A question for every parent in the Dallas area (and something helpful for every parent thinking about moving here) (Plano: fit in, co-op)
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Hi All,
This forum is so helpful when looking at schools. I truly believe there is a good fit for every child and family, whether it be a charter school, your public zoned school, a magnet school, a private school, a religious school etc. There are many threads regarding the specialty schools but I know some schools get overlooked. So I'm starting this thread for you to tell us where your child or children go to school, and three other things:
1.what you or your child like about the school, 2. what you or your child don't like about the school and
3. what is one thing someone considering the school should know.
This is for every type of school (public, private, specialty etc) as your answers can be so helpful for people moving here and reading, even when they don't get into the chat.
I'll start, with my personal experience:
Where two of my children are:
Dallas International School
1. We love the language immersion and the academic focus. It's hard not to love having a 7 year old that speaks French with a perfect accent. It's worldly and there are so many people from so many different walks of life that no one thing is seen as the "cool" thing, or the right way to be. Different perspectives are appreciated.
2. We don't love the upper grades campus, and that there are few activities outside of the academics (not a great art program, sports program, music program or theatre program. And the kids don't get much of an opportunity to explore these things when they're young to figure out what might make them jazz....)
3. You should know that the french system is a very structured system, for education. Instructors are usually very sweet in the younger maternelle "grades", but when the kids get older the instructors are generally stern and strict. There is not as much warmth as in the traditionally american school environment. This is my experience based on several International schools, not only this one. However I found this to be true at DIS.
Where my third child is:
Northhaven Co-op Preschool
1. It's nurturing and sweet. The teachers care about the little ones. It's a play-based school.
2. I wish there was more flexibility with how many days your child can attend. Starting at age 2, it's only 2 mornings a week, and gradually moves to 3- 4 mornings when your child is 5
3. It's a Co-Op preschool which means you will work in the classroom and help out at least once a month. I really enjoy that aspect and I like to see what's going on in the classroom. For parents with less work flexibility, that wouldn't work.
Bonus:
I went to Trinity Christian Academy (for 12 years)
1. It's a warm, loving, and caring environment. Children are generally happy there. Most of the faculty is dedicated and invested in the students--- a real rarity. There are a wide variety of passions for a child to find: they will explore playing instruments, singing, theatre, debate, speech, all sports, all different art forms, etc. If your kid is into sports, performing or visual arts, it's a great place to go to school as they can shine. They can find something they love to keep them excited about education.
2. It's dogmatic and legalistic. Extremely. There is a very narrow worldview and if you don't fit into that very strict frame as a student, it would be an absolutely miserable place to be.
3. If you are not a "born again christian" and dedicated to it, do not even consider this school. If your child doesn't ascribe to that religious blueprint as well, do not send them here. If your family does fit that profile, then you will probably adore the school, the staff and the education that your children get. For the born-again set, this school environment can't really be matched.
Ok, your turn! I want to hear about the schools you and your children have experience with.
We are at Sudie Williams TAG (Talented and Gifted) magnet school in DISD. It’s a 4-8th grade school that requires testing for admission. Kids from across DISD are eligible. 4th grade is the typical entry year. The school is in its 3rd year and modeled after the very successful Travis TAG school. It is located in beautiful Bluffview. Free buses are available for all kids.
We are so blessed to be at this school and absolutely love it. We left a good private school to attend it. I had heard so many negative things about DISD public schools ..that I was shocked with the quality of education, parental support and administration.
1. The school is diverse...but let’s be honest that there is still a large amount of white upper income families from Lakewood, East Dallas, a d North Dallas. The school is actively recruiting kids though from all over DIasD and have a mission to look like the greater community.
2. The school doesn’t offer middle school sports (although like all magnet schools you can theoretically still play for your home school). Last year, the parent association did offer soccer and basketball outside of school. We were working on golf pre-Covid too.
3. The middle school offers theater, orchestra, modern band, art and Spanish. Clubs are very big - debate, DI, chess, robotics, etc.
