DISD IB and Montessori questions for you all. Thanks!

[barnicles]

Originally Posted by 75214Dad

Hillcrest baseball is legit. Top player this year received offers from basically everywhere and is going to A&M. They just built new facilities, too (weight room, batting cage, training room). I suggest following the team on Twitter and finding a game to go to- try talking to the coaches after.

Awesome. That's super helpful.
Do you have kids at Hillcrest? If so, do they like it?

[75214Dad]

Originally Posted by barnicles

Awesome. That's super helpful.
Do you have kids at Hillcrest? If so, do they like it?

No, friends kids are on the team though. I went and saw them play before the season was cancelled last year- they love it.

[barnicles]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

Oh gosh, for your older I would stay at DIS one more year and then apply for 9th grade at magnets / other privates / consider Hillcrest IB. No use moving for 8th grade and then moving again for 9th. Unless you’re just miserable at DIS?

For your rising 6th grader, waiting a year and then applying for 7th at Travis / Dealey / other privates would give you actual options instead of praying you get the one lucky open spot in the whole grade (or applying and learning later there really were 0 openings). Kramer is a K-5 school as Franklin is 6-8 for that part of the Hillcrest HS feeder zone.

Applications and interviews are STRESSFUL. I would save the energy for next year when both kids will have a real shot at some great options!

I got a lot of great help and advice on this question I had. I just wanted to follow up since everyone was so helpful.

We were lucky to get a few spots at privates (my oldest will be going to SMS and my middle to Alcuin, with my youngest at either Lamplighter or Alcuin). We also got waitlisted at Dealey, which I think everyone here predicted. I'm not going to hold out for it as it seems unlikely. I appreciate that advice because I might have been keen to hold out for the waitlist since we have a good spot...would have been great to get my fifth grader in and then my toddler too when she's old enough. But as it stands, we have great options otherwise and I can't complain, so we won't hold out for Dealey to move at all.

Thanks again for all your help!

[CDContribuitor]

If your kid is high up in the waiting list at Dealey, it may be worthwhile to keep checking with the front office. I have heard that Dealey sometimes fills up a seat or two from the wait list, as late as mid-October of an academic year. If your 5th grader gets in, it would make it a bit easier for your toddler at pre-K or Grade 1, since there is a 5 point advantage given for sibling preference, as per my understanding. Good luck.

Originally Posted by barnicles

I got a lot of great help and advice on this question I had. I just wanted to follow up since everyone was so helpful.

We were lucky to get a few spots at privates (my oldest will be going to SMS and my middle to Alcuin, with my youngest at either Lamplighter or Alcuin). We also got waitlisted at Dealey, which I think everyone here predicted. I'm not going to hold out for it as it seems unlikely. I appreciate that advice because I might have been keen to hold out for the waitlist since we have a good spot...would have been great to get my fifth grader in and then my toddler too when she's old enough. But as it stands, we have great options otherwise and I can't complain, so we won't hold out for Dealey to move at all.

Thanks again for all your help!

[numbersguy100]

Originally Posted by CDContribuitor

If your kid is high up in the waiting list at Dealey, it may be worthwhile to keep checking with the front office. I have heard that Dealey sometimes fills up a seat or two from the wait list, as late as mid-October of an academic year. If your 5th grader gets in, it would make it a bit easier for your toddler at pre-K or Grade 1, since there is a 5 point advantage given for sibling preference, as per my understanding. Good luck.

Dealey is actually automatic sibling admission as long as the sibling scores above the cutoff on the entrance exam (it's either 80 or 85, I don't remember the number). The 5 point sibling advantage is when applying to Travis or Sudie for 4th grade or 6th grade.

OP, I'd agree that hanging out on the Dealey waitlist could be worth it, if that's the route you want to go. You have some very solid private school options on the table, but it can be hard to argue with free.

[CDContribuitor]

Thanks numbersguy100. I did not know about that rule on the sibling preference at Dealey.

Originally Posted by numbersguy100

Dealey is actually automatic sibling admission as long as the sibling scores above the cutoff on the entrance exam (it's either 80 or 85, I don't remember the number). The 5 point sibling advantage is when applying to Travis or Sudie for 4th grade or 6th grade.

OP, I'd agree that hanging out on the Dealey waitlist could be worth it, if that's the route you want to go. You have some very solid private school options on the table, but it can be hard to argue with free.

[barnicles]

Hi- I wanted to follow up here because I'm seeing the school questions return and I think I have a bit of more resent insight that might help ppl regarding wait lists and applications, both private and magnet.

My rising 5th grader was given a good waitlist spot at Dealey last march when they gave us the responses. I think his spot was #8, if memory serves.

I didn't want to count on it so we accepted admission at a similar private school .

However, about a week and a half before school started in August, I got a call that they had a space for him, if we wanted it. I thought that might be important to some families wondering about spots opening up.

I have a feeling that this *might* have had something to do with differing opinions on masks for kids and differing plans (by the governor and by Hinojosa/Jenkins) on whether or not to regulate... as in, spots opened up at the last minute as things changed.

Anyways, his number came up, so to speak. We didn't accept it because we'd already paid for the other school.

Additionally, his brother, who had been waitlisted at Greenhill but not given a waitlist number, wasn't called or communicated with prior to the start of the 2021 school year regarding his spot. We'd already accepted SM which was the first choice anyways, but I wanted to put that out there too for any families that are wondering how waitlists tend to move (which we were).

Particularly, if I had had a guarantee that we'd have a spot at Dealey, I would have held off on the private (Alcuin). I realize this was the wonderful advice given here, but I wasn't comfortable gambling. Luckily, as it stands, things work out for the best because my son is absolutely in love with the school and so are we, 100%.

cheers and good luck!