Questions about moving to El Paso and the schools (Socorro: fit in, violent crime)

[KSHousewife]

Our family has the possibility to move to El Paso in the next 6-9 months because of my husband's job. My husband would like to take the job, but he is not sure he is willing to risk the kid's education for it. We live by Ft Leavenworth now and with the exception of one person who was raised in El Paso, I can't find one person who has a nice thing to say about the schools in El Paso. All I hear is low standards, sub par education, overcrowding, and gangs. This person from El Paso said you have to live in the West area and your kids have to go to Franklin High, and Hornedo Middle, and Polk or Kohlberg Elementary. Is this true? Is it really that bad? What about Horizon City? I hear they have a new middle/high school. Also, what about the commute from Horizon to Bliss? Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Cathy4017]

Also, what about the commute from Horizon to Bliss? Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

The distance is about 30 miles....and mostly down I-10, but you'll have to turn off to another road after hitting the city of El Paso.

I have also heard that the Westside is better for schools, but I can't verify that.

[momof2dfw]

KS,

Check out this website for all of Texas public schools and how they did for 2006 on the TAKS tests.
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/ayp/2006/index.html

Now, look under the general Texas postings for the Texas Public Schools thread that also has this link. I think we pretty much said it on there that you really can not go by these rating either. You can have a good school that overall over 90% of the student body can pass all TAKS tests w/ flying colors. But if you have a small subgroup that even is as small as 5-10 kids and a lot of those kids do poorly, , not good for the schools ratings. It really is kind of twisted.

Also you can look at another website for all of the demographics of every single public school in the country.
http://www.publicschoolsreport.com/

I have not firsthand knowledge of the schools in El Paso or the general area so both of these sites would be a very good first start. Good luck.

[felina]

I will be going there in 3 months. Bliss is about a 25-30minute drive from Horizon city one of the areas I am looking into. Many from Bliss live there. Cannot comment on the schools.

[NativeTXn]

Originally Posted by KSHousewife

Our family has the possibility to move to El Paso in the next 6-9 months because of my husband's job. My husband would like to take the job, but he is not sure he is willing to risk the kid's education for it. We live by Ft Leavenworth now and with the exception of one person who was raised in El Paso, I can't find one person who has a nice thing to say about the schools in El Paso. All I hear is low standards, sub par education, overcrowding, and gangs. This person from El Paso said you have to live in the West area and your kids have to go to Franklin High, and Hornedo Middle, and Polk or Kohlberg Elementary. Is this true? Is it really that bad? What about Horizon City? I hear they have a new middle/high school. Also, what about the commute from Horizon to Bliss? Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

The schools here are not really that bad..there are a few that have some issues, but lots of schools scattered across the city have actually been rated high and have good academic awards. The Franklin/Coronado (west) areas of town are really nice and the schools are good, Franklin is fairly new and Coronado is a little older but is still a good school. The Eastside has quite a few new schools and the schools that they build today are completely state of the art and look like small colleges. Horizon City is a nice town away from El Paso that is growing quickly, it is located away from town but it is close enough to enjoy the big town amenities of El Paso.

Don't be scared away from what people tell you, some incidents do occur here but nothing that is really bad. The gangs in El Paso have become really tamed down, there are gangs but nothing compared to other large towns that have murders every other day or even every day, all I recommend is for anyone to tell their kids not to join gangs and not to get involved in any way with any gangs just for their own safety. When I was growing up in El Paso the gang violence was getting out of hand and that was in the late 80's to mid 90's, today its almost as if the gangs went into hiding, the gangs in El Paso today are hardly even mentioned in the news these days, the police force had cracked down on gangs in the late 90's so I think that is why gang numbers have gone down dramatically in the past ten years.

The schools here are good and have high standards, many kids dropout because it is too hard for them, but if the kids are eager to learn and have the proper parent support when it comes to education then they can definitely have a good education in an El Paso school.

One last thing, the big problem I find is that many kids here dropout or fail in school is because their parents aren't there to help them out and support them. But if the parents have high education standards they will succeed and move on to a good college or university.