4. Being unique is cool. Smart is very cool. That said - kids come from all over Dallas - so out of school socializing is more difficult
5. The administration is the best ever. Literally. They Rock. They show up at non school sporting events, host amazing functions, etc. I was at a private school that I thought was good, but no comparison.
This year will graduate its first 8th graders - but I suspect kids will go in to the TAG HS, SEM, IB programs at their home schools, other magnets, Booker T, and some privates.
Just wanted to express a different option. You always hear about the Plano, frisco, Southlake schools for good reasons..,but you don’t have to live in the burbs for a phenomenal education.
We are at Sudie Williams TAG (Talented and Gifted) magnet school in DISD. It’s a 4-8th grade school that requires testing for admission. Kids from across DISD are eligible. 4th grade is the typical entry year. The school is in its 3rd year and modeled after the very successful Travis TAG school. It is located in beautiful Bluffview. Free buses are available for all kids.
We are so blessed to be at this school and absolutely love it. We left a good private school to attend it. I had heard so many negative things about DISD public schools ..that I was shocked with the quality of education, parental support and administration.
1. The school is diverse...but let’s be honest that there is still a large amount of white upper income families from Lakewood, East Dallas, a d North Dallas. The school is actively recruiting kids though from all over DIasD and have a mission to look like the greater community.
2. The school doesn’t offer middle school sports (although like all magnet schools you can theoretically still play for your home school). Last year, the parent association did offer soccer and basketball outside of school. We were working on golf pre-Covid too.
3. The middle school offers theater, orchestra, modern band, art and Spanish. Clubs are very big - debate, DI, chess, robotics, etc.
4. Being unique is cool. Smart is very cool. That said - kids come from all over Dallas - so out of school socializing is more difficult
5. The administration is the best ever. Literally. They Rock. They show up at non school sporting events, host amazing functions, etc. I was at a private school that I thought was good, but no comparison.
This year will graduate its first 8th graders - but I suspect kids will go in to the TAG HS, SEM, IB programs at their home schools, other magnets, Booker T, and some privates.
Just wanted to express a different option. You always hear about the Plano, frisco, Southlake schools for good reasons..,but you don’t have to live in the burbs for a phenomenal education.
Thank you so much for this thoughtful reply. It is so helpful to me as I didn't know anything at all about Sudie and might have looked into it for my oldest, if I had.
What's the issue? Is this too personal of a question for this board?
To answer your question, the West Coast.
I wonder if you understand the ROI on a K-12 education (I assume no, based on your wording of the question). If you turned TCA into Stanford, that would change my mind.
Most DFW private schools are a bad 'bang for the buck' relative to other metro areas. And in general, they're a bad value compared to generica public high schools when considering college matriculation. Anyone who can afford your kids school would be better off college wise just going to public school Flower Mound or Colleyville, 99% of the time.
I wonder if you understand the ROI on a K-12 education (I assume no, based on your wording of the question). If you turned TCA into Stanford, that would change my mind.
Most DFW private schools are a bad 'bang for the buck' relative to other metro areas. And in general, they're a bad value compared to generica public high schools when considering college matriculation. Anyone who can afford your kids school would be better off college wise just going to public school Flower Mound or Colleyville, 99% of the time.
People aren't required to live the world through your lens. For example you seem to believe private school costs are waisted short of an Ivy or similar undergrad admit down the line. To me that's silly, almost defensive logic.
We are 2 weeks into the school year in Plano ISD. The best thing I can say so far is it has been welcoming to my two children in elementary school. My kids have made new friends and their teachers are very good at communicating with us about this transition.
I wonder if you understand the ROI on a K-12 education (I assume no, based on your wording of the question). If you turned TCA into Stanford, that would change my mind.
Most DFW private schools are a bad 'bang for the buck' relative to other metro areas. And in general, they're a bad value compared to generica public high schools when considering college matriculation. Anyone who can afford your kids school would be better off college wise just going to public school Flower Mound or Colleyville, 99% of the time.
Haha, Ok, Interesting....Well, here you go: I didn't go to Stanford (in fact, I went to a program at a California University that had a lower percentage acceptance rate than Stanford, around 2%), but I DID have two brothers who went to Stanford! ..... does that change your mind?
