Prosper TX, Windsong Community (Dallas, Plano: transplants, houses, school district)

[chrshin]

I'm moving from east coast to North Dallas area this summer.
I have 2 kids one going to 6th grade and the other going to 1st.
We've seen Frisco, Allen, Plano and Prosper.
Prosper Windsong master planned community captured our heart.
The amenity and houses were absolutely amazing including the newly planned lagoon beach.
But I have concern over the school. They have planned new middle and high school opening in the future, but my first one is already going middle school this year.

Is Prosper middle, high school good?
How bad is the commute from Prosper to west Plano?

[Katana49]

Prosper got caught with their pants down a bit over the last few years, as their schools and infrastructure forecasting were behind the boom that has happened here.



Prosper schools are very good, which is pretty surprising considering how stretched thin they are now with all the additional students that have been added over the last few years. My daughter will start Kindergarten in the fall, her school is already well past the planned max capacity, they've had to bring in mobile classrooms to accommodate everyone. I think things will get worse for the next two years before they get better, as more schools open and come online. They're building new roads, widening existing ones... that should have been done 4-5 years ago.



The commute isn't THAT bad... but it's not going to be getting any better. You'll have a bottleneck in the morning at 380/DNT, and again at DNT/121 area. DNT will be slow all through Plano.

[GigiTer]

We are also moving from east coast to DFW this summer and have checked out all the same areas. We really liked Prosper a lot! However we are coming with an incoming 9th grader. Their second high school will open in fall 2020 and relieve their very overcrowded high school. That said the people we met on tour of Prosper High School were very nice and they were very interested in our son’s interests and potential classes. If you have not toured the schools I highly suggest it!

They have a new middle school coming this fall 2019 to help with that overcrowding. Interestingly my son met two Prosper middle school boys at a trampoline park in north Frisco. They all started hanging out together and my son found out they only do partial day in school and the rest of day online at home because their school is so crowded! It is an option Prosper gives out. While it was fun they could be at the trampoline park at 1:00 in the afternoon, certainly is not ideal for working parents!! The new middle school opening should help that out for now however their numbers are growing so fast unless they can keep ahead of the curve, that situation will occur again.

I think you have to go in to that area knowing there is big potential to be rezoned to new feeder schools. And that may be ok since your kids are younger. For us we could not do that with an incoming high schooler. After his freshman year in a very overcrowded school he would either be rezoned to new high school or stay at Prosper but even if he got to stay you know some of his just made new friends, teachers, and coaches would go to new high school.

Good Luck in your search!

[Saintmarks]

Prosper is experiencing the growth that other burbs have seen over the decades: Richardson, Plano, Allen, McKinney and Frisco have all had similar booms as housing has mushroomed. Schools and roads don't always keep up with the explosive growth but all these areas eventually built out the road network and the schools and caught up.

My sister-in-law and family left Plano for Prosper in the late 90s. I was incredulous, had never heard of it. They were excited to let their kids be big frogs in a small pond. Prosper had just built a new HS (now a middle school) and had been k-12 in one building just prior. My nephew got his 2002 HS yearbook out. 40 kids in his graduating class.

I mention that because Prosper has done a great job in the last 17 years. For the high school to go from single A to the state's largest classification in that time period is no small feat. They have a track record of growing and I believe will handle the future growth with as well as they have handled the growth they have already seen.

[chrshin]

Hi, thanks a lot for the feedback. So where did you decide to move ?

[EcoDeb]

We moved here 17 years ago and prefer the Denton area. We have friends whose kids graduated in the past 5 years from Prosper and none of them (6 in total) went onto college, not sure how Prosper came such a great school district, must be a more recent rating.

[stephwin]

Originally Posted by EcoDeb

We have friends whose kids graduated in the past 5 years from Prosper and none of them (6 in total) went onto college, not sure how Prosper came such a great school district, must be a more recent rating.

I don't think that's typical for Prosper at all, especially with all of the transplants flocking there and moving into the $500k+ houses. I graduated from there 15+ years ago and I would say at least 90% of my graduating class went on to college, and that was when Prosper was still 2A and was relatively unknown.

chrshin, I grew up in Prosper and while I love my hometown I personally wouldn't make the commute to Plano everyday. It will be a longish commute unless you take DNT, but then you're just tacking on tolls that will add up quickly. Also, traffic will only get worse. There is still a lot of farmland in Frisco between Plano and Windsong Ranch, and I'm guessing the vast majority of that will be turned into master planned communities. So the population will continue to rise and your commute will get exponentially worse.

[GigiTer]

Originally Posted by chrshin

Hi, thanks a lot for the feedback. So where did you decide to move ?

We decided on Lovejoy ISD part of Allen. . Lovejoy was very welcoming, my son and I felt right at home visiting. Lovejoy was interested in introducing him to teachers, coaches, and students who shared similar interests. They were all friendly and took interest in him. For a newcomer the size of the school and student body is very manageable - 1400 ish in grades 9 - 12. They are growing but because of town ordnance’s that dictate number and size of lots their growth is much more manageable. Their district has three elementary schools, one intermediate, one middle, and one high school. Schools are already built for projected growth. They are the third highest scoring high school in TX behind Highland Park and Southlake Carrol.

My husband is working out of West Plano so we choose the Allen part as it’s easily accessible to the tollway. Also Allen has many nearby shops, restaurants, parks, entertainment areas etc but we are also close on the other side to horse farms, parks, Lake Lavon etc..

I cannot stress enough to go tour the schools!! Yes we saw the scores and online reviews are helpful but getting a “feel” for the different schools really helped determine and narrow our search! There are many high scoring schools in that area but not all may be right for your family so really helped in talking with the school staffs!!!