Eager and moving to Dallas (Plano, Allen: houses, luxury, school district)

[unexpected]

You are trying to mix-and-match criteria. What you're basically looking for is a McMansion, plain and simple.

Houses a little more than 10 years old??? If you want a brand new house, you're not going to find it in Plano. You're going to find it in Frisco.

There are only a few gated neighborhoods in Plano. I'm not going to bother telling you b/c I don't want a racist living a few blocks from me.

If you're looking for homes in your price range, but you're concerned about not having enough money for private school, maybe you should re-consider your priorities, your budget, and your attitude towards money and other people.

If I were in your shoes, I would move to prosper or murphy, so you can stay away from non-white people, and then send your kids to private school.

Seriously. unbelievable.

[nativeDallasite]

Originally Posted by Lakewooder

BTW Hillcrest is on the list of Best Schools in America by Newsweek and has three National Merit Semi-finalists this year (Frisco had one).

Tell her how its ranking has plunged over the last few years, too. Hillcrest is quickly becoming a dump. I work with a man who sent his son there, he graduated in 2003. He's not even considering sending his daughter there. He said it has really deteriorated and a lot of the good teachers are jumping ship.

But if you are afraid of minorities, the only choice for you is HPISD - you will find a lot of like-minded "Aryans from Darien" there...

Yeah, I did get that vibe from the OP. Sounds like she'd love the Park Cities, but the houses she likes will be out of her price range.

[Lakewooder]

I don't know where Hillcrest was last year but at 600 something, it's still in the top 3% of all schools in the nation. And the number of National Merit Semi-finalists tripled over last year...if the kids are smart I think the AP program will serve them well -- if they are below-average I don't know if they would fare as well in the lower classes.

There you go making me defend Hillcrest again!

Also see this I posted in another thread:



http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/localnews/columnists/jragland/stories/DN-ragland_08met.ART.North.Edition1.37275bf.html (broken link)

[MurphyPl1]

Originally Posted by unexpected

If I were in your shoes, I would move to prosper or murphy, so you can stay away from non-white people, and then send your kids to private school.

Um, hate to tell you this but Murphy is actually pretty diverse. It's one of the things that I love about the city. And it's not pockets of one race here, and another pocket of a different ethnicity over there but actual diversity throughout the city. Sure whites are the majority but it's hardly a lily-white community.

[nativeDallasite]

Originally Posted by Lakewooder

I don't know where Hillcrest was last year but at 600 something, it's still in the top 3% of all schools in the nation. And the number of National Merit Semi-finalists tripled over last year...if the kids are smart I think the AP program will serve them well -- if they are below-average I don't know if they would fare as well in the lower classes.

There you go making me defend Hillcrest again!

Also see this I posted in another thread:



http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/localnews/columnists/jragland/stories/DN-ragland_08met.ART.North.Edition1.37275bf.html (broken link)

Give it another few years, it will drop out of the top 1000.

[Lakewooder]

You're such a optimist, nD!

[nativeDallasite]

Originally Posted by Lakewooder

You're such a optimist, nD!

Nope, just realistic.

[nkodream]

Do you know of any gated, master- planned communities or similar in Plano with homes around 600-750? Thanks for your help...the only thing I am not interested in are those 8' wood walls they put everywhere called fences. I would like to be open, on a golf course or somewhere I can see green and not feel confined. Any ideas would be appreciated! Thanks!

Originally Posted by Pintea

I live in West Plano. I am not sure where exactly you were looking, but you shouldn't have a problem finding a nice house in your price range.
We have trees, plenty of shopping, a new recreation center, Arbor Hills Nature Reserve is nearby, close to great schools and the Tollway.

[nkodream]

Thanks for your post...didn't intend for it to be as racial as you made it. I'm remaining completely open to all locations as I stated in my post, but am trying to transplant my family in a similar environment that's all; having four teenage daughters, we are trying to keep culture shock to a minimum; you wouldn't believe the crazy questions I get from them...as if we were moving to Mars!