No really, I'm not interested in changing your mind. I'm actually not a proponent of private schools unless they are ideally suited to the child. That's the key. I quite enjoyed my 12 years of schooling at TCA but it was definitely IN SPITE of TCA, and not because of it, that I was admitted into such a selective program (and into one very similar to it in New York City). No one from TCA had ever even applied to those programs prior to myself, and certainly hadn't been admitted. But I wanted to get there, and I wanted to do it from TCA. If I had gone to Booker T (and I very nearly did, in fact) that would have been a much clearer path to the program I dreamed of and eventually went into.
So I think, a more valid consideration is: what is the VALUE of that money? If you get your money's WORTH, is that a return on your investment?
My parents did not put us into TCA to get us into Ivy league schools. They put us in because they wanted us to have a Christian education. That goal was certainly, certainly achieved there.
My siblings all spent their high school years at other Dallas area privates, once they realized that TCA wouldn't help them achieve their personal goals, academically speaking. If we are talking admissions, in addition to two Stanford admissions, there was MIT, Rice, Princeton, Yale, and the University of Virginia (which is quite competitive out of state) among a smattering of other colleges between the three of them.
So if one DID want to prove that the k-12 privates in Dallas were a good investment (if the definition of that is top tier school admissions), they could certainly use my family as "exhibit A".
But even that wouldn't be genuine proof because there is just SO MUCH MORE to it, isn't there?
Our personal success, in each of us being able to go to the college we had dreamt of, was not soley a factor of schools but rather a combination of three things:
1. Intense dedication in each of us in pursuing our dreams (for me that meant that most of my young life was spent entrenched in my art with laser like focus) For my brothers this meant hitting the books. Hard.
2. Unimaginably supportive parents who worked nearly as hard as us at helping those dreams come to fruition and
3. An extreme amount of privilege. Extreme. Don't worry, I'm fully aware of that (with the tutors and the music teachers and the summer programs and the private schools and all the options and opportunities).
I don't personally believe private schools are required to achieve dreams or goals. In fact, my kids are showing signs that they aren't in the right schools for THEIR dreams, which is why we've applied them out to several private AND public schools for the coming school year. And that's also one of the reasons that I want to hear all about all the wonderful schools in Dallas that have been bubbling up in the 20 years since I left the city.
My parents put us in private christian school because it fit what they wanted, and yet they were flexible when we all made it clear that we needed to re-think that. Similarly, my husband and I put our children in International schools in California because that is what fit our needs at the time (my husband is European and we knew we would be living between continents), and now we are pivoting to make sure that we find the right schools for THEIR needs/dreams. The change didn't negate the value in my parents minds. And it doesn't negate the value in my mind of the International schools thus far.
I don't care where my children go to college. They don't have to go to college at ALL if they don't want to!
You won't find me pushing the likes of TCA or similar schools, as I am most definitely not Christian these days. But you won't find me bashing the education or renouncing the benefit of it either because I truly did enjoy my schooling. And that seems to be exceedingly rare these days.
Which brings me to: I just want my kids to be happy. Money is just a thing. Yah it can be a stress, but I don't put nearly as much value on that as I do their happiness...
You sound quite interesting- welcome back to the area. Let me say your post struck me the wrong way because you said you "truly believe" that one of [insert every type of school] can be a good fit for a child. And you mentioned TCA so I assumed you were, like, fighting home schoolers or other evangelical mindsets.
I will take this opportunity to point out that kids from your neighborhood public schools (presumably Hillcrest or White since you got into Booker T) got into all of the schools you mentioned over the last 20 years. I admire that you put out there how much privilege you grew up with and because of that you likely know that your typical private school grad in DFW goes to a flagship state school or a regional private school-- just like the typical grad from every Dallas area school with an HHI of $150k+.
Those types of schools are jokes to the grads of elite private schools in the other major metro areas of the country - our privates seemed geared towards social status and religious fundamentalism. To me those reasons are a waste of money, find a neighborhood you like and send your kids to school with the kids that live there. If the school isn't "good enough", take your substantial human capital and make it good enough.
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