Going Crazy About Schools- Pl Help (Dallas, Garland: rent, house, buying)

[jodie96]

We live in Chicago and planned to move to Dallas pretty soon.

We were in Dallas between 96 and 97 and planned to return all along as we thought Coppell is the school district to get our only daughter educated.

My daughter is currently in 5th grade and in top of her class and grade level and hence schools are the only deciding criteria for us.

Our initial house was supposed to be 250,000 but gradually we went on increasing every 25000 till we have finally said ok no more than 415,000 that is as far as we can go.
We plan to buy the house in the school district where we need not move until she finishes high school.

An acquaintance recently suggested Southlake and I have been looking at the properties there too. Know I am in a dilemma Coppell or Southlake? This led me to a search on the internet on these school districts. I have read that Coppell schools are not up to the standard they used to be and more over drugs are in use at the Coppell high school is this true? Also I am unable to find any reviews what so ever on Southlake high school.

Pl somebody suggest me, we can move to any part of Dallas or anywhere in the United States for her schooling as I am a stay at home mom and my husband just needs to be near a airport as he is a consultant.

We are looking for

• A school that focuses primarily on Academics -especially Math and Science. I am not looking at extracurricular activities as the base for choosing schools, only academics anything that comes extra is a godsend.

• We are very particular our daughter not be exposed to any drugs/drinks in her educational life, so a school district with strict ban or having a zero tolerance policy on drugs is what we plan to choose, pl advise and suggest, for this we are open to move any where.

• OR given these factors should we send her to a private school? Is it worth it ?and can anybody suggest a good private school that stresses on academics , again we are prepared to move anywhere in the US and can even rent instead of buying if need be so we can send her to that particular school , no matter the fee cost so she has a strong academic foundation.

Pl suggest and help us to decide the right school for our daughter. Your help/ inputs is hugely appreciated as we are going crazy to make the right choice of schools !!!!!!!!

[skrappile]

jodie96 - I think you're going to have to homeschool and never let your daughter out of the house if you want to shield her from drugs/alcohol... unfortunately.....private schools are often inunadted with "problem" children who got kicked out of schools b/c of their behavior and have no where else to go... sometime the parents are affluent and can afford the schools and sometimes the private schools have a certain percentage of kids they take that the county pays for b/c they have no where else to go.... just be careful when you check into all of your options...

I, of course, want the best for my daughters on all levels as well. I will always try to find the 'best' school for my kids but know that I can't shield them, so, the only alternative for me is to try to keep the lines of communications over, educate them on drugs/alcohol, and teach them my values and what they mean. And then hope for the best...

Best of luck to you...

[Vicman]

Jodie, look at the individual schools.

Different districts usually have different schools. Some large school districts have huge differences between the "best" schools and the "worst," while in small districts this is not always the case.

For your properties..

Use to check the zoned schools for Coppell ISD - http://coppellisd.com/docs/map.pdf

Use to check the zoned schools for Carroll ISD (Southlake) - http://www.southlakecarroll.edu/street.htm

[socketz]

I've heard nothing but great things about both Coppell and Southlake Schools.

Both are affluent areas.

[GoPadge]

Just as a side note... Back in the day when I was in school, and Van Halen still had David Lee Roth, the private schools were the best place to get drugs and alcohol.

[Welcome to CopHell]

Every school will have drugs/alcohol and not every kid does it but a lot do.
Just tell them to wait until college where it will be more fun.
I am a senior right now at coppell and the school is just alright. Your daughter if like you say is smart than she should be taking Pre-AP and AP classes all through high school. Doesnt matter if it gets too tough and isnt getting As like she usually does dont let her drop them. They are good for her and will eventually get used to them.

The regular classes are where the real dopes are and the teachers arent necessarily as good.

O ya and the science department is horrible at CHS. There is one good science teacher and thats it.

[momof2dfw]

What about a school district w/ a magnet program for gifted students? Look around and you will find a few exist in the area. My oldest has attended the gifted & talented program in the Garland ISD since kindergarten and we are now in middle school. I have been VERY impressed and like the fact that the schools are small and she is surrounded by kids like her. The need to dress "hip" or whatever is NOT in and so all of that outside pressure is not there. She has been exposed to so much more that kids in regular mainstream schools are never exposed to. They have the sports still but it is not the big "important" that it is in some area schools. The arts are introduced and even in 4th grade they had choir or orchestra available along w/ enriched arts programs starting even younger. For high school she is set to attend the school w/ the IB program. I have talked to many kids and parents that have been in the program and all have loved it. They have been able to participate in extra curriculiar activities like sports but still pull straight A's in their IB classes. I believe a lot of the reason why is because starting at such an early age in their academic studies they were taught to use their time wisely and how to stay organized. We also have another high school that has the math & science magnet school housed in it.

As far as keeping them away from drugs. I don't want that to be a problem for my children either but I am not naive enough to think it is not in every school in some way. As others have mentioned, private schools can be the worst. Having friends that work as principals, asst principals and coaches in the high schools in my district I have been told that they are pretty strict and the zero tolerance policy is strictly enforced. Find a school district that offers what you need that best suits your child and where community and family involvement are high on the priority list. An area where the majority of the parents really do care about what their kids are doing and who they are with. Then stay involved and be an active part of their life and always know who their friends are and their parents.

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by Welcome to CopHell

Every school will have drugs/alcohol and not every kid does it but a lot do.
Just tell them to wait until college where it will be more fun.
I am a senior right now at coppell and the school is just alright. Your daughter if like you say is smart than she should be taking Pre-AP and AP classes all through high school. Doesnt matter if it gets too tough and isnt getting As like she usually does dont let her drop them. They are good for her and will eventually get used to them.

The regular classes are where the real dopes are and the teachers arent necessarily as good.

O ya and the science department is horrible at CHS. There is one good science teacher and thats it.

I'll have to agree 100% that no matter what do NOT let your daughter drop out of advanced classes. My sis teaches elementary but had a momentarily lapse in judgement and thought middle school would be nice. HA!!! She taught all AP class and one regular class. This was in a new school in one of the areas everyone moving here thinks they have to move to. LOL!!! Drugs, fights, alcohol, sex.... they were all a problem. The kids in the AP classes were better but the ones not were HORRIBLE. This is where she could be exposed to a lot more than you really want them to at a young age. Keep her in classes w/ kids who are also too busy doing schoolwork to be able to get into trouble. For the most part.

[socketz]

"Back in the day when I was in school, and Van Halen still had David Lee Roth, the private schools were the best place to get drugs and alcohol."

And the private school girls were the best !! Most of them had parents that worked 24/7, so they were pretty much unsupervised. I only dated private school girls growing up and I lived in the bad part of town.

Moral of the story, I'd definitely say that Private School is by no means a ticket to isolation/safety for your children. In fact, often when you attempt to shield them, they rebel and try even harder to get in trouble.

You simply need to arm your children with the tools they need to make good decisions - which in most cases means 'give them a conscience' and teach them how to think about the long term effects of their actions.

[940]

Originally Posted by socketz

You simply need to arm your children with the tools they need to make good decisions - which in most cases means 'give them a conscience' and teach them how to think about the long term effects of their actions.

I couldn't agree more with this statement.