McCullough Jr High in The Woodlands (Houston, Conroe: home, neighborhoods, middle schools)

[alm828]

My family will be moving to the area this summer and we are looking at the Woodlands. I was set in my decision until I realized that there's basically only 2 middle schools for all of the Woodlands. With 1100 students per grade at McCollough, I am concerned with how overwhelming that might be for my introverted youngest son (who will be in 7th next year.) His current class size is about 300. Can any parents of students there tell me of your child's experience and whether you would pick McCollough or Riverwood Middle in Kingwood?

[Vicman]

Conroe ISD has separate "intermediate school" (grades 5-6) and "junior high school" (grades 7-8) schools. Collins, George P. Mitchll, and W. O. Wilkerson are the 5-6 schools, and Neal Knox and McCullough are the 7-8 schools. Some campuses have grades K-6 (Joel L. Deretchin and Coulson Tough).

Originally Posted by alm828

My family will be moving to the area this summer and we are looking at the Woodlands. I was set in my decision until I realized that there's basically only 2 middle schools for all of the Woodlands. With 1100 students per grade at McCollough, I am concerned with how overwhelming that might be for my introverted youngest son (who will be in 7th next year.) His current class size is about 300. Can any parents of students there tell me of your child's experience and whether you would pick McCollough or Riverwood Middle in Kingwood?

[usulbaggins]

Originally Posted by alm828

My family will be moving to the area this summer and we are looking at the Woodlands. I was set in my decision until I realized that there's basically only 2 middle schools for all of the Woodlands. With 1100 students per grade at McCollough, I am concerned with how overwhelming that might be for my introverted youngest son (who will be in 7th next year.) His current class size is about 300. Can any parents of students there tell me of your child's experience and whether you would pick McCollough or Riverwood Middle in Kingwood?

I have a 7th grader at McCullough. She is fairly shy and did struggle with the size of the school at first. There's the logistical issue of navigating the huge building, buses etc. Then there's feeling lost among the huge number of students. On top of it all, they are growing into a teenager which has its own issues. Eventually, she came to terms with it. Still shy but has made a small set of friends. Grades are fine. I suspect that will happen to your son as well if you help him through the transition. Even though the school is huge, the class sizes are not ridiculous. It is also a very well run school. The teachers are responsive. You can sign up for alerts if your child's grades/scores fall below a threshold so you can keep an eye on how he's doing. The good part is that the size of school and overall resources available in an affluent area lead to a very rich assortment of programs, clubs and activities.

Not sure where you are moving from but we moved here from NJ couple years back. We were worried about similar things but on the whole we are satisfied with the school system. No matter which school you go to, transition to a new system is tough on any child but they are resilient (more than most adults) if given enough attention and support at home during the transition.

[alm828]

Thank you usulbaggins! Those are all the things I've been stressing about. I'm happy to hear that your daughter has adjusted and made friends. I've been so worried about the size that we've started looking at other areas like Katy and Kingwood. We are moving from Southern California so we are completely unfamiliar with the area. Would you still pick The Woodlands over the other two if you had to do it again?

[usulbaggins]

Originally Posted by alm828

Thank you usulbaggins! Those are all the things I've been stressing about. I'm happy to hear that your daughter has adjusted and made friends. I've been so worried about the size that we've started looking at other areas like Katy and Kingwood. We are moving from Southern California so we are completely unfamiliar with the area. Would you still pick The Woodlands over the other two if you had to do it again?

Well, as it turns out.....I did live in Katy in the past. I like both Katy and Woodlands.

Comparing the two, I would say schools are about the same quality. My daughters did elementary school in Katy and we had similar experiences there as here. Relatively large schools, well-run, responsive staff and overall satisfactory performance. We moved because of jobs and commutes.

As for the neighborhoods, both are nice areas for raising a family. Woodlands might be a bit more upscale. Katy is open prairie....not too many trees around. Woodlands is run over by 70-feet tall pine (hence the name). They look pretty all year but are a nuisance during hurricanes when they come down and cause power outages.

Woodlands seems to be better planned with miles upon miles of biking/jogging lanes, parks, no billboards etc. Even Wal Mart, Starbucks and McDonalds cannot display giant billboards. So you see nothing but tall trees all around. Woodlands is also rather affluent. Yesterday, I was picking my daughter from high school and there were Jaguar and Audi SUVs parked in student parking lots. Nice to see people do well in life, but it also increases the burden on a parent to ensure that you are not raising an entitled little princess. Just my two cents.

Katy is more laissez faire and is growing leaps and bounds, maybe faster than Woodlands. They also have very nice neighborhoods and fairly upscale areas. People seemed a bit more laid back there.

I would not fret over schools in either area. Both are about as good as you will get in Houston suburbs. You do not say anything about jobs and commutes. That is critical. For our commute situation, Katy simply did not make any sense. Having lived in both, I would happily live in either place all over again.

Let your commute and overall quality of life help you decide. I would not pick Katy over Woodlands simply because of size of middle school. It is a non-issue.

No clue about Kingwood. Hope that helps.