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Old 04-03-2012, 06:54 PM
 
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I am transfering to TCU. I have a 3 year old son and we are moving to North Richland Hills to get a new start in life. I would like to enroll him in Holiday Heights Elementary School. Does anyone have pro/con about that school or recommend a better one. My family plans on buying a house in this school district and I have located a few but would like to know about any particular areas that I might not want to live. Is there any construction going on that might interfere with where I would want to live? Any information is helpful
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Old 04-03-2012, 07:42 PM
 
Location: Kaufman County, Texas
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Do you realize how far of a drive it is from NRH to TCU? You will be spending at least 45 minutes each way in the car and $$ on gas. And yes, the construction on 820 between 121 and 35W will make that commute even worse. There are many places you could live that are closer to TCU and will provide just as nice of a neighborhood: Hulen area of Fort Worth, Burleson, etc.
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Old 04-04-2012, 02:05 AM
 
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Depending on where you live in NRHills the commute is doable--
my son's girlfriend who is PhD candidate at TCU has been spending lot of time with him in Bedford and she makes the drive back and forth several times a week

just because some of these areas might be farther out than FTW neighborhoods some people might still want to live there...

this is from great schools -- which is not the only source--
Holiday Heights Elementary School - North Richland Hills, Texas - TX - School overview

it gets 6/10--which is not that great a ratings...but when you look at them they are not timely--meaning the referrals are either from several years ago or about time spent there in the 70s--
times have changed...

this site
Holiday Heights Elementary School, North Richland Hills TX School Profile, Ranking, and Reviews - SchoolDigger.com
charts the past several years of different trends--
the one that is probably most significant is the rise in number of students in free lunch program
that could be tied to the growth in Birdville district and having to rezone elementary school catchments
it could be that the area it serves has more apts than SFR--which usually shows income change more quickly
it could be that the area which has older/smaller SFR is going to more rental than owner-occupied status which again refers to people who are probably less monied than those in past times...

but normally having increase in free/reduced lunch students also means a struggle to maintain performance levels -- and you can see that the latest test scores show drop to below 90% for math and reading...

not sure exactly which area you are looking at for homes
the location of the school is in older residential area just north of the 820 Loop--
that section of 820Loop between Rufe Snow and 183/Airport Frwy is very crowded and normally in rush hour traffic is very congested because of traffic from major entry/exit points

it would be easier to get on 121 into FTW by taking surface roads to the Bedford-Euless Rd access to 121 by Chilli's--across from the strip mall where Haverty's is located
depending on how far you had to drive to get there it likely would be closer to the freeway from where my son lives in Bedford

at one time that was considered a very good elementary in BISD
but there are ones that rank better now...your budget will probably drive choices--would you consider apt vs rental home?
it still might be a good school but might have test scores that don't reflect accurately the quality of general teaching going on
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Old 04-04-2012, 03:24 PM
 
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Holiday Heights sits in the middle of one of the older areas in NRH, but it is certainly not the lowest economic area around.

The current principal is an excellent one and the atmosphere is very welcoming and family friendly....according to 5 different families I know who have kids in that school. (3 of which are teachers themselves and live in the area, but don't all teach at the school) For instance, they just had a fundraiser walk/run on Saturday where the city actually blocked off streets for them as they had quite a large turnout! The test scores may not be the top of the district but they certainly are not poor scores!

Birdville has not rezoned elementary schools in many years now, so that has no effect on current info. The free lunch increase will be due to the economy being down and many people taking advantage of it that chose not to do so in the past. The other aspect that will play a part is job losses causing downsizing and people meeting the standards to receive the assistance when they did not meet it before. Add to that the schools working hard to get people into the lunch program to help ease the financial crunch for them.

You can bypass almost all the construction easily from there once you understand the area. There really is no reason to worry about getting caught up in that. In light traffic on off hours you can get to TCU easily in 30 minutes. However, in heavy traffic in rush hour you'd probably be best to double that.
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Old 04-04-2012, 07:20 PM
 
Location: Chicago
1,257 posts, read 2,526,065 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ChristieP View Post
Do you realize how far of a drive it is from NRH to TCU? You will be spending at least 45 minutes each way in the car and $$ on gas. And yes, the construction on 820 between 121 and 35W will make that commute even worse. There are many places you could live that are closer to TCU and will provide just as nice of a neighborhood: Hulen area of Fort Worth, Burleson, etc.
Honestly, I disagree. Holiday Heights to TCU is 25 minutes tops. You can take Belknap all the way down to the downtown area if you want to avoid freeway construction. It's only a 15 mile drive. Not to mention, I'd put Birdville ISD above any schools you'd find in the Hulen area.
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Old 04-05-2012, 08:36 AM
 
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I think with construction on 121 getting worse into FTW now vs being on east side of Hurst that getting into FTW and past it to TCU will take longer now--probably more like 30 min
but don't think it is that bad of drive if you have budget needs driving your search
I too would rate most of BISD over FTW schools--mainly because FTWISD is just so screwed up as a managmeent system
maybe the new super and getting some new board members will help make it better supervisory agency but right now it ranks with DISD for SNAFU...IMO and that is just from reading news article and seeing test scores...I know there are good teachers in the schools--even ones rated not-so-great
but why put your self through that if you don't have to

my husband works in Sundance and yesterday coming home traffic was so bad coming up to NEMall interchange that he got off on Hwy 10 and used Norwood to go north---but the bridge over 121 is being closed April 16 for year due to construction so he will have to consider other options if there is backup
Maybe getting off on Handley Eiderville and going up 26--which is doable but just more lights to contend with--and rougher roads...
Belknap is not a bad route into FTW--he has taken it before when weather was icy--there is only one bad bridge/uphill stretch by the old BISD stadium to contend with
but there are lights and school zones--which can be problamatic
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Old 04-05-2012, 11:59 AM
 
5 posts, read 11,090 times
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I made a mistake. I meant to put TCC. The Northeast campus. I appreciate all the advice about Birdsville. I am taking a big leap moving my son and I off on our own, so any advice on a better school district or town is extremely helpful. I don't really have a budget on rent for the most part. I just want to make sure that once we actually buy a house I won't have to move him schools.
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Old 04-05-2012, 01:15 PM
 
3,086 posts, read 7,592,284 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by devyns08 View Post
I made a mistake. I meant to put TCC. The Northeast campus. I appreciate all the advice about Birdsville. I am taking a big leap moving my son and I off on our own, so any advice on a better school district or town is extremely helpful. I don't really have a budget on rent for the most part. I just want to make sure that once we actually buy a house I won't have to move him schools.
Holiday Heights puts you very close to TCC and virtually no construction between.
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Old 04-05-2012, 02:20 PM
 
Location: Kaufman County, Texas
11,819 posts, read 26,719,870 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hypocore View Post
Holiday Heights puts you very close to TCC and virtually no construction between.
Exactly. That's a really nice part of NE Tarrant and you will hopefully be happy there!
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Old 04-07-2012, 12:07 PM
 
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What about Green Valley Elementary. Your websites were very helpful and this school seems to have such a better rating. This district is in the Eastern side of NRH. How is that area. What side of town do I NOT want to live on?
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