Best areas of Cedar Hill? (Dallas, DeSoto: middle-class, apartment, foreclosures)

[NYRN]

Originally Posted by caligurltotx

Where's the guy that warns everyone to stay away from anywhere south of I30??? That is embedded in my brain for life!!! lol

LOL. I've been waiting for that you should look into Frisco/Plano it's much nicer post.

[Acntx]

Originally Posted by sylviatexas

Red Oak is only a hop from Lancaster, & the schools are wonderful.

Cedar Hill is still the best bet for the OP in my opinion. By choosing Cedar Hill, they will be close to basic shopping (grocery stores, etc.) amenities as well as ample retail stores (including the Uptown Village mall) in the city. This wide range of shopping/retail choices is simply not available in Red Oak, which is still relatively small, but fast-growing.

Regarding school ratings, southern living rightly pointed out that there is absolutely no difference between Red Oak and Cedar Hill schools. In Cedar Hill, six of the seven elementary schools were rated "Recognized" this year. The seventh campus, Bray Elementary, did even better and achieved an "Exemplary" rating. Red Oak's four elementary schools were all rated "Recognized". In both districts, the intermediate, middle/junior high, and high school campuses were rated "Academically Acceptable". Both Cedar Hill and Red Oak received an "Academically Acceptable" district rating, the same as DeSoto, Dallas, Lancaster, Grand Prairie, and a majority (67%) of districts in Texas. While I am not a fan of using standardized test performance as the sole factor in determining whether a school/district is "good" or not, high scores are a positive indicator.

Originally Posted by southern living

their is absolutely no difference between red oak and cedar hill as the stats prove.
their is a difference in racial composition though. cedar hill is about 60% AA

2007-2008 School Year Demographics (http://www.tea.state.tx.us/adhocrpt/adste08.html - broken link) (from the Texas Education Agency site)

--Cedar Hill ISD (7,867 students): 65% African American, 21% Hispanic, 12% White, 1.6% Asian/Pacific Islander, and 0.5% Native American.
--Red Oak ISD (5,179 students): 61% White, 25% Hispanic, 13% African American, 0.8% Native American, and 0.6% Asian/Pacific Islander.

[moving2008]

Originally Posted by n&j_k

Hello! My husband and I are looking to move to Dallas from Minnesota. He would be working in Lancaster, and we are considering living in Cedar Hill. Are there any areas of the town we should stay away from or areas that are good? We are a young family, so our housing price range is only up to about $130K (which will still buy us a much nicer house than we could buy in St. Paul!). Any advice would be greatly appreciated, as we have 2 young children and want them to live in a safe area

Hi, if you have not been to cedar hill yet take a visit there. It is really a nice area..There are many blacks in this area that are doing exceptionally well for themselves..you can tell by the homes they own and the well kept neighborhoods. I have heard though that there are areas of Cedar Hill to avoid but this will be the case in any area you move to. All areas have there good and there bad. One poster mentioned the blacks in cedar hill are of higher class but characterized there kids of sometimes acting ghetto. My opinion is class is a state of mind; however, the blacks in cedar hill do seem to make a good living so they can afford to live better and their kids don't act any different from the kids you'll find in similar neighborhoods dominated by whites. I'm sure you can find a home in your price range in cedar hill but I think you will have more options available to you if you can bump that up to at least $150k.

Good Luck

[rosscountry]

Cedar Hill info

Cedar Hill Economic Development Corporation

[vorsprung]

I dont live in Cedar Hill, but I have worked with the schools in Cedar Hill and am familiar with other areas in the DFW area.

There are some nice homes in Cedar Hill and the quality of life is OK overall, but it is not as good as the northern suburbs in my opnion. Regarding the schools - I can tell you the schools there are not very good. They are better than the Dallas schools, but compared to other areas, they certainly do not stand out. There is one new middle school (junior high), a new 9th grade school and one older middle school. The older of the two is rather run down. There are three "intermediate" schools (6th grade only). One is newer, and the other two are old and, in my opinion, a bit run down as well. The high school is somewhere in between, but really isn't a whole lot better. In terms of facilities, the newer schools are quite nice.

In my experience, I can tell you there are a lot of discipline problems in the schools there, and parents who are not involved and unsupportive. This probably has to do with the socio-economic status of many of the families there. Please note that I do realize there are plenty of families who are better off, more supportive, etc. I am just saying that I see much more of this in Cedar Hill than I have seen in other areas.

