Anyone with kids currently attending RISD? (Dallas, Plano: 2015, apartments, houses)

[grilledcheeseftw]

We are strongly considering a purchase in the Brentfield/Bowie/Mohawk feeder pattern up to Pearce. I have dug through all of the raw data in the Children at Risk rankings and feel pretty good about the numbers beyond just what is in Great Schools.

I am curious how people whose kids are currently in RISD feel about the direction in which the district is heading? I was glad to see the passage of the TRE yesterday, and I know there is some turnover (hopefully good) at schools outside the scope of our search due to ACE. However, when I reached out to a family friend who formerly taught at RHS, she passed along surprisingly strong feelings from her contact still in the district. Concerns about funding, turnover, etc. etc. to the point that that particular person said she wouldn't have her grandkids in RISD.

So, I am curious about any thoughts from other parents? Our other option is Coppell, though we are both irrationally biased against it having grown up here and not really wanting to move back.

For reference, husband works at Renner/Central, I WFH (though this could/will likely change at some point and I want commute options), oldest will start kinder in 2019 or 2020, budget is $400-450k.

[FalconheadWest]

I grew up in RISD. I don't personally live in the area anymore, but have friends with kids in the district, and they love it. A couple are even at Pearce. It's fun watching her pictures at school events and seeing our old colors. It's definitely different from 20+ years ago, but they're all happy.

RHS has always been a "different" school in the district. It used to be the bad school and then it was the awesome magnet school... maybe it's just in an identity crisis right now, but Pearce has always had good things said about it, from what I've read since graduating.

[dhakaia]

We had considered buying in the Mohawk/ Bowie elementary areas in 2015... before deciding to move to Plano. We were living in the Northrich elementary attendance zone at the time (75080), but were looking to "upgrade". Both schools looked good on paper and were highly rated with lots of PTA participation. The diversity factor was pretty sorry... Mohawk I believe was 97% Caucasian. Us being minorities, wanted to look elsewhere. Plus not to mention all the houses, even the ones that had not been upgraded in decades... were trying to fetch $$$$ and getting multiple offers through the roof. DFW northern suburbs have extended so far out that Richardson is now considered "City... or close enough to Dallas" by many and that's jacking up the housing price. Unfortunately most of the houses are nothing special and a lot of them will require major renovation to bring them up to modern standards.

Have you considered NE Richardson 75082 area... Stinson elementary is probably the best in all of RISD?

[MurphyPl1]

Stinson elementary is a very good school but it's in Plano ISD.

[tuesday2]

We are in the Bowie feeder pattern. We chose this area because of the location, price, and schools. We like that it’s a neighborhood school, our kids walk home with their buddies, play sports together, lots of kids riding bikes and playing in the hood after school. They love walking up to the shopping center at Coit and Campbell to go to get a snack or shop. Lots of the teachers at all 3 schools live in the neighborhood, had kids who went through the schools, or graduated from an RISD school. There are fun parent events, family events, and grade level events. It’s a pretty social group and very active PTA and Dad’s group.

It’s not very diverse if that’s important to you. I’d say a lot of the families we know are fairly conservative and Christian but not all. Our house is old and small (2300 square ft), we gutted it and now it’s “new” again. We value the 4 mile commute for my husband and being in a reasonable distance to both downtown Dallas and Plano /Frisco where grandparents live more than having a larger and newer home.

I don’t like some of what the district is doing as far as the roll out of 1:1 devices. This year pre k through 6th graders all have their own iPad. Sooo glad mine just finished Elementary before that happened. Might have considered something else if that had been the case when we moved here. Moving away from textbooks and paper. Although I don’t think this is unique to RISD or even public schools. We feel the pros outweigh the cons at this point.

You are welcome to pm me with questions if you’d like more info.

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by FalconheadWest

RHS has always been a "different" school in the district. It used to be the bad school and then it was the awesome magnet school... maybe it's just in an identity crisis right now, but Pearce has always had good things said about it, from what I've read since graduating.

Richardson High School:
https://txschools.org/schools/057916003/overview


Pearce High School:
https://txschools.org/schools/057916004/overview


The feeling among a lot of people in my area (zoned to Richardson High School) is that RHS is pulling ahead of Pearce.

[Aggielina]

My oldest child started kindergarten at Prestonwood Elem. in RISD this year and is doing great. It truly seems like a large family. Academically I don't expect or want much out of kindergarten, so I can't really speak to that much. But, he is developing a love of learning and a desire to do well, which I think sets the stage for future achievements. And there is a lot of community/family support for the school, more than I was prepared for to be honest! You could spend every weekday volunteering at the school or participating in some kind of activity if you wanted to.

But unlike the schools you mentioned, Prestonwood is more diverse, largely due to the apartments that are zoned to it. I think that leads to more challenges at the school in terms of teaching kids who are English Language Learners, but in the long run I think it will benefit both sets of kids. I want my child to have friends who don't look like him or have the same background, just like I did when I was a kid.

I have a friend who works at RHS and who has complained about a lot of administrative turnover in the last year at the district level, saying that long time employees are being replaced by young people barely out of college. That concerns me, but it doesn't make me want to move away. And I'm very glad the TRE passed because teacher turnover DOES concern me. I heard someone mention that last year our school lost a Teacher of the Year to another district because of pay. I think the complaint is that starting pay is on a relatively level playing field with other districts, but once you have experience and maybe even advanced degrees, the ability to move up the salary range has been very restricted.

Like Tuesday2 said, the kids have ipads now. I'm not opposed to it but so far it just seems like a toy that they get to play with. The teacher can share children's work on the ipad to parents through an app, and so far I'm not impressed. But again, it's kindergarten!

[tuesday2]

Another thing to mention after reading Aggielina’s post. While Bowie isn’t very diverse, Parkhill and JJP are FWIW.

[dhakaia]

Originally Posted by MurphyPl1

Stinson elementary is a very good school but it's in Plano ISD.

Thanks for catching that!

I do believe part of Richardson is zoned to that school... houses are newer too.

[MarshaBrady1968]

My kids went to Yale/Apollo/Berkner
Everything is absolutely wonderful about RISD, except the things that are a product of TEA such as STAAR testing--> teaching to the tests, etc, which is not really RISD's fault

There is a lot of inclusion for special needs kids, if that is of concern

There is a wide range of culture, and even more so over on my side, the east side
A couple of years ago, there was a pretty hardcore racist incident at Pearce. My best friend's daughter went there and so I asked her about it (she had graduated)...just wondering "is Pearce really like that?!?!" She said she was absolutely not surprised. I picked the east side for more culture, but it was only by a slight margin I thought. Now, glad I did. If all races mixing is a bonus for you, Berkner is your school. Or Lake Highlands.

Apollo had a staff change 2 years ago and I really cannot say enough BAD things about the administration that took over. So bad in fact that my daughter switched to Liberty. Having said that, if you have a kid who kind of flies under the radar and follows some of the really really stupid rules without batting an eyelash, then you may never notice who the admin even IS.

Yale was fantastic. I wasn't a huge fan of the previous principal, but he has been gone a few years and the one now is wonderful

Berkner has been fantastic for us, but I am just a little sad about the sports. They used to be extremely competitive in several sports, and are now ....well, let's say other schools play Berkner for their Homecoming and Senior nights! Hopefully they will get it back. They have fantastic music programs - better than any other RISD school - and they are also the STEM magnet. If you have a football player, I believe Aqib Talib is the one who donated to build a huge sports (football) complex that is currently under construction.

The east side is best! And your hubby would be close to work....just sayin...