2016 National Merit Semi-Finalists (Plano, Allen, Frisco: school district, rating, buildings)

[DitsyD]

Originally Posted by Malcolm787

We just moved into our home in central plano and boy am I bummed at seeing the decrease in #s for plano senior.


We were looking in west plano for several months, but didn't find anything. Granted, it was supposed to the 'off-season' before the spring market where more homes are supposed to come up. Our realtor was great - she gave us a list of homes that sold in the area last year to give us an idea of how many homes and the types of homes to expect in the spring. Our range was 400-500k. We quickly realized that a home zoned to west plano at that price would require another 50-75k of updates...extra money we didn't have.


A home came up in central plano a couple of months ago that we purchased because we figured that a bird in the hand is better than waiting till the spring when prices could be higher/bidding war since more buyers in the market. The home ticked all of our boxes (450k, layout, updates, etc) EXCEPT that it's not W. Plano. I figured that as a whole, the Plano ISD is good, and we could use the money we save to enroll our kids in extracurricular activities and tutoring down the road as we push a balance of social skills and academics at home; son is in 2nd grade and daughter will attend kindergarten at Matthews. Then Schimelpfenig - Clark - Senior.


I tossed and turned last night, and cried multiple times because I feel that we let our kids down big time.
I even had to pause during this multiple times. I love the home, love Mattthews, love the area, love the people, etc....but I feel that we chose a home over our kids' education. We could have bought a home in west plano, gone without the updates and sent our kids to much better middle and high schools...schools that appear to have higher achieving kids that would have also motivated our kids to step up their game. I'm so ashamed of myself. I took away an opportunity from them to attend better middle/high schools in the future, with peers that would have driven them even more. I suppose we'll have to consider our options in the future around selling or hope that they rezone us back to rice, jasper, plano west in the future. so ashamed of myself.

Get a grip. PSHS is still one of the best high schools in the Dallas area. They were #10 in the number of NMSFs and it looks like all 13 of the semifinalists became finalists. You have great feeder schools as well.

Some students thrive better under pressure than others. Your children may be great at their schools. Give them a chance.

My kids are doing great on the Eastside.

[gsoy]

Mathews is one of the top elementary schools in the area, excellent choice! If things go downhill for PSHS in the next few year, you can easliy switch to a PWSH feeder area down the road.

[Peter5457]

Great news Malcolm!!!

Plano West has opened up for transfers so you have plenty of options now. You could probably transfer your kids to rice ms too. Ahh the joy of PISD.

Actually, the consensus among Jasper AP kids is that Schimel is the second most competitive middle school behind rice. And absent the intense pressure. Yes, Robinson is a great ms feeding to jasper too, but surprisingly many of them dont tough out the AP track at jasper.

Looks like half the advanced track Schim 8th graders will split 50/50 matriculating between clark and jasper next year. Definitely more going to jasper than previous years.

So, why aren't the other adv trackers going to jasper?? Probably because they have older siblings who didnt think it was worth the hassle. Who knows? I only asked a handful of them. Might be a nice bull/tiger trap over there at Clements HS. errr, i mean Jasper.

So you're all set Tiger Dad, little princess can still go to Jasper and Plano West.

[richard88]

Can't find any results on Frisco Liberty, Centennial, Independence High...

[H0mebuyer]

Originally Posted by richard88

Can't find any results on Frisco Liberty, Centennial, Independence High...

Frisco ISD didn't make any announcement but they had 30 semifinalist among 7 schools so probably around 20-25 made finalists. If you average it then 3 finalists per school but probably 10 from Liberty and 1-2 each from rest of the schools. Frisco ISD still has a long way to go before they catch up with first tier schools. It's a growing district trying to keep schools smaller so most of their money and attention goes into infrastructure and administration.

[MenardMQ]

Originally Posted by Malcolm787

I tossed and turned last night, and cried multiple times because I feel that we let our kids down big time.
I even had to pause during this multiple times. I love the home, love Mattthews, love the area, love the people, etc....but I feel that we chose a home over our kids' education. We could have bought a home in west plano, gone without the updates and sent our kids to much better middle and high schools...schools that appear to have higher achieving kids that would have also motivated our kids to step up their game. I'm so ashamed of myself. I took away an opportunity from them to attend better middle/high schools in the future, with peers that would have driven them even more. I suppose we'll have to consider our options in the future around selling or hope that they rezone us back to rice, jasper, plano west in the future. so ashamed of myself.

Immediately put the house on the market and sell fast so you can lock in those soaring real estate values and then purchase a nice little condo in University Park so your kiddos can attend HPHS. That way they can step up their game when challenged by all the high achievers in HPISD.

Better yet, rent an apartment in North Dallas and see if you can borrow from your 401K and start the process of enrolling your kiddos at St Marks / Hockaday. There is no reason to cry in your pillow at night and be ashamed. There are tons of options for tiger families to do whatever it takes to provide only the best for their little kings and princesses.

Don't let your children down!

[H0mebuyer]

Originally Posted by rrbcfy

Immediately put the house on the market and sell fast so you can lock in those soaring real estate values and then purchase a nice little condo in University Park so your kiddos can attend HPHS. That way they can step up their game when challenged by all the high achievers in HPISD.

Better yet, rent an apartment in North Dallas and see if you can borrow from your 401K and start the process of enrolling your kiddos at St Marks / Hockaday. There is no reason to cry in your pillow at night and be ashamed. There are tons of options for tiger families to do whatever it takes to provide only the best for their little kings and princesses.

Don't let your children down!

It was a troll post. Plano Senior is a solid school, not at PWSH performance level but with all resources that other Plano schools offer.

By the way all of us know parents who live in smaller and older homes near good schools so their kids can have access to best public schools. Similarly, a lot of parents spend their money on top private schools and colleges instead of spending it on house, cars or lifestyle. Others buy fancy homes in mediocre school districts and send kids to community colleges.

Most parents don't have means to make these choices, all they can afford is safe area and a roof over heads of their family. To each it's own. Everyone has diffrent priorities.

[richard88]

Originally Posted by H0mebuyer

Frisco ISD didn't make any announcement but they had 30 semifinalist among 7 schools so probably around 20-25 made finalists. If you average it then 3 finalists per school but probably 10 from Liberty and 1-2 each from rest of the schools. Frisco ISD still has a long way to go before they catch up with first tier schools. It's a growing district trying to keep schools smaller so most of their money and attention goes into infrastructure and administration.

Looks like only Liberty HS can compete with Allen HS. The others Frisco HS are still long way to go, and yet those houses price are higher (than Allen) !

[H0mebuyer]

Originally Posted by richard88

Looks like only Liberty HS can compete with Allen HS. The others Frisco HS are still long way to go, and yet those houses price are higher (than Allen) !

In my humble opinion Liberty is doing better than Allen High.

[Souleiado]

Originally Posted by richard88

Looks like only Liberty HS can compete with Allen HS. The others Frisco HS are still long way to go, and yet those houses price are higher (than Allen) !

You are kidding , were did you look at results? Liberty had more semi finalists this year alone with less students registered by grade than Plano East and Plano Central.