Help! Plano versus Coppell versus Greenhill (Dallas, Jasper: apartment, house, private schools)

[vsk]

Dear friends,

I am a physician who need to live within 20-25 miles of University hospital in Dallas. I have a kindergartner who currently is thriving in a Montessori school. Our need for space has outgrown our apartment and we feel it is time to move to a house. We have narrowed down to three school/districts which appeal us and are within my work radius. Parts of Plano, Coppell and Greenhill. I have always wanted to send my son to public school but I am being persuaded by my friends who have their kids in Greenhill. Our top priority is best overall well rounded education for our son. Can some of you comment on pros and cons of these schools? I feel all are good choices but narrowing down to one seems hard. Can someone speak to peer pressure at Coppell as one of my friends thought there is a lot of peer pressure and comparing of grades/success among Asian families such as ourselves which can wear a kid down. I want him to grow up with good values and respect for everyone. Diversity and non-denomination is important to us. My budget for a house in public school area could be around 550K but if I choose Greenhill I am hoping to pay less for house as I need to pay 25,000$ for the school. Any thoughts welcome.

[Big G]

Sounds to me like you'd be happiest at Greenhill.

First, you'd have no constraints on your home location.

Second, Plano and Coppell have similar approaches to education - and it is NOTHING like the Montessori method. Greenhill is not Montessori either, but it's certainly closer than the public schools.

Finally, your reservations about peer pressure and ultra-competitiveness are justified, both for Coppell and for Plano.

[bencronin04]

I would go Greenhill as well in most cases. Though if sports are a big priority in your life, Plano and Coppell will have a lot more to offer in that way. We're currently trying to decide on private VS. public, and it's not easy. Good luck OP.

[WorldKlas]

I agree about using private schools. Have you looked into any K-12 Montessori schools?

[TurtleCreek80]

Admissions to Greenhill are not a given, even for the brightest children. If you're interested, go ahead and apply this winter before you decide to move. Then, you'll know what your budget and location needs are.

You may also want to look at Alcuin School which uses Montessori methods and also Lamplighter. Both are considered feeders to Greenhill and other top privates for upper grades. You can also look into Dealey Montessori which is an elite magnet in DISD. It's located on Royal between Tollroad & 75. Applying to only 1 private school is practically sentencing yourself to public schools.

Re: Asian peer pressure/competition (and overall competition amongst all top students), you're going to see significant amounts in Coppell, Plano, and elite privates.

[coppellmove2015]

Originally Posted by vsk

Dear friends,

I am a physician who need to live within 20-25 miles of University hospital in Dallas. I have a kindergartner who currently is thriving in a Montessori school. Our need for space has outgrown our apartment and we feel it is time to move to a house. We have narrowed down to three school/districts which appeal us and are within my work radius. Parts of Plano, Coppell and Greenhill. I have always wanted to send my son to public school but I am being persuaded by my friends who have their kids in Greenhill. Our top priority is best overall well rounded education for our son. Can some of you comment on pros and cons of these schools? I feel all are good choices but narrowing down to one seems hard. Can someone speak to peer pressure at Coppell as one of my friends thought there is a lot of peer pressure and comparing of grades/success among Asian families such as ourselves which can wear a kid down. I want him to grow up with good values and respect for everyone. Diversity and non-denomination is important to us. My budget for a house in public school area could be around 550K but if I choose Greenhill I am hoping to pay less for house as I need to pay 25,000$ for the school. Any thoughts welcome.

Had the same concerns as you had about Coppell 6 years back and moved to an ISD in DFW that has less school pressure. REalized our mistake and sold that house this year and moved to Coppell ISD (Bridges of Las Colinas). We should have done that a long time back as we are in love with Coppell ISD. However each is different and in our case we are glad we are in Coppell ISD this year. The only reason we chose this neighbodhood over Plano is for the location. It is central to metroplex. School wise i would have been equally happy with Plano.

[Big G]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

Re: Asian peer pressure/competition (and overall competition amongst all top students), you're going to see significant amounts in Coppell, Plano, and elite privates.

Well, there's two types of "competitive". One is about having extremely challenging coursework and high-performing peers - a win-win situation. The other is more about back-stabbing and grade-grubbing - a win-lose setup. The first type is positive competition, the second type much more negative. The OP appears to be concerned about the second type.

Greenhill and many of its peer schools do not rank students. On top of that, being even an "OK" student from Greenhill is enough to deliver a reasonable college admission outcome.

Those two factors mean that the student body there is nowhere near as grade-obsessed as the top fringe in Plano ISD and Coppell ISD.

There's a fair amount of "Dirty Pool" being played at Jasper HS and Plano West to game the system and boost the class rank. At a school where there *IS* no class rank, that nonsense goes away.

[Walter Benjamin]

Originally Posted by Big G

There's a fair amount of "Dirty Pool" being played at Jasper HS and Plano West to game the system and boost the class rank.

? Curious about this... could you elaborate?

[Big G]

Originally Posted by Walter Benjamin

? Curious about this... could you elaborate?

It's not rocket science. The goal is to minimize the number of unweighted courses and maximize the number of AP courses. There are a number of ways to do this - from fairly legit to flat-out dirty. CBE test-outs, eSchool, avoiding any non-weighted electives, hoodwinking the counselor to skip straight to APs without fulfilling prerequisites, pulling strings to get reassigned away from tough-grading teachers, etc.

One thing is for sure, though - a student that simply follows the suggested course plan without being aware of the PISD "weighting game" has little hope of being anywhere near the top of the class, even with straight-A performances. The weighting system will sink them.

[vsk]

I really appreciate input from all of you.

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

Admissions to Greenhill are not a given, even for the brightest children. If you're interested, go ahead and apply this winter before you decide to move. Then, you'll know what your budget and location needs are.

You may also want to look at Alcuin School which uses Montessori methods and also Lamplighter. Both are considered feeders to Greenhill and other top privates for upper grades. You can also look into Dealey Montessori which is an elite magnet in DISD. It's located on Royal between Tollroad & 75. Applying to only 1 private school is practically sentencing yourself to public schools.

Re: Asian peer pressure/competition (and overall competition amongst all top students), you're going to see significant amounts in Coppell, Plano, and elite privates.

Thank you. I will definitely look into it.