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My son will start kindergarten next year and we might (unexpectedly) find ourselves living there. We already live in here (Round Rock ISD), but I had only been looking at purchasing another home in RRISD so AISD is completely unfamiliar to me. We are looking to buy slightly north of 360, between 183 and Spicewood Springs Rd. My husband bike commutes; this brings him a lot of joy so we need to stay within Mopac and Anderson Mill Rd, not too far from 183.
Some concerns:
1. Are there any neighborhood amenities? Parks, playgrounds, tennis courts, jogging paths, public pools, etc? We would border a golf course of some sort, would my kids be allowed to ride their bikes on the paths there?
2. Will we be the riff-raff? My husband and I are both highly educated (he has his PhD, I have an AM and JD, we have attended Ivies and understand the importance of 'the brand') but we are by no means rich. We can afford this home because of prior real estate investments, but membership in the country club etc are beyond us (and frankly not my style). We drive used, old cars. We try to give the best to our children, but I am fairly Luddite also about many things and prefer them to spend time outdoors riding bikes and scooters etc. to watching videos, playing games on smart phones, etc. We aren't really interested in shopping, golfing, etc. My husband is a serious bike commuter, not a (as he puts it) 'weekend warrior'
3. Everything I read here says how wonderful Doss/Murchison/Anderson track is. What makes Doss in particular exceptional? What does Hill lack, if anything? Are there other schools that offer something more that make them more worthwhile? On that note, what makes an elementary school exceptional? He already reads (well), he is intellectually curious, he is very physically gifted (at bicycling and gymnastics) and is a nice kid.
Sorry for all these questions, the possibility of Hill Elementary just came today. I'd been thinking to move to Spicewood or perhaps Laurel Mountain of the RR elementary schools. We will retain ownership of our home in RRISD (and just rent it out) so it seems likely that should my kids want to attend Westwood they will be able.
My son will start kindergarten next year and we might (unexpectedly) find ourselves living there. We already live in here (Round Rock ISD), but I had only been looking at purchasing another home in RRISD so AISD is completely unfamiliar to me. We are looking to buy slightly north of 360, between 183 and Spicewood Springs Rd. My husband bike commutes; this brings him a lot of joy so we need to stay within Mopac and Anderson Mill Rd, not too far from 183.
Some concerns:
1. Are there any neighborhood amenities? Parks, playgrounds, tennis courts, jogging paths, public pools, etc? We would border a golf course of some sort, would my kids be allowed to ride their bikes on the paths there?
2. Will we be the riff-raff? My husband and I are both highly educated (he has his PhD, I have an AM and JD, we have attended Ivies and understand the importance of 'the brand') but we are by no means rich. We can afford this home because of prior real estate investments, but membership in the country club etc are beyond us (and frankly not my style). We drive used, old cars. We try to give the best to our children, but I am fairly Luddite also about many things and prefer them to spend time outdoors riding bikes and scooters etc. to watching videos, playing games on smart phones, etc. We aren't really interested in shopping, golfing, etc. My husband is a serious bike commuter, not a (as he puts it) 'weekend warrior'
3. Everything I read here says how wonderful Doss/Murchison/Anderson track is. What makes Doss in particular exceptional? What does Hill lack, if anything? Are there other schools that offer something more that make them more worthwhile? On that note, what makes an elementary school exceptional? He already reads (well), he is intellectually curious, he is very physically gifted (at bicycling and gymnastics) and is a nice kid.
Sorry for all these questions, the possibility of Hill Elementary just came today. I'd been thinking to move to Spicewood or perhaps Laurel Mountain of the RR elementary schools. We will retain ownership of our home in RRISD (and just rent it out) so it seems likely that should my kids want to attend Westwood they will be able.
Thanks!
Given what you've said about your lifestyle, I think you'd prefer Hill to Doss. Although their academic reputation is solid, there's a certain -uh- frantic one-upmanship at Doss that led more than one friend to transfer their kids to private schools rather than send them back for another year of dealing with that ecosystem (on both the child and parent levels.) Things level out more once they get to Murchison since the demographic mix is broader. Hill is a solid school.
You asked about riding on the 'paths' of a golf course...IF you mean the cart paths, that would be incredibly dangerous while the course is open. I've never heard of an active golf course that would allow use of their paths by children on bicycles. Depending on your actual street, hubby may be in for a serious commuting workout! It ain't called Great Hills for nothing! Beautiful area, some great vistas...quite a change from Round Rock.
The suburbs were created from the center out, probably every decade there was a new ring. Northwest hills (between mopac and 360) has a lot of aging folks who are now retired (60 year olds +) so many of the homes are turning over to younger families.
Great hills (outside of 360) is a newer subdivision (1980s) so the people there have kids who are done with college, but the people are probably just now starting to retire (mostly 50's+).
The great hills country club is not that fancy and pretty laid back. You might be surprised that it doesnt fit the movie impression of country club at all. The newer and younger members want more reinvestment but the older members are happy with the way it is. Right now it is still dominated by older members but this will change over the next 10-15 years.
I live in great hills and like it. There is a huge engineering/computer presence in both areas (maybe 20-25%). Northwest hills has more healthcare, legal and finance people. In my particular subdivision (which feeds into laurel mountain) almost everyone either owns their own business or is in some kind of high tech. One of the big differences is that laurel mountain etc has a huge asian population (60% asian I think). Westwood is known to be more nerdy than sporty which cant be said of any other high school in town except LASA. Great hills is very down to earth as most people work for a living and are definitely more intellectual. Also there isnt much ostentatious wealth (which is why we decided not to be in westlake). Kids arent driving BMWs etc.
