Klein ISD (Houston, Spring, Tomball: middle-class, 2009, apartments)

[kia09]

Does anyone have any opinions on Klein ISD the ratings are good on the TEA site but I was wanting some more information. Thanks.

[Supermac34]

I went through the entire system, graduated from Klein High and enjoyed it. Their college prep is very good and I believe they are one of the best school systems around. I think there is one portion to avoid, the schools that feed Klein Forest High school. All the schools that feed Klein High, Klein Oak and Klein Collins are going to be good.

[crone]

Students who attend Forest HS are accepted to quality Universities each year. My neighbor goes to Princeton. The year she was accepted, six other Forest students were accepted into Ivy League schools. My neighbors who go to Wunderlich are more than pleased with the quality of teachers and administrators. Some of my neighbors are afraid of poor minorities. They go to Kleb and Klein. They are both good schools. If you hear anybody trash talk Forest ask for specific information. They generally hush an instant before they condemn themselves as either elitist or racist. All Klein schools are as good as any in the Houston area. It is all in what your needs are. Good Luck.

[Supermac34]

Originally Posted by crone

Students who attend Forest HS are accepted to quality Universities each year. My neighbor goes to Princeton. The year she was accepted, six other Forest students were accepted into Ivy League schools. My neighbors who go to Wunderlich are more than pleased with the quality of teachers and administrators. Some of my neighbors are afraid of poor minorities. They go to Kleb and Klein. They are both good schools. If you hear anybody trash talk Forest ask for specific information. They generally hush an instant before they condemn themselves as either elitist or racist. All Klein schools are as good as any in the Houston area. It is all in what your needs are. Good Luck.

Of course, rather than someone condemn themselves as elitist or racist, they can simply consult this year's greater Houston school rankings for independent analysis.

I think it is great that you personally know people that have succeeded from Klein Forest, however, it is generally considered to be by far the the weekest of the Klein schools. There is a reason home values in that zone are less, realtors look to steer people away from those areas, etc.

According to 2009's rankings linked below, you'll see both Klein High and Klein Collins are solid tier 1 schools. Also, Klein Oak, does lag behind a little bit as a tier 2 school, but many people consider it very acceptable.

If you look for Klein Forest, you'll see that it is, sadly, a tier 3 school, and ranks 95 on the list of 135 greater Houston high schools, basically, barely in the third quartile (thus tier 3).

http://www.childrenatrisk.org//cmsFi...0to%20Post.pdf

So, when questioned about the validity of claims that Klein Forest is not a very strong school, and actually the weekest of the 4 Klein ISD schools, its very easy to provide documentaion that supports that view in a non-elitist and non-racist way.

[Callo]

Originally Posted by crone

Students who attend Forest HS are accepted to quality Universities each year. My neighbor goes to Princeton. The year she was accepted, six other Forest students were accepted into Ivy League schools. My neighbors who go to Wunderlich are more than pleased with the quality of teachers and administrators. Some of my neighbors are afraid of poor minorities. They go to Kleb and Klein. They are both good schools. If you hear anybody trash talk Forest ask for specific information. They generally hush an instant before they condemn themselves as either elitist or racist. All Klein schools are as good as any in the Houston area. It is all in what your needs are. Good Luck.

Klein Forest is a ghetto, as is every school that feeds into it. To say otherwise is nonsense.

[modster]

I am aware of the general avoidance in that area of Klein Forest in favor of the other schools, but it seems like if you are an involved parent that your child would still receive a quality education there. It is the same district, I would think the same curriculum, the same hiring standards for teachers, and the facility is much newer than Klein. So what would a student not get there that they would get at the other Klein High Schools? Yes, the overall test scores are much lower due to a much higher presence of students that may come from lower income households where there is less involvement in the education process at home. So long as your household isn't one of them it seems like your child should be able to get the same educational opportunities.

Again, this is all it seems like it should. I really have no first hand knowledge other than graduating from Klein myself, but that was more years ago than I care to admit and not relevant to Klein's current situation. So I am not stating this as some sort of fact, I'm just asking.

