46 yr old, divorced female moving to Fort Worth

[Threestep2]

Originally Posted by Wittgenstein's Ghost

This is completely bizarre to me. It's one thing to say that you've heard such and such school is a good school to work at. But to talk about feeder zones? Give me a break. You know there are elementary and middle schools that are great to work at that don't feed to good high schools, right? And you can live close enough to a school to have a reasonable commute and still not be in that school's zone. And Great Schools rankings don't exactly line up with what would be a good school to work at. The list goes on, but this is completely bizarre to me.

I've heard a lot of ways of describing portions of a city, but this is the first time I've ever heard people using feeder zones to describe what portions of a city are nice when it's not in the context of picking a house based on the public school quality.

"Hey Johnny, is this a nice part of town?"

"By golly, I do believe we're in the blah blah feeder zone, so it sure is!"

I know DFW people are obsessed with talking about schools, but you guys need to get some air...or maybe smoke a joint.

I answered your question and I do not smoke but lived in the area long enough to know my way around it and I do not mean road map wise and we left just in time.

[4Movingeast]

I grew up in EMS ISD (where these supposedly shocking events took place). My parents and BIL/SIL still live out there, along with former coworkers and various levels of acquaintance/friend. Blue Mound, the east side of the area, has always been a bit rougher and the closer you get to Eagle Mountain Lake the schools and the real estate improves. Saginaw, along with many other areas in DFW, is not somewhere I would want my kids in school at this point but also not somewhere I would hesitate to live if I found a house that fit my budget. While EMS ISD is not a high performing district, the admin, teacher support, etc has always been good. That comes from my sister teaching there for 4 years and actually knowing parents of students in the district. You can walk into any high school in the US including all the top performers and see something shocking if you look hard enough. Geez.

[calgirlinnc]

Originally Posted by 4Movingeast

I grew up in EMS ISD (where these supposedly shocking events took place). My parents and BIL/SIL still live out there, along with former coworkers and various levels of acquaintance/friend. Blue Mound, the east side of the area, has always been a bit rougher and the closer you get to Eagle Mountain Lake the schools and the real estate improves. Saginaw, along with many other areas in DFW, is not somewhere I would want my kids in school at this point but also not somewhere I would hesitate to live if I found a house that fit my budget. While EMS ISD is not a high performing district, the admin, teacher support, etc has always been good. That comes from my sister teaching there for 4 years and actually knowing parents of students in the district. You can walk into any high school in the US including all the top performers and see something shocking if you look hard enough. Geez.

My son has over the last two years visited over 20 different DFW high schools and/or attended their events off campus as part of his free lance job. These are not sporting events. At only one school did he see girls simulating sex acts on boys and see boys doing drugs in the bathrooms. Of course sex and drugs are at every high school. But only at Saginaw did he feel it was "in your face".

Other schools, such as "top performing" Plano West were heavily chaperoned. Heck, not even "average" schools like Grand Prairie had stuff like this going on.

My son noticed a difference in school culture at Saginaw that stood out from all the other schools he visited. I don't think he is particularly sheltered or naive, either. But when you go to 20 different events and only at one are girls pretending to give boys BJs on the dance floor, that kind of stands out.

[Wittgenstein's Ghost]

I think there seems to be an assumption in this thread that a desirable school to work at is the same thing as a desirable school to send your kids to. That's not necessarily true. There are plenty of teachers who would rather work with more racially diverse, low-income kids who could really benefit from having a great teacher. There are a lot of schools that are well-run but low-performing due to their demographics and student base.

[ebuch]

Originally Posted by Nick20

Was wondering if anyone to point me toward the safe neighborhoods of Fort Worth for a single female. I see a lot of houses for sale in the $150k to $200k range on Zillow but don’t know what the neighborhoods are like. My daughter is graduating high school this year so I no longer have to consider school district. Thank you for any help you can provide.

For that price range think outside the Loop (820). I consider most things safer outside the loop unless you can afford more 300+.

DM me if you have any specific addresses you are looking at and I can steer you in a general direction. Good luck with the job hunt!