Catholic Schools (Austin, Spring, Dripping Springs: real estate, custom home, transferring to) - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum

ocmom · 10-06-2006, 10:44 AM

I know that some of the public schools are great there and we initially intended to send our kids to public school but we've been so happy with the Catholic school education they're getting here that we're looking into continuing that when we move to Austin. I've checked out the ones I could find on the web but because they're private, there's not as much information available. So far, we're leaning toward St. Theresa's and Holy Family. St Gabriel's looked good until I got to the tuition part (9000/yr). We thought we had decided for sure on living in Dripping Springs but now it will depend on which school we choose. Does anyone here have any experiences with the Catholic schools in Austin?

Thanks!

Trainwreck20 · 10-06-2006, 11:51 AM

I have a co-worker that had two kids at St. Theresa's, but recently transferred them to Paragon (sp?) prep, mainly to get them in a larger school, I think. She has been very happy with St. Theresa's, but it was not cheap, as I understand it.

gigi927 · 10-06-2006, 03:30 PM

I know some people in our new neighborhood send their kids to St. Gabriel's. We are in zip code 78730, St. Gabriels' is in 78735 so it must be nearby to us (northwest part of Austin, near Lake Travis).

You might try this link to find any other Catholic schools in the diocese.

http:// www. austindiocese.org/schools.php

St. Theresa's is also right down the 2222 - within 5 minutes of my house. We actually just drove around the area where St. Theresa's is located last night. Mostly older homes, very hilly and green terrain. Very nice area. If you are looking for new construction, I wouldn't expect you'd find much in the nearby area - you might have to drive a ways. I'm thinking Steiner Ranch is the closest area with a LOT of new construction there. I would search the zip code of St. Theresa's (78731) to get info on houses there (I recommend the site www. escapesomewhere. com vs. realtor.com, you'll get lots more information and pictures).

Holy Family is right near Lakeline Mall (very nice mall, lots of construction traffic nearby as the 183 is undergoing some major work). Largest subdivision we looked at near there is Avery Ranch. There is still new construction going on in Avery Ranch. If I remember correctly, you wanted a large (1 acre?) lot - not sure if they offer homesites that large in that general area. Good luck! If you end up moving to either parish area we'll be right nearby!

southaustingal · 10-06-2006, 04:23 PM

78735 is in the southwest part of town, not far from Dripping. Whatever you do, check out the Catholic schools before signing up your kid. A friend of mine had her kids at St. Francis. Horrid school. I've never seen such laziness in teachers. Someone needs to shut it down.

ocmom · 10-10-2006, 10:24 PM

I'm going to make appointments to tour the schools while we're there. That's probably the only way to know for sure whether the school will be a good fit for our daughter and our family but I'd still love to hear anything & everything you all know about the schools.

St Francis is an interdenominational school not affiliated with any church or religion - at least according to their website. I checked them out too assuming since the name starts with St. that it's a catholic school. Thanks for the heads up anyways Southaustingal. I certainly appreciate any and all information I can get my hands on.

Gigi & Trainwreck thanks for all your info as well! We thought we had it all figured out but there's always a curve ball. We're now looking at Grand Mesa at Crystal Falls because of the proximity to Holy Family, size of lots, etc. We're gonna be doing alot of driving around mapping (and timing) distances from various real estate choices to schools, etc. when we get there next month. It's going to be a busy 4 days but we can't wait!

gigi927 · 10-11-2006, 08:39 AM

We were just up at Grand Mesa on Monday looking around. It's a gorgeous area, the lots are very large and they are building very nice custom homes out there. Right now it's OUT there - I'd say it's close to an hour's drive from downtown Austin, if not more. Because the 183 is under construction it is all stop and go or small side roads from where I live (25 minutes from Austin) up to Crystal Falls. I'd estimate it's about 20 to 25 minutes from the Lakeline Mall and all of the shopping there. That would probably be about your drive to Holy Family as well.

I was a bit underwhelmed with their golf clubhouse and there's not a big wow factor coming into Crystal Falls itself (my opinion only). It's only when you drive way back into the Grand Mesa area that I felt the ooh and aah. I know they are planning for a big pool and splash area and some other stuff in 2007. One of the reasons I ruled it out for us is that we like tennis and they don't have any tennis facilities there, nor does it appear that have any planned.

If you don't mind a long drive to get most places it's a beautiful location. My husband wanted to buy a lot there Monday and move

but with a 3 and 1 year old I just want to stay a bit closer in. I hate spending my life in the car!

Sounds like you will have an aggressive agenda for your trip, good luck!

fishstix3 · 01-26-2007, 04:04 PM

Hi oc mom --
Ok, we have researched this to a pretty good extent. What it really depends on, of course, is the fit for you and your daughter. That said, we looked at St. Theresa's, Holy Family, and St. Gabriel's. We loved St. Theresa's -- great campus, a bit fragmented in the way it is set up, but lots of space, kids have extensive use of laptops for schoolwork from grade 2 up, very friendly people, not at all snooty from what we could tell, the kids LOVED the Admissions lady who was showing us around. Interesting that we never did meet the principal in our 3 trips there, but we did see the principal dressed up as a tiger or something one day, and the kids were having a good laugh. Looked at Holy Family and talked with the principal, who never once in nearly 2 hours addressed our 3 kids or smiled at them. We asked if there was any interaction between the older and younger kids (i.e. a "buddy" type system), and got an adamant NO from her (which we saw as a negative). The kindergarten class walked by us at one point, and not one cracked a smile at her, they almost looked scared. Our girls got in the car and said, "Do we have to go here, because we liked the other school way better!", so we decided that it was just too rigid for our taste. We really like St. Gabriel's -- awesome campus, nice people, but $$$$ ! We are hearing really good things about the public school system and are sort of leaning in that direction, mostly because we most likely will not live close enough to St. Theresa's, which would be our first choice.For those of you all not from CA., the comment about public schools is not at all meant to be snotty -- if you are from CA., you know our public school system is generally really bad, so we very gun shy about trying it still! We've heard good things overall, sometimes great things!

Hope this helps ...

Trainwreck20 · 01-26-2007, 05:51 PM

For what it is worth, my co-worker who sent her two kids to St. Theresa's has said that in hindsight, she would have sent her kids to public school and saved the money. Of course, this is after they have gone through the private system, but anyway. Her older boy is transferring to public HS next fall (Andersen).