Plano Senior High Schools...West vs. Central vs. East (Murphy: low income, condo)

[Texafornian]

What is the difference between the 3 Plano Senior High Schools? I hear good things mostly regarding Plano West Senior and Plano Senior, but which one is "better" academically and provides more extracurricular activities and opportunities? Can anyone give me personal insight regarding Plano West vs. Plano Senior and which one would be a better choice if I could choose which district to move into? And I'm open to hearing about Plano East as well, not to leave them out . I'm also interested in the ethnic diversity in each of the 3 schools.

Some points about my family that may help you out:
- Asian American
- Open to (actually prefer) competitive academic environments
- Desire very good performing arts programs (i.e. theater, choir, band)
- Not as big on athletics, but would prefer that they have decent tennis, volleyball, basketball programs
- Would probably purchase a house around 400-600k range

Thank you in advance for any information!

[FarNorthDallas]

Well, I can give you the stats:

Plano West
1963 students
6.9% low income
3.6% English as 2nd language
67.3% white
8.2% African-American
17.8% Asian
6.6% Hispanic
.2% Native American
8.3% Special Ed

Plano Senior
2572 students
7.2% low income
4.2% English 2nd language
65.5% white
6.0% African-American
19.6% Asian
8.6% Hispanic
.3% Native American
9.7% Special Ed

Plano East
2584 students
17.2% low income
6.5% English 2nd language
54.7% white
14.0% African-American
13.6% Asian
17.4% Hispanic
.3% Native American
12.8% Special Ed

[unexpected]

Sweet, this is a subject I'm actually an EXPERT in. I went to Plano East, Class of 2002, and have many, many friends that went to the other schools.

West, Central, and East, with a few exceptions, are zoned based on income level. For the house you want, you're basically pricing yourself out of East, with the exception of a few houses on the Far East/Murphy area.

In terms of academic programs, all the Plano schools have very similar programs, except for one exception - Plano East has IB, so kids from all over Plano attend it. I think, internally, the rational behind putting IB at East was to draw smart kids from the district to the "poor side of town".

I did the IB program for 2 years, but decided to drop it. It forces you to be really broad, and you can't really "focus in" on classes you really want to take. For example, you can't take AP Physics and AP Chemistry with IB. Similarly, I did not want to take Spanish for 5 years (which you'd have to do). My sisters completed it though, and they loved it.

In terms of hyper-academic programs, I actually think Plano Senior is the most competitive environment, followed by Plano West, then followed by East. I'm pretty sure that Plano Senior has the highest percentage of asians, but West and East also have high percentages as well.

As an anecdotal trend, I always noticed that the kids from West got into the best schools. They always seemed to have 5-8 Ivy leaguers, Plano had 4-6, and East always had 1-4. This neatly falls into the income distribution of Plano though, so I've never been able to figure out if it was straight up academics or just wealth.

As far as tennis and extracurriculars go, I played tennis throughout high school. West has an absolutely ridiculous tennis team. If your child is not playing at a superchamp level, he probably will not make the team. Their team is STACKED and they have gone to state a lot. Plano and Plano East take turns as to which team is better. My years, we were way better than Plano, but then fell off afterwards. Now the Plano team is pretty good (I think they have 1-2 superchamp level players, several champ level players), and the East team is terrible (I think we only have 1 champ level player).

I can't speak to volleyball and choir. Hope this helps!

[Texafornian]

Originally Posted by unexpected

In terms of academic programs, all the Plano schools have very similar programs, except for one exception - Plano East has IB, so kids from all over Plano attend it. I think, internally, the rational behind putting IB at East was to draw smart kids from the district to the "poor side of town".

Thanks for the great info FarNorth and Unexpected! This is very helpful.

Sorry for my ignorance, but what does "IB" stand for? It's interesting to see that Plano Senior and East are larger schools than West, and that they all (esp. Plano Senior) have a pretty large Asian population (much larger than I thought they would). I always wondered why "Plano West" seemed to always be the stand out in people's minds and discussions, but it may be because of the income levels as you had mentioned, not necessarily because the school is actually better (let me know if this is an incorrect assumption).

