Rockwall info needed (Dallas, Austin, Plano: 2009, condos, appliances)

[CravenClan]

Can anyone give me an idea about Rockwall Homes? Are there masterplanned communities anyone can name, that are near or have a school in them?

If anyone has alittle more they can share, or experiences, i would appreciate it.

Thanks
Christina

[Dragonfly8]

There are some very nice neighborhoods in Rockwall. Some I can think of:

Buffalo Creek
Chandlers Landing
The Shores
High Point Estates
Woodcreek

This is a very short list.

There is a new neighborhood north of FM 552 on SH 205 that is within walking distance to an Elem. School with an Exemplary rating. The homes in this neighborhood are all *green*.

Try the website rockwallhomecenter.com.They will e-mail a guide to the area and builders ratings etc.

I live here and love it!!

[nsumner]

Rockwall is at the top of my list for places to live in DFW. That's why I'm here.

There are 3 master planned communities. The Shores, Chandler's Landing and Buffallo Creek. None have a school inside but very close.

The Shores is a country club community with the challenging 18-hole course, also has 8 tennis courts, fitness center, community pool, gorgeous views of lake Ray Hubbard.

Chandler's Landing is a private gated community with garden homes, condos, single family homes. It too has a tennis court, community pool.

Buffallo Creek has custom homes with 1/3 acre lots, and some garden homes. 18-hole golf course. It is actually located in the city of Heath, just south of Rockwall.

You can shop, dine, entertain in Rockwall. Free concerts at the Harbor on Thursday night. Schools are excellent. Excellent medical facilities too.

Naima

[momof2dfw]

In your price range I'd go with The Shores and then Buffalo Creek. The Shores has an elementary school IN the neighborhood (Hartman). The Shores has GREAT kids activities in the summer. My kids go out there for the golf/tennis/swim camps they have every year. The pool is PACKED full of families in the area. The golf course is good and a lot of people in the neighborhood own golf carts to drive around in to and from friends houses or to the club house/pool/course. The club house also has a fitness center that gets a lot of use. I'd say it is probably one of the busier membership only clubhouses I know of in the entire DFW area. We have several friends that live in The Shores and they all love it.

The schools are very good and the entire community is very family oriented. On Thursday, July 2nd The Harbor was PACKED full of people and boats all in the water at The Harbor for the FREE concert and fireworks. They have concerts in the park all summer long as well and I believe a movie night in the park as well. Harry Myers Park is fun as well and there is a free spray park in Rockwall as well. Rockwall HS has a GREAT homecoming parade thru the city every year. There are "kings and queens" from every single department at the school that participate in it and I swear the ENTIRE town comes out for it. We have been lucky enough to get to participate by providing cars for it and it is fun even though we don't live in Rockwall nor do our kids go to school there but we do have a business location there.

While your in Rockwall check out Boots Burgers. GO EARLY!!!! It is in someones backyard and it is THE BEST burger in all of Rockwall County and is practically an institution. It is at 701 Austin St right by the square. For Boots Burgers in Rockwall, it's all word of mouth | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Rockwall/Rowlett News

Another good local business in Rockwall is North Texas Appliance. They used to be on the square but have moved out to the highway on I-30. Locally owned and great people. I've been buying all of our appliances from them for several years now.

There is a thread titled "pics in my area" that I started that I believe have some pics of Rockwall. One shot you can see downtown from the hill on I-30 in Rockwall. There are not a lot of Rockwall as it is mostly the Garland area I put on there but here it is anyway:
http://www.city-data.com/forum/dalla...d-my-area.html

[jpdallas]

since you say schools are important, and please correct me if i am wrong, but shouldnt this necessarily include middle and high schools? i believe rockwall ISD is academically acceptable which is the second to lowest ranking. i personally think it is easy to be exemplary (the highest rating) a the elementary school when you have 5 year old eager to learn adorable kids. but what about older schools - how do they fare. when kids are harder, and learning is more important. i would would search for recognized or exemplary high schools to truly be in the best educational areas. i recommend canyon creek in richardson. Pearce High School is excellent and lots of homes in your price range, without the abundent materialism of Plano, Allen, etc. correct? (just my opinion.)

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by jpdallas

since you say schools are important, and please correct me if i am wrong, but shouldnt this necessarily include middle and high schools? i believe rockwall ISD is academically acceptable which is the second to lowest ranking. i personally think it is easy to be exemplary (the highest rating) a the elementary school when you have 5 year old eager to learn adorable kids. but what about older schools - how do they fare. when kids are harder, and learning is more important. i would would search for recognized or exemplary high schools to truly be in the best educational areas. i recommend canyon creek in richardson. Pearce High School is excellent and lots of homes in your price range, without the abundent materialism of Plano, Allen, etc. correct? (just my opinion.)

I am inclined to agree with you, I can think of some really good school school districts worth taking a look at.

Nita

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by jpdallas

since you say schools are important, and please correct me if i am wrong, but shouldnt this necessarily include middle and high schools? i believe rockwall ISD is academically acceptable which is the second to lowest ranking. i personally think it is easy to be exemplary (the highest rating) a the elementary school when you have 5 year old eager to learn adorable kids. but what about older schools - how do they fare. when kids are harder, and learning is more important. i would would search for recognized or exemplary high schools to truly be in the best educational areas. i recommend canyon creek in richardson. Pearce High School is excellent and lots of homes in your price range, without the abundent materialism of Plano, Allen, etc. correct? (just my opinion.)

FYI, Pearce got an "unacceptble" rank just a few years ago. Even though I believe it is a great high school it is VERY EASY for a high school to get a lower than "exemplary" ranking. One must understand HOW these rankings are given out. It is based on the TAKS scores and each and every single subgroup of students are divided up and it is done that way. It only takes a SMALL subgroup of students to do less than stellar on one TAKS test to give a school a low "rank". If that same small subgroup does not improve drastically the next year it drops the ENTIRE schools rank even lower. Does not matter if 90% of the student body received a "commendable" mark on the TAKS tests. If those VERY FEW students can bring it down it doesn't matter. This is why that ranking system is practically worthless, imho. I don't even look at those because of the way it is done. One needs to look at the ENTIRE system to understand how a school can get a better or lower ranking. Many, many great schools get "academically acceptable". It matters what the kids are learning in their subjects more than what they are learning to just "pass a test" in order to "look good".

[momof2dfw]

2008 Accountability Ratings based on the 2008 TAKS scores for the Rockwall ISD (2009 comes out on July 31)

EXEMPLARY 5
RECOGNIZED 7
ACADEMICALLY ACCEPTABLE 4
ACADEMICALLY UNACCEPTABLE 0

So 5 campuses got an Exempary, 7 Recognized and 4 acceptable. Not bad
Hartman which is IN The Shores received an Exemplary rating. The TOP rating one can get.

Look at this link for Rockwall High School for the demographics and how each subgroup did on each TAKS test.
2008 Campus Accountability Data Table
You can see if there is just 1% that do not show an "improvement" over the previous years scores it can lower the schools ratings. Not a very accurate way to see how a school really does in educating their population.

Pearce in the Richardson ISD wasn't much better at all
http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/cgi/sa...back=057916004

Your not going to find many high schools that are exemplary (Highland Park HS is one) but we are talking homes that are going to be over $1M and a very small minority presence. Same for Carroll HS. But neither of these fit the OP's needs or wants based on their previous posts.