Doss by the way has a full immersion chinese program, we considered moving to be in that program. It is a lottery though so there is no guarantee. One other thing, if you are in AISD, then your kids can apply to LASA which is far and away the best high school in the entire metro area. Doss might be competitive now, but probably only because it gentrified sooner. I would fully expect hill to go the same route. Laurel mountain is a tough school because of all the asians there.
city-data shows the median age of great hills at 39.9, northwest hills at 39.3. Keep in mind northwest hills has a tremendous number of college age renters. You can see this by looking at the income distribution. There are a ton of people with zero income (around 10%) in northwest hills, but virtually no one in that category in great hills.
also with regards to what makes a school good is the leadership of the school and the teachers in it, as well as the types of people that feed into it.
Some schools have high parent participation rates, some have low participation rates.
Some schools tolerate bad teachers or arent great at hiring good ones
Some schools have many more low income students that dont come from a culture of learning/education
Some schools have leadership that just wants to blindly follow rules, some schools have leadership that understands about educating children and that rules are flexible.
My daughters K teacher at laurel mountain sends home a summary of every single day at the end of each week. She takes pictures during the day sometimes and sends them out. They cook food in class and just have a great time. She is a phenomenal teacher. My daughters music teacher has them watch a lot of videos. She is not a very good music teacher.
There will always be some bad teachers and some bad students, you want as few of both as possible.
Laurel mountain is organized around a schoolwide enrichment model. I have no idea how well it is practiced, but this can give you an idea: Laurel Mountain SEM: What is SEM?
My guess is that there is very little practical difference between doss, laurel mountain and hill. the biggest is probably going to be the demographics.
I grew up in Great Hills and attended Hill Elementary School, Murchison Middle School, and Anderson High School.
As far as the three questions you ask I will answer then based off my 19 years of living in the same home in Great Hills
1) There is a neighborhood park in Great Hills, I never went to it but we do have one and it is owned by the city of Austin and is called Great Hills neighborhood park. As far for pools only 2 semi-public pools are in the neighborhood, there is no completly public pool. The first being the Great Hills Country Club pool, which you have to be a member to use and you don't intend to be a member. The second is the pool that is owned by the smaller neighborhood within Great Hills called 'The Arbors of Great Hills'. This area mostly goes to Hill Elementary, also the neighborhood I grew up in. Only residents of the arbor of great hills can use it and there is just a little over 100 homes in this neighborhood. Canyon Vista Middle School and Murchison Middle School have free pools open to the public as well as Northwest Pool in Allendale has a large public pool with a very small entrance fee. Kids would not be allowed to ride the bike on the golf course path but most streets in great hills have a bike path, so you have that covered. Anderson High School has tennis courts also allowed to be used.
2) Although Great Hills is quickly becoming a much more high dollar neighborhood (and I drove a Mercedes as my car, and it isn't all that uncommon to know of a kid who drives a luxury car as their car) you will not be looked down by others if you don't sport the best. Older parts of great hills, mostly that feed to westwood, often are crammed with A LOT of Asians who want to be in the 'best' school they can get into and will drive older cars than you. Asians will sacrifice a lot to get to send their kid to Westwood, and sometimes it is more noticeable than other. The Asians that live on Yaupon are not the ones I am referring to but the ones that more live in the area that feeds to North Oaks elementary school. You also will not be looked down on for not being a member of the country club (we never we either). Being highly educated will impress your neighbors enough, I'm sure.
3) I have no idea where you heard that Doss is considered better than Hill? Hill has been rated the top elementary school in central Texas, even beating out Laurel Mountain and the Eanes ISD schools! Going to Anderson the Doss kids and the Hill kids quickly blended together, but Hill kids by and large seemed to be more well-rounded than the Doss kids. Hill is constantly ranked better than Doss and considered the top elementary school in Austin ISD nearly every year. I even knew some parents who choose to send their kid to Hill and buy in the Hill area and once they hit middle school quickly sold their house and moved from either Great Hills or Jester (another neighborhood that is served by Hill) to Northwest Hills. Though both Doss and Hill have high success rates on the TAKS and Star exams, Hill preforms better. At the end of the day I would feel comfortable sending my kids to either school.
As I mentioned before Jester is another neighborhood and I would suggest looking into both Jester and Lakewood neighborhoods. They go to Hill-Murchison-Anderson, but much smaller than Great Hills so inventory is limited but they have no country club and both neighborhoods have a community park and pool that is covered by HOA dues. Both neighborhoods match what you are looking for as well, but Jester may be a bit more flashy than Great Hills (but not as flashy as Northwest Hills)
Based on the information you provided, I think Hill would be a great fit for you and your family. The parents there are highly educated and very involved in the school, but not snobby at all in my experience. I would characterized the average Hill parent as being very "down to earth." Also, Hill is a great elementary school. My husband and I have both been blown away by the academic rigor of the school. Expectations there are very high. Since my children have attended Hill but not Doss, I can't give a personal opinion about which school is "better." But I would suggest that you review that published test scores for both schools. Hill scores higher than Doss does. In fact, in the last round of STAAR testing, Hill received 3 out of 3 of the available "distinctions". Doss did not receive all 3, nor did any of the Eanes elementary schools. Bottom line: Hill is a excellent elementary school and your family will likely fit right in.
I wanted to update my previous post because there have been two changes at Hill that have really impacted the school. First, many of the long-time, highly skilled teachers have retired and have been replaced by very young and inexperienced teachers. Second, the school has become severely over-crowded. Both of these changes have been quite negative for the school. If you are moving to Austin, you might want to give serious consideration to private schools instead.
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Beautiful area, some great vistas...quite a change from Round Rock.
Hill is a wonderful school