[elpnative]

I live on the Far East Side of El Paso, close to Loop 375 (which gives you access all the way to the West side via Transmountain Road and also gives you access to Ft. Bliss) and have lived in various parts of the city for 21 years. The best places to live, I have found over the years, is either the West side or Far East Side of El Paso. The city is expanding in both directions. It has expanded so much to the east that Horizon City is practically at our doorstep now. The Socorro Independent School District is considered the best in El Paso. It has high expectations of their students and the teachers work with the students to maintain or exceed their educational potential. One school in particular ranks high on my list, Jane A Hambric Elementary School on El Paso's far east side. It is PK-8th and the staff, administration and teachers go above and beyond to help a student achieve their maximum potential. Students in this district from pk-8th are required(for the most part) to wear uniforms, deterring gang-like behavior or dress. Being a law enforcement family this is very important to us. El Paso is considered (according to the latest stats) the third SAFEST city nationwide in regards to violent crime. El Paso's biggest problem is drug trafficking along the Mexican-US border. We strongly discourage entering our sister city of CD. Juarez, MX due to the recent drug-lord wars and countless murders there. As for the climate, if you don't like it, wait 5 minutes and it'll change . For the most part, we average 305 days of sunshine and 60 days scattered here and there of rain, wind, hail, sleet and on rare occasion... SNOW. The city is 86% Hispanic and over half are bilingual in both english and spanish. The people are friendly and enjoy getting together. There is a diversity of food available all throughout the city and if you are a church-goer, there are churches nearby and with the city growing in both directions, new church plants are springing up everywhere. If you are Baptist, two churches come to mind, Scotsdale Baptist Church and Journey of Faith (a church plant in far east El Paso).
I have enjoyed living in El Paso but will be retiring in Georgia due to my husband's new job. I hope this helps in your decision and wish you the best.

[mistabinks]

LOL @ all the "i haven't heard anything good about El Paso" and "only the westside is nice."

LOL

El Paso is fine. It is not New York City or Los Angeles. El Paso is El Paso.

If people want to be "hands off" parents and expect the schools to raise their children, then maybe El Paso is not for you. I spend time with my little one every day after school specifically dedicated to school work. She has been in the honors and gifted program every year. Gangs, or any bad apples, will probably never be a problem for her because of the way I raised her, not because El Paso has good or bad schools.

[malamute]

Honors and gifted programs in El Paso are nothing to brag about. One of my daughter's GT teachers said that most of the class had no business being called GT. You're right though, if you have your kids in El Paso schools, you'd better be doing some heavy duty homeschooling to make up for it.

[alikat1205]

i lived on the westside in the franklin/hornedo/tippin area. it was supposedly the best. it was extremely overcrowded, and i sent my daughters to loretto. they had a horrible time there -- socially -- they did not fit in. it is very difficult if you don't speak spanish, many of the parents there did not speak english so i was often left out on school functions, as were my children. i could go on and on about that. however, the quality of the education is very good in my opinion -- academically it is not a bad thing to be in el paso. at least at loretto. i don't know much about horizon other than that my youngest had a child in her class mid-year because the mom had moved to horizon over the summer and hated the schools. best of luck in your decision. i, personally, hated el paso and am glad to be gone. but maybe you'll love it.

[DesertDog]

KSHousewife
We moved here a little over a year ago from Las Vegas and my kids are in the elementry and high school on the "far" east side. The post from elpnative was good info and I echo it. My daughter was in advanced classes in Vegas and we did a lot of research before settling on the east side of town. Eldorodo H.S. is excellent and Paso Del Norte elementry/secondary is also great. My son struggles with health and learning issues and the teachers and staff at Paso Del Norte are better than anything I saw in Vegas. The sports are well run and parents get involved in all the activities more so than where we moved from. The west side of town is fine but I feel you get more of what El Paso is all about by living on the east side of town. My daughter hated moving here and her blonde head stands out in a crowd but now she says this is the best place we have ever lived and refuses to leave when I mention moving for better job opportunities for my wife. I guess what I'm trying to say is don't worry you'll love the people, food, and weather. Language is the only issue we've had but it comes with the territory. Welcome to El Paso.