School of Science and Technology (San Antonio, Center: transfer, magnet schools, college)

[sapphire]

My son is going into 6th grade in the fall, and we just received an application for the School of Science and Technology. (I'm guessing all prospective 6th graders get this.) I went and checked their website and it looks like a good school, but does anyone have kids who attend?

I see a couple of things I don't like--well, that won't work for us. They don't offer transportation and they don't offer band class. But does anyone know about this school and the good things they do offer?

[George IYC]

We looked pretty carefully at the School of Science and Technology (SST) after my son encountered their middle school team at the Bexar County MathCounts competition. We liked what we saw of the children on that team, as well as the focus of the school.

The school offers a very good math and science curriculum, with strong competitive extracurricular activities focused on math and science fair competitions. Since it is a new school, it is still expanding its course offerings up through high school - it started as a middle school, and each year as the children get older, it adds another grade level. We considered SST because our son is very gifted in science and math.

We ended up discussing our son's gifted and talented (GT) needs with our current school district, Northeast ISD. The district was very fair in helping him with specific needs - since he had transferred from an advanced GT program (GT Center Program, Fairfax County, Virginia), he was well ahead of other students in math in particular. Given that NEISD is a great school district, and given that the high school AP programs are excellent, especially in Reagan High School (our middle school feeds into Reagan), we decided to stay in NEISD.

Since SST still needs to establish a 12th grade and college entry track record, we felt that Reagan's established track record was more attractive. I think SST will do well in the future - in my opinion, there are some uncertainties given its primary funding source. As long as the funding levels don't change, SST should continue to rise in academic standings. I think the commitment from its administrators and teachers is quite good.

Note that I'm focused on academics and science & math extracurricular activities. If you want band, athletics, and the like, you won't find much of that sort of thing at SST. On the other hand, you can do things like study the Turkish language and culture, which are unique for this area.

You also may or may not like the campus appearance and location. It is located off 410, so getting to and from it can be difficult. Since it is its own school district, it does potentially draw from all of San Antonio, but there are concentrations (and car pooling arrangements) of students in various areas.

I hope this information helps you.

[sapphire]

Thank you, that was excellent! My son is gifted in math and science as well, which is why this school appeals to us. However, he also enjoys a ton of extracurricular activities, and sadly that seems to be lacking there. I did notice the students have an opportunity to travel to Europe, which is exciting!

The lack of a 12th grade concerned me, too, but I do like the uniform policy. I don't care where the school is located--I'm not at all thrilled with the brand new multi-million dollar schools they keep building. I think learning takes place with teachers who love their jobs, kids that are in attendance every day, and lots of parental involvement.

Thank you for taking the time to post your response! I believe we'll be staying on course with NISD, but it's nice to know there are opportunities out there!

[gy2020]

I use to sub in NISD back in the 1980's and 90's. NISD has a Health Science school in the Medical District with strong academics in all major areas. One day I had to sub in a high school surgery class. I was good a putting video tapes in the vcr.

What I liked about the school back then, they limited enrollment to 200 students per class. In other words, 600 students for 10, 11, 12. Also all of the classes lasted 2 hours. A teacher could get a lot more subject matter in that way. The students had 3 classes each day. Or they had 3 one day and 2 the next, alternating.

Originally the school was set up for students who wanted to get into the medical field, but I also saw students in the arts. I really liked that school. I hope it is still doing well.

[sapphire]

Yes, Health Careers High School is still thriving. NISD and NEISD both offer some really good magnet schools.