Which area is better for safety/family living? (Dallas, Garland: apartments, rentals)

[livnluv]

Looking at 2 job possibilities...
One is near White Rock Lake and the other is at LakePointe Medical Center Rowlett..
Which area is better as far as safety, quality of living, etc..?

[TurtleCreek80]

What is your budget to rent or buy? What kind of home or apartment are you seeking? Do you have kids and if so, what grades?

Both areas CAN BE safe / good family living areas, but it will take a larger budget to do so near White Rock Lake than in Rowlett.

[ChristieP]

Lakepointe MC has a MUCH better reputation than Doctor's Hospital.
The apartments in Rowlett are a LOT better.
Public schools in Rowlett are MUCH better than DISD.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

Lakepointe MC has a MUCH better reputation than Doctor's Hospital.

I can't speak to that.

Originally Posted by ChristieP

The apartments in Rowlett are a LOT better.

They are probably newer and less expensive, that's for sure.

Originally Posted by ChristieP

Public schools in Rowlett are MUCH better than DISD.

This is false. As we remind people EVERY SINGLE DAY on this forum, DISD has over 200 schools. Some are great and others are downright scary. But schools must be judged based on the NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOLS the home/apartment is zoned for. The schools around White Rock Lake are almost all EXCELLENT, with few exceptions. Hexter, Lakewood, & Jackson elementaries are all great. A great education can be had at Long MS & Woodrow Wilson HS in East Dallas (prestigious IB program & AP program), although the schools overall are middle to bottom performing in the DFW area.

That said, Rowlett HS is nothing extra-special to write home about; it's statistically about equal to Woodrow-->
*avg SAT @ Rowlett HS = 999; it's 984 @ Woodrow. Both rank in the bottom 50% of Dallas-area high schools
*white students at Woodrow oustcored white students @ Rowlett 1100 vs 1040
*Hispanic students at Rowlett outscored those at Woodrow 965 to 900 *both schools had exactly 1 National Merit Semifinalist this year

[ChristieP]

Much of Rowlett feeds into Lakeview Centennial HS, too.

Yes, Lakewood area schools are good. There are also not that many apartments over there that would be safe for a family (aside from Power Properties and Upper E). More of the apartments are on the east and south side of the lake, which doesn't feed into Lakewood schools. I wouldn't send a kid to Bryan Adams HS (DISD on the east side of WRL) on a dare.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

Much of Rowlett feeds into Lakeview Centennial HS, too.

Yes, Lakewood area schools are good. There are also not that many apartments over there that would be safe for a family (aside from Power Properties and Upper E). More of the apartments are on the east and south side of the lake, which doesn't feed into Lakewood schools. I wouldn't send a kid to Bryan Adams HS (DISD on the east side of WRL) on a dare.

I wouldn't dare send my kids to BA either!! I had to take my SAT there in the 1990s and it was s-c-a-r-y.

There are a lot of apartments/ condo rentals along University Blvd / Amesbury/ Sandhurst (north of Mockingbird, west of Skillman) that feed into Stonewall Jackson Elementary and then onto Long & Woodrow (same as Lakewood Elem). I was more thinking that for their needs. It's hard to find a unit with 3 BR's but not impossible. There is a 3-br condo at 5909 Birchbrook in Stonewall Jackson for $1275/mo and a 2-2 at the same complex for $1200. That is a nice neighborhood- super close to DART rail and also lots of casual/inexpensive restaurants & shopping.

There's also a house for rent in Hollywood Heights that feeds into Lakewood Elem for $1,450/mo. It's a 3/1.5 at 7129 Santa Monica Drive 75223 and another in Hollywood Heights home on Craig's List for $1100/mo (3 br/ 1 bath).

[Lakewooder]

I think the apartments and condos along E. University (Birchbrook, Amesbury, Jason, Sandhurst, Danbury are the streets) are a good suggestion. Very easy to get to Doctor's Hospital from Northwest Highway or Mockingbird to Buckner. Also there are houses in 75214, 75206 and 75223 but you have to look - those TC mentioned in Hollywood Heights would also be an easy drive along East Grand/Garland Road to Doctor's Hospital.

Here is some info about Doctor's Hospital from the late great Bruce Felps:

Search Results doctors hospital « East Dallas Times

You can see other stories about the area schools on that site.

It is difficult to compare Woodrow to some suburban schools - I think TC mentioned Richardson High as being similar in demographics - however, I would say that Woodrow has more extremes as in much wealthier and much poorer. That's one reason it's so difficult to explain.

Woodrow has made the Washington Post and Newsweek lists of top high schools in the nation by Jay Mathews. It is based on AP participation and Woodrow outranks most suburban schools by the criteria used by Mathews. It also was one of only 20 North Texas high schools to be found 'exceeding expectations' on a list made by the Dallas Morning News last month.

In 2010 the percentage of seniors going to college improved from 64% (rate used in the Morning News rankings) to 88%. In 2011 it was 90%.

Keep in mind that Woodrow is only in the second year of International Baccalaureate - last year only freshmen took pre-IB and this year there are sophomores in it as well (approx 160 freshman and 120 sophomores- about 40% of these students came from private schools) It is also now offering the Diploma Programme to juniors and seniors on a limited basis as it was just approved as an IB World School in March. I am not sure of those numbers but I am going to guess around 100. Woodrow is also only in the second year of its four-year redesign into four college prep academies (STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering and Math; BFE Business, Finance and Entrepreneurship; Performing Arts and IB).

So some of the statistics are lagging - we looked good under the old ones and I expect eventually having around 400-500 in IB plus a similar number in AP will boost figures in the near future.

[Vicman]

Garland ISD assigns schools based on the "choice of school program" explained here: GISD Choice of School FAQ

Some parts of Rowlett are in the Rockwall ISD (the portion in Rockwall County)

And, as what's been said on Dallas ISD, check out individual schools serving the particular neighborhood