Easy commute and best school near 77041

[fnh]

Originally Posted by timtemtym

Ooh I forgot about Spring Shadows. I love that area and being in Spring Branch ISD is great. That district is very innovative and offers good programs plus you're sharing a school district with the memorial villages which contains some of the highest wealth in SE Texas. The teachers I know in SBISD wouldn't even consider working elsewhere. It's one of the hardest to get a job in and they retain good people and can be picky with their teachers which trickles out to the lower-income schools as teachers will go there just to get into the district.

I respectfully disagree. Spring Shadows is not what I would call a nice area but it would be fine for a family with no children and that doesn't mind being near high poverty. The OP however is specifically asking about good schools. Spring Branch is actually one of the worst performing districts in the area. When people say Spring Branch is good they are only referring to the wealthier schools south of I-10. I know people who live south of I-10 who had no idea there were Spring Branch schools north of I-10, lol.

West U is a terrific elementary school inside THE wealthiest Houston neighborhood but that doesn't translate to other HISD schools being equally desirable...

Added: Spring Shadows Elementary has a Greatschools rating of "2".

[timtemtym]

Originally Posted by fnh

I respectfully disagree. Spring Shadows is not what I would call a nice area but it would be fine for a family with no children and that doesn't mind being near high poverty. The OP however is specifically asking about good schools. Spring Branch is actually one of the worst performing districts in the area. When people say Spring Branch is good they are only referring to the wealthier schools south of I-10. I know people who live south of I-10 who had no idea there were Spring Branch schools north of I-10, lol.

West U is a terrific elementary school inside THE wealthiest Houston neighborhood but that doesn't translate to other HISD schools being equally desirable...

Added: Spring Shadows Elementary has a Greatschools rating of "2".

Spring Branch has some VERY nice areas north of I-10 and some areas in transition, but the Heights and Timbergrove crowd are moving into those older areas and bringing them back. I know quite a few creative class folks with young children who headed out that way. Anything within half a mile of Westview (except near Gessner) or South is generally very pricy and the new developments out there cater to the higher income folks which attracts more high income folks.

Also, the memorial villages are both south AND north of I-10. Tell the people who paid well over a million in Hilshire Village that they are in a junky area. How can you say it is one of the worst performing districts? It has some great schools and some mediocre schools. SBISD is among the best in Harris County. People pay top dollar to live where they will get access to Stratford or Memorial high schools.

Alief? Galena Park? Pasadena? Aldine? North Forest? Klein? Spring Branch is miles ahead of those. HISD is a huge huge district and the difference between the lowest performing and highest performing are astronomical, but you're not going to find those low performing campuses in high-cost areas because parents go and demand the best instruction and pressure the schools to either get it together or go teach elsewhere.

There are tons of outer Houstonians who think any area between the loop and the beltway are never any good and that's simply not true.

[fnh]

I myself live between the loop and beltway so I'm not sure what your point is, whether I would dismiss the area outright? I certainly don't and think there are overlooked neighborhood gems there that could work for the OP's needs. But I am continually astonished when people blithely recommend Spring Branch when the better performing schools are a handful of wealthier ones. I mean, duh! If you read my previous post above I pointed out that there is a sliver of real estate on the north side of the freeway zoned to the south side schools and that the area is priced accordingly.

Spring Shadows is a neighborhood bisected by Gessner and well north of Westview. So do you even know where it is? And the OP plainly titled this thread as "best school" near 77041. How can anyone possibly recommend it then?

Spring Branch, as a district, rates only a "5" based on performance, by the way. Same as Alief, same as HISD, and well behind Katy, Tomball and Cy-Fair on the west/northwest side. Personally I think HISD encompasses the best public schools in Houston but you don't hear people painting HISD with a similarly broad brush.

Behold a map of Spring Branch schools, you can see for yourself:

[trbstang]

Great map fnh! Very clearly shows the differences in a single district based on the property values and realted issues. I have a co-worker that lives just north of I-10 by Ikea, probably in that sliver you mentioned, and her kid's schools are good.

To answer the OP's additional questions, 77429 is a great area further out 290 with some of the best Cy-Fair schools, but the traffic will be a bit more than closer areas. My BIL lives right before Fairfield off Muesche Rd, and he usually spends 20-30 min to get to the beltway or so every morning. Luckily he works off Antoine, so he does not spend an hour driving to downtown every day. There are alternative routes also that can be taken if traffic is severely backed up on 290. They will be slow also since they are side roads, but not as bad as a stopped freeway.

Alos, as fnh mentioned, there are several neighborhoods right off BW8 and West Rd north of Jersey Village that have good schools. Not the "best" in the whole Cy-Fair area, but IMO top 30% and good enough for all of my kids to excell. Gleason Elementary is a great one, Bang Elementary is good too, and Cook Middle School is a good middle school that they both feed to. I am literally 7 miles from your work, and can make the drive using the beltway in less than 10 min with no traffic. Maybe 20 min with traffic. Most all of the homes are in your price range, from the $100's to $300's and renting from $1,200-$3,000. There is a nice rental in the next neighborhood for $1,600 right now. 77064 Winchester County, Winchester Trails, Winchester Village, Winchester Meadows, Willowbridge, Stonebridge, Westbridge, 77040 Laurel Creek (inside BW8).

Good luck!

[fnh]

Thanks, trbstang. I will comment that the neighborhoods you've listed, in my opinion, represent some of the best value to be found on the near-northwest side. The schools are good and the neighborhoods are very well kept and manicured, plenty of dining and shopping nearby with easy access to many different parts of town. North Gessner is green and tidy compared to southern stretches below 290 and it turns west into West Rd which is very pleasant and leafy to Jones Rd and 290 further out.

OP, there is also the Harmony School of Excellence on Gessner north of 290 which remains very popular despite controversial ties to Middle Eastern groups. Academically it is very strong and pulls from all over the city. It is also hard to get into with slots available by lottery (though I understand there is some discretionary wiggle, right or wrong.) It is less than 5 miles from your work location.

[Vicman]

Originally Posted by timtemtym

Alief? Galena Park? Pasadena? Aldine? North Forest? Klein? Spring Branch is miles ahead of those.

North Forest was so bad that it was dissolved. Now its schools are in HISD.