please help with Witchita school district question (Wichita, Hays: low crime, home)

[tiffan28]

We may be moving to Witchita. What elementary schools or public school districts have the best reputation?

[Modron]

K. I'll bite. The Wichita public schools have their own set of problems. I don't know specifically which public schools in Wichita are better than others. You could look for information about test scores and that might help. They're probably posted at the Kansas State Department of Education website. I'd also look for the economic status of neighborhoods. Wichita is notorious for a lack of equity among schools, and busing which was never very effective here is being replace by the magnet school system. How that will effect schools I don't know.

If my bother and sister-in-law ever considered moving back to Wichita my advice to them would be to put my nephew in private school or move to one of the bedroom communities like Goddard or Maize, or Andover. Augusta has high test scores, but there's a lot of poverty more than you'd expect, the community never grows, and there's real resistance to new or progressive ideas. I have no idea about Haysville anymore. It used to be a pretty troubled community that came into existence as a place full of chop shops. Car thieves would go there after stealing cars from Wichita because the Wichita police couldn't go after them there. Haysville did major marketing and actively tried to bring in new families. They added a lot of new housing additions. All of that may have helped change the community for the better. I just don't know. I don't know about Derby anymore, either.

And, don't get me wrong, there's a lot of great stuff in Wichita: Exploration Place, Old Cowtown, Wichita Art Museum, Riverside Park, Botanica, movie theaters, Sedgwick County Zoo, Great Plains Nature Center, movie theaters, All Star Sport Complex, Lake Afton Observatory. But for the middle and working classes here attitudes here don't keep up with opportunity. Nothing progressive is happening and life is basically a mad dash back to the 19th century. Educationally, my guess is that the schools in the more affluent, bedroom communities are more progressive at least in their implementation of technology and the kinds of electives they offer.

Originally Posted by tiffan28

We may be moving to Witchita. What elementary schools or public school districts have the best reputation?

[athfo]

I'll also add Valley Center to that list. The city just passed a new bond issue in order to build a new high school.

[jettagirl]

We just moved to Wichita from out of state and have been very dissapointed in Wichita Public Schools as far as PRE-K goes (our child is 3 and needs special ed services). They assigned my daughter to a school in a very bad neighborhood so we arent going to send her. However, there are some great elementary schools, it's just that you have to live within their districts to go there or else you have to apply to go there. 2 Elementary schools that I have been told are great are College Hill Elementary and Hyde Magnet. As far as high schools go, North is a great high school as I have heard first hand from kids who go there. I would have no problem sending my daughter to any of the schools mentioned. If you aren't going to be living in the College Hill area, you could try the Independant School or Wichita Collegiate (pricey). Hope that helps a little.

[tiffan28]

thanks everyone!!

[drjones96]

Originally Posted by Modron

I don't know about Derby anymore, either.

...well so far my impressions of Derby are that I'm pleasantly surprised. It's definitely not the same as it was 7 years ago when I was here. There are a lot of newer communities being built...in addition to some decent ones that were already there. In a lot of the residential areas it seems like a great place for the kids to run around....if that's appealing to you. Seems like a low crime area as far as I can tell. I wouldn't think twice about letting the kids play in the front yard.

We took our three kids to the water park there last weekend and it was incredibly inexpensive to get in. Our 2 yr old was free, the other two were $5.50 and $6.50 for us. So we got out of there only spending $24. At Six Flags Hurricane Harbor it's that much for one adult ($24.99).

They're building "Derby Marketplace" on Rock right now that will have a Target Marketplace (Which I'm assuming is a fancy version of a Super Target), Old Navy, Dillons Marketplace (like the other nicer Dillons at Central & Rock) and some other stores that don't come to mind right now. Recently they have built a Lowes and a Kohls near that part of town. So with a town that size to see this much of a leap in larger businesses it's pretty obvious that it's a growing community. Here's an article about that. Guess who's coming to Derby - Derby, KS - Derby Reporter


I haven't had any first hand experience with the schools yet but I'll know more in a few months.

[fly2me]

The K-6 (I think) on Marigold Street McLean School.. is the best of all of wichita schools.
If you get your kids into at a young age, small towns near are good. My older ones went to McLean Mag school.. awesome.... My younger ones went to Valley Center - good and bad. I would choose McLean if I had younger ones.

good luck

[kmdawn]

I'll add Rose Hill to the bedroom community list....just 15 minutes from Wichita with smaller schools. The others listed above are over-crowded! Rose Hill has brand new elementary and Middle schools. In the high school, EACH student gets their own laptop computer to take home all school year long! Brand new housing too! Check it out!

[Basalt]

We moved to Haysville in 96 for 2 years before moving to Harvey County. At the time, both Maize and Goddard were thought of as desirable public school systems. Rose Hill seems to have some supporters as well.

[bookworm89]

We just moved to Wichita in Summer 2008. We live in the Rockwood neighborhood and our kids go to Price Harris. We have been extremely pleased with the principal and the school. I think that many of the school in the Wichita school district are just fine, in fact some are excellent.