[Callo]

Originally Posted by modster

I am aware of the general avoidance in that area of Klein Forest in favor of the other schools, but it seems like if you are an involved parent that your child would still receive a quality education there.

In a perfect world, that would be the case. But that's not the reality, unfortunately.

Regardless of how involved as a parent you are, your child will spend the vast majority of his or her school year alone in a classroom surrounded by other students. Consider the fact that, in the case of Klein Forest, the average middle-class white student will be surrounded by a population that is overwhelmingly hostile to who they are and what they represent. Would that be a good learning environment? Do you honestly think those "students" would just learn said white student alone? I think the answer to both questions is a firm NO. I've seen the apartments that feed into KF. Bad news, bad bad news.

I don't want to sound harsh. Klein Forest as a facility is well-maintained and the staff does it's job. But all the polishing in the world can't turn water into wine.

[caldvn]

Originally Posted by crone

Students who attend Forest HS are accepted to quality Universities each year. My neighbor goes to Princeton. The year she was accepted, six other Forest students were accepted into Ivy League schools. My neighbors who go to Wunderlich are more than pleased with the quality of teachers and administrators. Some of my neighbors are afraid of poor minorities. They go to Kleb and Klein. They are both good schools. If you hear anybody trash talk Forest ask for specific information. They generally hush an instant before they condemn themselves as either elitist or racist. All Klein schools are as good as any in the Houston area. It is all in what your needs are. Good Luck.

Racist and/or elitest.... I've been hearing that non-stop from the political arena.... So easy to throw words like that around when you disagree with people... so full of crap.

I was going to Klein Forest when a majority of the students were white. I was also going to Einsenhower where the majority of the students were the minorities. There was a night and day difference in the environment where you could go to school to learn or go to school with kids with a big chip on their shoulders.

From a personal opinion, things will continue to decline in the area.

[modster]

Before going to Klein I attended racially mixed public schools in Shreveport. I found troublemakers are troublemakers regardless of race, but that is another story.

On some of the other forums I have seen discussions about Klein Forest and Westfield in Spring and how the answer to the "problem" would be if they could only form some sort of school zone that separated the "nicer" subdivisions from the less affluent areas south of Bammel N. Houston Rd.

Pardon me for pointing out the elephant in the room, but on these various forums there has been all sorts of discussions about addressing the needs of the white middle class kids, but no discussions about the needs of the at risk kids, minority, economically disadvantaged or whatever label these kids wear that makes the white middle class seem to find them worth avoiding. Should they just be written off? That certainly doesn't seem like the right answer. How do you reach the kids that are harder to reach for whatever reason? I guess I think some consideration needs to be given to all fronts. Looking at the bigger picture I just don't think it benefits any of us to have an increasing under-class that is poorly educated.

Is it parents having legitimate concerns about their children's learning environment? Is it people just being racist or elitist? Some of both? None of the above? It is a touchy subject & what the answer is I haven't a clue. I supposed that is a whole other thread so I guess it is time to get back on topic.

[sxrckr]

Originally Posted by modster

On some of the other forums I have seen discussions about Klein Forest and Westfield in Spring and how the answer to the "problem" would be if they could only form some sort of school zone that separated the "nicer" subdivisions from the less affluent areas south of Bammel N. Houston Rd.

There have always been less affluent areas south. Where you could get a home for much less than the areas to the north. Yet the schools were still OK. Problem came when too many apartments and high density was built on the south side, schools filled up, district couldn't keep up, property values went down, young families stopped buying the homes there (or moved while they rented them out) and went to Tomball or Cypress instead, and it was downhill from there. The areas north didn't want to have to pay for everyone on the south in apartments not paying school taxes in addition to putting up with crummy ranking schools. Who can blame them? It's a downhill battle after that.

What's the solution? For one thing, not to build entire sections of a city that are largely apartments. For another thing, stop encouraging a welfare entitlement society and everything else wrong that is OK now but was not just a few decades ago. Bad has become good, good has become bad, and on top of that everything has to be politically correct. But that's a whole other subject.