moving to SA - Randolph AFB (Houston, San Antonio: real estate, houses, buying)

[smuboy86]

Crowding at the onbase school is minimal...it's a 3A school I believe so midrange insize. Crowding is worse at Judson and in Schertz ISD. In NEISD crowding is worse at Madison HS which is about 30 years old and bursting at the seams. Roosevelt HS is a Small 5A High School, but has been torn down and rebuilt on the same ground so is brand new offering the latest features. MacArthur HS a medium 5A was torn down and rebuild within the last 5 years. Madison, roosevelt and Mac are all in NEISD and within a 15 minute drive to base. Canyon Lake, Spring Branch and Bulverde are within an hour commute, although on a bad day that could be stretching it. Those areas have seen alot of growth and no infrastructure construction to handle it.

[millie61]

My Husband is retired military we live in 78232 zip code very nice area. My son attends Winston Churchill High - you might want to look at that it is a very good school and in NEISD. We are about 20 mins from Randolph AFB, several military people in this area.

[JustForMilitary_com]

you can look at justformilitary.com to find stuff for military personnel...

[wCat]

I graduated from Roosevelt eons ago and it was a great school, but one of my classmates is a teacher there now and the school has changed tremendously. There is a lot of violence on campus regardless of the new digs.

Judson has a great sports reputation, but also a bit rougher on campus.

Churchill and MacArthur have a really nice mix of students. Very solid schools. If you have a middle school child, Bradley Middle school is one of the best in the district. It feeds kids into MacArthur, Churchill and Reagan, so know which high school you would want.

That area is 78232 and 78247.....MacArthur also covers some of 78217 and 78209....also nice areas. It all depends on what you want in a house for your money.

1604 goes from the far North Central area right into Randolph. The traffic commute may be bad at rush hour....but it's not far. It's a great area to raise families on the Randoph side of town.

My daughter graduated from MacArthur.....she loved it. I have lots of friends with kids at Churchill, Reagan, Madison, Judson, Alamo Heights, O'Connor high schools and they all are very happy their schools. There are a lot of other good schools but I don't have any firsthand knowledge about them.

A good question to ask of San Antonian's is where they would send their kids!

[Yokowesto]

All the info you all are supplying with is incredibly helpful. I have written down the zip codes and schools you have mentioned. The single most important factor in this move will be the schools. We will only be in SA for 2 years so our children, twins, will be in SA for their last year of elem and their first middle school experience. This needs to be positive. I don't know where these zips are but I will be looking tonight. We are thousands of miles away (Yokota AB) and cannot visualize much so, again, thank you for the input and please keep it coming. Any other helpful tips are appreciated, too.

[smuboy86]

top ones I can recommend for elementary into middle would be cambridge/woodridge in to Alamo Heights Jr. School...or Northwood elementary in to Garner middle school. All these schools are in the 78209 zip code on the Near northeast side. Homes (taxes) would be a bit cheaper going in to Northwood, but Northwood and Woodridge feed from the same neighborhood and are walkable. In northwood there are homes anywhere from 80 years old to open lots available in the Oakwell Farms gated neighborhood.

[Yokowesto]

I noticed today, for the first time, that Shertz/Cibolo ISD has intermediate schools. That sounds great. Are these schools also known to have crowding issues? (Example: Jordan and Wilder Intermediate) Also,is there a big push for the teachers to teach to the standardized tests so the schools get their good ratings? My kids first school exp was northern Florida (Go Gators!) and altho the schools were fantastic there I noticed too much emphasis on the FCAT. A lot of stress was put on teachers by administrators......teachers then have to jump thru hoops to make sure the kids do well.

[smuboy86]

intermediate is just another name for Jr. High school or Middle School. Yes there is a lot of attention payed to the TAKS test. Certain grade level tests must be passed before a student can go on to the next grade. Look for schools that are ranked acceptable or higher for their TAKS rating. I would imagine as the population booms in schertz/cibolo area that the schools are becoming increasingly crowded, much like stone oak schools.

[wCat]

Yokowesto.....keep in mind that intermediate schools, junior high and middle schools do not always cover the same grades. My son went to Thousand Oak Elementary only through 5th grade. Middle school at Bradley is 6th through 8th....but, the 6th graders cannot parcitpate in certain things on campus because they are still considered in the "primary" school category.

My son moved up to the Dallas area for a short time and "middle school" there is 7th, 8th and 9th. He felt like he had the longest junior high record in history by going 6th through 9th!

On Randolph, the Junior High (7th and 8th only) is in the same school as the High School.

Be sure to check with the individuals schools and districts to see what grades they cover. It varies a lot depending on the district.

[millie61]

Make sure to check the on base school thoroughly as when we moved back to the USA they were far from the DODDS schools we had been familiar with in Europe.Often children from off base can use the schools, dont know if this happens here in Texas.