While it's true there are some nice, newer homes and communities there, and they have been experiencing greater economic growth in terms of stores, retail, etc., if I had children I would not want them to go to school there.

If you are planning on living in southern Dallas County, I would look at De Soto and Duncanville, although I have no experience with those communities, or schools. If you are willing to drive a little further, look into Mansfield (Tarrant county, west of the area), or the northern suburbs if you can deal with the commute, but that may be a bit much. personally, if I had kids and schools were at the top of my priority list, I would live in the northern suburbs and learn to live with the commute.

[rosscountry]

Originally Posted by southern living

their is absolutely no difference between red oak and cedar hill as the stats prove.

their is a difference in racial composition though. cedar hill is about 60% AA

How did you come up with 60% AA?

[FalconheadWest]

Originally Posted by caligurltotx

Where's the guy that warns everyone to stay away from anywhere south of I30??? That is embedded in my brain for life!!! lol

I would love to meet this person and shake their hand! I always tell my clients before considering anything south of I30 to think long and hard about how long they plan on living there. The resale in the southern cities is horrible and has been for the past 3 or so years. If you're going to be there long-term, more power to you as current resale doesn't effect you just yet, but I highly recommend looking at the school information before making any decisions.

[stargazer]

I have a friend whose daughter just started high school in Mansfield. Her mother called me and told me she found out she is zoned for the high school that has the most issues, with gangs. She though was optimistic, which is just HER. She always sees things in a good light. She told me they got a new principal and there seems to be hope. The true test will be if her daughter is ok with it. We will see.

As far as Cedar Hill, Lakeridge, old beltine running past Cedar Hill going out to Juniper Ridge are the best areas of Cedar Hill. If you live there, consider private or home school.

I have heard for years what vorsprung has said at the schools there but the blame has always been that the district is always trying to save money and hire plenty of coaches to teach other subjects. My dad was also disadvantaged in trying to get a job in smaller towns due to being an english and history teacher and nothing combined with being a coach. He had a masters in History and was a college instructor for years at Blinn College in Brenham. He also was a candidate for being a PHD but had to drop due to his responsibilites at his work and being home with the family. I am not trying to ditch coaches here, we need them but I also believe that there are very educated, well qualified teachers out there who graduate with degrees in the subject matter they desire teach, not minor in. Those tend to be the best teachers.

Consider Lifeschools, they are a charter school. Good luck.

[rosscountry]

Originally Posted by stargazer

I have a friend whose daughter just started high school in Mansfield. Her mother called me and told me she found out she is zoned for the high school that has the most issues, with gangs. She though was optimistic, which is just HER. She always sees things in a good light. She told me they got a new principal and there seems to be hope. The true test will be if her daughter is ok with it. We will see.

As far as Cedar Hill, Lakeridge, old beltine running past Cedar Hill going out to Juniper Ridge are the best areas of Cedar Hill. If you live there, consider private or home school.

I have heard for years what vorsprung has said at the schools there but the blame has always been that the district is always trying to save money and hire plenty of coaches to teach other subjects. My dad was also disadvantaged in trying to get a job in smaller towns due to being an english and history teacher and nothing combined with being a coach. He had a masters in History and was a college instructor for years at Blinn College in Brenham. He also was a candidate for being a PHD but had to drop due to his responsibilites at his work and being home with the family. I am not trying to ditch coaches here, we need them but I also believe that there are very educated, well qualified teachers out there who graduate with degrees in the subject matter they desire teach, not minor in. Those tend to be the best teachers.

Consider Lifeschools, they are a charter school. Good luck.

great insight. This is the 1st I have heard about the saving money by using coaches issue.

[Acntx]

Originally Posted by vorsprung

There is one new middle school (junior high), a new 9th grade school and one older middle school. The older of the two is rather run down. There are three "intermediate" schools (6th grade only). One is newer, and the other two are old and, in my opinion, a bit run down as well.

The "older" middle school is W.S. Permenter, which opened in 1989.
Virtual Tour of the school

It doesn't look like it is falling apart.

The district's three intermediate schools are fifth and sixth grade campuses, not sixth grade only. Which campuses do you consider "run-down"?

Joe Wilson Intermediate

West Intermediate

Beltline Intermediate