Originally Posted by nativeDallasite

Well...you may want to consider if DFW is the place for you if racial diversity scares you. DFW is an extremely diverse area and you will see non-whites in every single area of town, including the Park Cities which are no longer 100% white. I think HPHS is now only 97% white. Plus, you see lots of Hispanics there at their day jobs. I'm not sure what the issue is regarding racial diversity; I grew up in Dallas proper and cannot ever remember being part of the majority racial group in any school I attended. It greatly enriched my childhood to know children from not only different ethnic backgrounds, but different religions and different countries. My best friends in high school came from places as diverse as Brazil, Jordan, Switzerland, Romania, Honduras, Guatemala, etc. My workplace is a very diverse environment...in my immediate seating area alone we've got people from India, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Taiwan, Scotland, and China...and my boss is black. Had I not been exposed to diversity at a very early age I might find it difficult to deal with that...but I don't. I may not want to send kids to school in the DISD, but I wouldn't send them to school in the Park Cities either. Why rob them of the opportunity to learn how to deal with all kinds of different people from all walks of life? The world isn't an insular, 100%-white place.

I'm not sure what you're expecting as far as interiors go but you can get beautiful houses in your price range in Plano. If you're expecting wall-to-wall marble, ironwork, crystal, etc. you will be disappointed...but those houses are not dumps.

Then don't live in Dallas. Given what you've said so far you would not feel comfortable sending your kids to schools with majority Latino or black populations. Incidentally, Hillcrest was between 20-30% white when I attended and I turned out fine. To turn your nose up at DISD schools because whites aren't the majority to me is not acceptable. To turn your nose up at them because they're not very good is much more sensible.

To me "north Dallas" is the north central portion of the city between the Park Cities and 635. Some people consider north Dallas to be north of 635...I do not. To me that is "far north Dallas". Some people refer to Plano and Allen as "north Dallas" which is horribly inaccurate since not only are those cities not Dallas, they're not even in the same county.

[nkodream]

Thank you so much for your wealth of information. I appreciate you taking the time to post at length. I keep going round and round and will plan to make it to the Park Cities, Plano, and some other areas again. Private schools are out of the picture so I have to focus on where I can live and be happy with the public schools.

Originally Posted by FarNorthDallas

Highland Park Independent School District (HPISD) is its own school district and takes kids from most (but not all) of Highland Park and University Park and all ultimately feeds into Highland Park High School. It is totally separate from Dallas ISD, but is totally surrounded by Dallas ISD. (But the technical address of folks living in the Park Cities is Dallas, TX, not Highland Park, TX or University Park, TX.)

Home values go up, up, up in the Park Cities. It's a very family oriented, small town kind of place, but quite materialistic and there's a lot of pressure to Keep up with the Joneses there. If you don't have academic overachieving children, the schools can be a challenge. But there is tons of parental involvement. I think they still have it going where the moms run the kitchen caferterias as volunteers, in fact. I've never seen that in another school district. Other school districts use paid employees in their kitchens.

Preston Hollow is a neighborhood north of Walnut Hill road like between Hillcrest and Preston or so (it may actually be a bigger area) and most of the families who live in the rebuilds (cost about 1.2 million or so) have their kids in private school or boarding school somewhere. Very few send their kids to the local public DISD schools - Preston Hollow Elementary, Franklin Middle and Hillcrest High.

There is an Old Preston Hollow area which I think includes the monster homes on Strait Lane. That is west of this regular Preston Hollow area.

The North Dallas area (the area north of Park Cites and south of 635) has a ton of private schools.

There are gated communuties in West Plano. My son has a friend from their private school that lives in one. Houses are about a million where this kid lives. West Plano senior high is HUGE with a huge affluent population. Very academically competitive like Highland Park. Materialistic. But, no, it's not all white people.

Here's the demographics for all of HPISD:
Total students - 6283
Black - .2%
Hispanic - 3.2%
Asian - 2.5%
White - 93.9%
Low income - none

Here's the demographics for Plano West Senior High:
Total students: 1963
Black - 8.2%
Hispanic - 6.6%
Asian - 17.8%
White - 67.3%
Low income - 6.9%

And here's all of Plano ISD which is a big district:
Total students - 52,994
Black - 10.3%
Hispanic - 16.3%
Asian - 18.3%
White - 54.8%
Low income - 18.6%