cross country move.

[Skipito]

Originally Posted by UnfairPark

As if you never commented on any district you never attended. I recommend private schools for OP’s middle schooler, it’s a delicate phase of life with his health condition, private cocoon, teen age and cross country move.

At which point, the private schools are even worse. The OP’s kids will be just fine. Chicago is a completely different beast from HP.

[NTXPerson]

Originally Posted by UnfairPark

As if you never commented on any district you never attended. I recommend private schools for OP’s middle schooler, it’s a delicate phase of life with his health condition, private cocoon, teen age and cross country move.

UnfairPark - We all have probably made comments and suggestions on here before without adequate knowledge or experiences. However, it would behoove you to recognize this and move on. We all should work on being more responsible with our words, so we don't mistakenly provide wrong information.

[KatLaw]

Originally Posted by Skipito

At which point, the private schools are even worse. The OP’s kids will be just fine. Chicago is a completely different beast from HP.

I appreciate this. Thank you. I initially had zero doubts that my son would do well in Middle School, until seeds of doubt were planted in my mind by others. He's very outgoing and personable, and has always had the ability to make friends in every situation (even unexpectedly - he randomly struck up a conversation with a senior executive at Boeing about a new aircraft livery in an Admirals Club in D.C. years ago, who has since become a family friend). I'm going to place my faith back where it belongs - with my son - and stop worrying.

I've noticed that most of the negative comments regarding HP and HPISD originate from individuals who haven't lived there, which I find puzzling. My own experiences thus far, including those with the district and neighbors, have been nothing but positive. I suppose that's a dynamic that I'll figure out with time, but for now it remains a mystery

[KatLaw]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

90’s era HP grad here. A lot of posters who have lived in Dallas a long time don’t realize HPISD has changed in the past 20+ years, too. When I graduated the class sizes were low 300’s. They’re now 500-550. As Dallas has grown, a larger percentage of the families have moved in from elsewhere for jobs, including from other countries. There is still a large contingency of families who have been in HPISD for generations but there are always families coming and going nowadays.

Sixth grade is at MIS vs the middle school when I was growing up. 6th used to be the youngest in the 6-8 school and now that campus operates two schools that function very separately. 5-6 in one wing that is treated more like elementary school with light classroom rotation for subjects. 7-8 is true middle school with team sports tryouts, class schedule cards, etc.

6th should be a good entry point year. They definitely don’t know everyone in their grade because they don’t “mix” that much outside of their “house” in 5th grade so lots of kids will still be making new friends and trying to find their crowd as they grow out of elementary school friendships. Not every kid plays sports and if he is outgoing, I’m sure he’ll do just fine!

Bradfield is such a sweet school. Lots of our friends are there and have loved it. The new building is beautiful! And yes - almost all kids bike / walk to school unless they live at the far end of the school zone or have overly helicoptering parents. You’ll see tons of kids walking up Douglas and Armstrong together to school with some parents and dogs walking too

It will probably be a little hard for all of your kids to come in a few weeks after school started and be the obvious “new kids” but I think that will pass in a month or so. Fall is such a fun semester with elementary school carnivals, football season (tons of families of all age kids will go to the high school games), etc.

TC80 - your previous posts/responses are actually what encouraged me to join this forum. They are always very informative, yet still respectful. I appreciate your insight very much. Thank you!!

[UnfairPark]

There is no guaranteed outcome for any route so no point in worrying if you took a decision. Every path has ups and downs. Good luck OP. I only suggested private schools as that’s what he is used too and you mentioned “custom tailored”, even best public schools have their limits.

I misread your original post, you were looking for reassurance not different opinions. No one is trying to plant seeds of doubt. That’s paranoia. Forum posters are only adding diffrent perspectives. You do what’s best in your opinion.

[KatLaw]

Originally Posted by NTXPerson

KatLaw, you sound like me! I also worry a lot about making the right choices, especially when they affect my family. I don't live in HP, so I can't give you an educated opinion, but I do want to ask you to take a deep breath and tell you that everything will be okay. No matter where you move, kids are going to have a transition period. It doesn't matter if you are moving to any of the places you mentioned. It may be hard at first, but they will be okay! Highland Park is a beautiful area of DFW and I hope your family will be happy there.

One bit of advice I can give is that anywhere you go, it seems that kids will have an easier time making friends if the parents make friends with the other parents. I suggest volunteering a lot this first year to get to know the other parents.

Thank you! It's always difficult when you make decisions that affect your children, but thankfully ours have been pretty resilient. I've never relocated before, but my husband has many times (including internationally), and he assures me it will be a good experience for them. I hope he's right!

[KatLaw]

Originally Posted by UnfairPark

There is no guaranteed outcome for any route so no point in worrying if you took a decision. Every path has ups and downs. Good luck OP. I only suggested private schools as that’s what he is used too and you mentioned “custom tailored”, even best public schools have their limits.

I misread your original post, you were looking for reassurance not different opinions. No one is trying to plant seeds of doubt. That’s paranoia. Forum posters are only adding diffrent perspectives. You do what’s best in your opinion.

Thank you! I appreciate your insight! I didn't mean to suggest that you planted seeds of doubt (you certainly did not). Those were planted prior to my post.. I'm very new to this forum, so I apologize if I linked you to a message that suggested otherwise.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by KatLaw

Thank you! It's always difficult when you make decisions that affect your children, but thankfully ours have been pretty resilient. I've never relocated before, but my husband has many times (including internationally), and he assures me it will be a good experience for them. I hope he's right!

Your kids are going to be fine. As I'm sure you've already thought for a while ask each kiddo every day how things are going and probe a little.

I'd also simply dismiss the negative stuff. For example your boy has already been through battles that dwarf moving.

Best of luck and buy fresh sunscreen!

[WorldKlas]

I wanted to give you some input that may or may not be helpful. This pertains to your middle school aged son. I moved, with my husband and 8th grade son to a new DFW burb. My son was very social and immediately integrated — this was back in the late 80’s.

However, my granddaughter changed schools 2 years ago — from a blue ribbon public elementary to a private school — in 7th grade. The middle and high schools in her attendance zone are not the best. She had actually attended that same private school for 3 years until first grade and then returned in 7th. It was a difficult transition for her. Even though she had a tight circle of friends in elementary, she could not seem to find her niche in the private school. I once sat in her classroom (during “Grandparents Day”) and observed a couple of mean girls mocking her in whispers while she gave a spontaneous speech in her debate class. I have been concerned, but this year — 9th grade — she is in the upper school and has expressed a great deal of happiness about school. We’ll see.... but I believe she was so thrilled last week because there are several new students and she now feels more established.

When I was in 10th grade, my family relocated to Princeton, NJ. A large portion of the student population at Princeton HS was kids from long established, wealthy families that rival HP type families. I found my “tribe” pretty quickly among a couple of other new students. And, actually, within a few months I was invited to parties held by “THE” kids.

I suspect there is a combination of coincidence, luck, and individual students’ skills. As a parent, the best you can do is your due diligence about the school, monitor your child closely, prepare your middle school child to expect some obstacles, and try to give him lots of emotional support and tangible reasons to be happy about the move. I do think it would be helpful if you can find a way to get your oldest child networked with other new students at his school.