If anyone has any insight to the performing arts opportunities in these schools, please let me know. I think one thing I'd be concerned about that Unexpected eluded to, is that if your child is not a superstar in their activity of choice at a large school, they may not have as much chance to be involved. Hopefully they can still participate, even though it may just be at a lower level (i.e. "A" Team vs. "B" Team).

[unexpected]

IB stands for International Baccalaureate. They have a website at International Baccalaureate if you want to read more about the program.

I think most people talk about Plano West because West Plano receives all the attention. It's definitely the "nicer" part of Plano, and a lot of people find that it fits the typical suburbia mindset.

As far as performing arts go, anyone that wants to can be in orchestra, choir, or band. They are usually different levels (even at the middle school level), so anyone who wants to participate can. If you're into drama and theater, you have to audition for those. I've never participated in any of that, so cant give you any of those details, unfortunately.

We have a huge asian population because of the telecom corridor (and all the engineers that go along with that).

[P.Griggs]

Consider at what grade level your child(ren) will enter PISD. If elementary, middle or high school then they have more of a shot at excelling at P-West. If there are coming in as 11th or 12th graders making any competitive sports team or drama group is less likely - and that is the reality.

[tallscot]

FYI - there are a lot of Asians in the middle of Plano, in neighborhoods that feed into Plano Senior. An elementary school near me (Skaggs) is over 50% Asian, I have heard. I don't know where the Web site is that gives racial makeup of schools. If the best school is your priority, move into the area for Rice Middle School, which goes into Plano Senior. Rice is the best middle school. There are several Exemplary elementary schools that feed into Rice. In Estates of Russell Creek, you can get a 4,000 sf house with a pool for around $450K. That neighborhood feeds into Rice and Plano Senior.

[Texafornian]

Originally Posted by tallscot

FYI - there are a lot of Asians in the middle of Plano, in neighborhoods that feed into Plano Senior. An elementary school near me (Skaggs) is over 50% Asian, I have heard. I don't know where the Web site is that gives racial makeup of schools. If the best school is your priority, move into the area for Rice Middle School, which goes into Plano Senior. Rice is the best middle school. There are several Exemplary elementary schools that feed into Rice. In Estates of Russell Creek, you can get a 4,000 sf house with a pool for around $450K. That neighborhood feeds into Rice and Plano Senior.

Our kids are still young, so we're planning to move into the area based on the elementary schools first, but are looking long term and want to situate ourselves in the feeder district to a good middle school and high school. To be honest I've done more research on West Plano schools and hear a lot about Brinker, Barksdale and Centennial, but it sounds like I need to do more research on the districts that feed into Plano Senior as well. I'm telling you, most of the sites out there really put West Plano on a pedestal, so it's hard to think of moving anywhere else in Plano because I don't hear any other perspective...until now. Thanks for the insight everyone, keep it coming. BTW - I would LOVE to get a 4,000 sf house for $450K... right now in CA we're in a 1500 (barely) sf condo for $650k....ridiculous...and the schools in this area are just average.

[unexpected]

honestly, in my mind, there's not a whole lot of difference between West Plano and Central Plano. I would just find the house that you like the best!

[PlanoGirl]

Originally Posted by unexpected

honestly, in my mind, there's not a whole lot of difference between West Plano and Central Plano. I would just find the house that you like the best!

just a quick drive through the student parking lots of those two schools might quickly change your mind! Most of the KIDS in West Plano drive nicer cars than I do! But overall have heard great things about all three academically...for me, if we stay in Plano, I would probably try to stay in central Plano (Plano Senior HS) over Plano West, because I prefer my child to be in a more economically-diverse (ok, not really...but more so than west plano) area...with second choice being Plano East, though I prefer being on the west side of 75 due to proximity to shops/ highways/ etc.