Southlake Carroll iSD/GCISD/NorthwestISD or Keller ISD? (Dallas, Fort Worth: houses, neighborhoods)

[calgirlinnc]

Originally Posted by Transplant12345

I never branded everyone in Keller a racist. I said no such thing. But I do have questions about those who support the mascot and I would worry that it is indicative of racism in the administration. That could negatively impact my children’s education.

The Carroll ISD incidents do give me pause but you will have terrible people wherever you go. I like how the administration handled it. They dealt with it straight on and I can’t fault them.

Of course there is no utopia. And you know nothing about me or my children. I have no desire to fight with anyone on a message board. I came here for some insight into the areas I am considering. I have obviously offended you by pointing out the issue with the mascot.

I'm not offended. I don't care about a mascot.

You are right, I don't know you, but that is my point exactly...neither do you know any of these schools or people, so it seems judgmental to brand people ignorant when in reality you have no idea.

[ChristieP]

Originally Posted by Transplant12345

I have low income apartments around me now and it brings crime. That’s just a fact.

As I said earlier, the Grapevine Police Department does a VERY good job of working with the community in these apartment complexes and trailer parks to keep crime down. There is a GPD substation among these complexes on Mustang Drive, right by the high school, and GPD hosts regular community events to engage the community and make them all comfortable working with GPD to prevent crimes. My husband and I have lived less than a mile away from that substation for 10 years, and you know how many crimes we have been involved in? ZERO. Not a single one. Sure, I do see on NextDoor that there are occasional petty crimes, such as unlocked cars being burglarized, etc. But there are certainly not drive-by shootings, gangs roaming the street, or drug deals in broad daylight in Grapevine.

[Wittgenstein's Ghost]

Originally Posted by calgirlinnc

I'm not offended. I don't care about a mascot.

Okay, but there has to be a limit to this. If a school had a black farmer named Uncle Tom as a mascot, we would all care about that. A mascot doesn't matter if it is a lion or a tiger or a bear, but you can't say that mascots are inherently unharmful. A mascot is generally trivial, but it can be a racist symbol. Whether the Keller mascot fits that description might be up for debate, but it isn't a non-issue simply because it's "only" a mascot.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by Transplant12345

I was first considering Southlake for the excellent Carroll ISD schools but I am a little worried about academic pressure and class rank. Looked into Grapevine-Colleyville ISD and thrilled that they have a STEM program. My kids love that sort of thing. Then when I told my daughter about Keller’s STEM program and it’s partnership with Lockheed Martin she really became excited. Northwest ISD also sounds good with an accelerated high school option. Please help me decide. Below are my concerns.

Carroll ISD- too competitive of a school (class rank issues and general stress), heard about some racist incidents, will the extreme wealth be toxic?
Grapevine-Colleyville ISD- schools have kids in poverty conditions and some very rough looking areas in the school district
Keller ISD (Keller HS only)- the mascot is an Indian head. Are these racist people? I read that Native Americans and others tried to get them to change this but they refused. Will my kids be comfortable there? is the STEM program worth it if exposed to hatred?
Northwest ISD- not as academically strong overall but this may be easier for my kids to get the auto-admit to UT Austin if they decide to stick with Byron Nelson HS. Still a good school system so would be college ready.

Where would you move? Any input on the schools? Work from home most of the time but also travel for work so decent proximity to the airport is nice. Thank you.

It's not my intention to be critical but instead to offer conext and a bit of nuance which as someone living afar might help you.

1. There's a bit of a logical pinch between a desire to send a kiddo off to presumably study a STEM subject at UT and shying away from the best (best in my mind means an exceptionally demanding education with very high class metrics) STEMish high schools and earning an autoadmit to UT.

2. It's critical to understand that all of UT's STEM programs are going to be filled via competitive admissions, I'm not aware of an exception. In other words an automatic admission with get a kid into the university. It will not get him/her into engineering, physics, math, biology, computer science, bioinformatics, statistics etc. nor most business programs for that for that matter.

[Transplant12345]

Originally Posted by EDS_

It's not my intention to be critical but instead to offer conext and a bit of nuance which as someone living afar might help you.

1. There's a bit of a logical pinch between a desire to send a kiddo off to presumably study a STEM subject at UT and shying away from the best (best in my mind means an exceptionally demanding education with very high class metrics) STEMish high schools and earning an autoadmit to UT.

2. It's critical to understand that all of UT's STEM programs are going to be filled via competitive admissions, I'm not aware of an exception. In other words an automatic admission with get a kid into the university. It will not get him/her into engineering, physics, math, biology, computer science, bioinformatics, statistics etc. nor most business programs for that for that matter.

This is good and helpful information. Thank you.

[ChristieP]

And honestly, if your kid wants to be an engineer, or a scientist, they need to look at Texas A&M, not UT.

[adixyz]

Originally Posted by EDS_

It's not my intention to be critical but instead to offer conext and a bit of nuance which as someone living afar might help you.

1. There's a bit of a logical pinch between a desire to send a kiddo off to presumably study a STEM subject at UT and shying away from the best (best in my mind means an exceptionally demanding education with very high class metrics) STEMish high schools and earning an autoadmit to UT.

2. It's critical to understand that all of UT's STEM programs are going to be filled via competitive admissions, I'm not aware of an exception. In other words an automatic admission with get a kid into the university. It will not get him/her into engineering, physics, math, biology, computer science, bioinformatics, statistics etc. nor most business programs for that for that matter.

With one kid out of UT and another one going this Fall through auto admit and knowing many others, I would generally agree with your assessment. I won't be surprised if UT reduces their auto admit to top 5% in future. We also know many kids who couldn't cope up or got their attention diverted and were kicked out due to their low GPA.Their curriculum/assignments is tough. Going through the rigor in high school by taking AP's/IB and having a competitive environment definitely helps since the pressure is much higher in college.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

And honestly, if your kid wants to be an engineer, or a scientist, they need to look at Texas A&M, not UT.

Easy now. I'm an equal opportunity UT and A&M supporter. If a Texas kid wants to be a scientist or engineer and between the two s/he must look at both UT and A&M.

The fact of that matter is both schools have world class engineering, math, life science and physical science programs.

A very strong student interested in these areas would be remiss not to investigate both.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by Transplant12345

This is good and helpful information. Thank you.

You are welcome.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by adixyz

With one kid out of UT and another one going this Fall through auto admit and knowing many others, I would generally agree with your assessment. I won't be surprised if UT reduces their auto admit to top 5% in future. We also know many kids who couldn't cope up or got their attention diverted and were kicked out due to their low GPA.Their curriculum/assignments is tough. Going through the rigor in high school by taking AP's/IB and having a competitive environment definitely helps since the pressure is much higher in college.

IMO automatic admissions rules are something of a nightmare for both UT and A&M. The "bottom" maybe 15-20% of auto admits, this cadre is almost exclusively made up of those with great grades but weak test scores, simply should not be there vis a vis academic metrics.

1. I have a niece who was a UT auto-admit. She finished right at the top of her high school class and didn't have a chance at UT. She was beaten down and although she stayed through the first semester she was effectively done after a couple of weeks.

2. One of the things that becomes clear hanging around this board some is that most people have no conception how strong UT and A&M are across most disciplines.