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Honestly, the real question is, "Are your kids ready for the PISD?" It is an absolute meat grinder of a school system, especially from 6th grade up. High expectations and zero slack. It is "go big or go home" all the time, from classes to sports to clubs. Your child will know the meaning of an all-nighter well before college.
this is actuallly concerning to me. I am 100% for the best possible education for our children, but I dont want to them to have so much pressure on their shoulders that they are put thru the shredder each and everyday. I am 100% for being challenged, but lets face, not everyone can be "#1" in the class.
I dont want the kids to go to a school where the kids sabatoge other kids class projects to win, or its the "my mommy got me a bmw and you only got a honda" type of school ( been there done that).
That being said, if the school is stellar, the parents are involved and the teachers are open and understanding to making sure that each child achieved the best grades they can to go into the college of their choice. Then that is fine.
I mean what happens to the kids that get 85% on a test are "only" a 3.0 student..do they just thrown in the "oh she/he is lazy" catagory and doesnt work hard enough or they just dont have the aptitude--or worse yet ignored?
Is the school filled with helicopter parents who start comparing notes to the how many activities my kids are in versus yours.
BTW-my kids are steller student in an exception school system in ny..but its parental involvement and understanding teachers that make it a great combination.
AlsoI dont have to worry about high school for another 6 years....Do I need to worry aobut getting into the "right high school right now?"
We are planning on renting for a year or so...and then buying.
I also notice a high concentration of asians in the schools....it actually looks kind of cool to see that much diversity. Normally its always been a small percentage (can count them on my hands) growing up for me.
What is the good,bad and ugly on how the parents/teachers are Plano schools?
actually the asians from what I understand are the ones driving much of the competitive atmosphere--check out who the National Merit scholars are in Plano ISD National Merit Semifinalists / News Archive : Plano ISD
in TX top 10% of graduating class gets automatic admission to UT in Austin or Texas AM or another state school--guaranteed admission lets some kids run the risk of application to other non-state prestigious colleges knowing they have a fallback of excellent quality-- http://www.texastop10.princeton.edu/...nion012004.pdf
the info in the side-bar is interesting as far as top 10% goes--but it is little out of date since it is from 03-04 info probably...of courst the funding for college is not guaranteed...but scholarship money is probably easier to obtain than for student with 3.5 GPA
this is actuallly concerning to me. I am 100% for the best possible education for our children, but I dont want to them to have so much pressure on their shoulders that they are put thru the shredder each and everyday. I am 100% for being challenged, but lets face, not everyone can be "#1" in the class.
Very true. Plano ISD doesn't subscribe to the sunshine & lollipops, "Everyone's a Winner" philosophy. I get the vibe that Frisco ISD runs that way. That's why I think Frisco underachieves relative to Plano and Allen.
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I dont want the kids to go to a school where the kids sabatoge other kids class projects to win, or its the "my mommy got me a bmw and you only got a honda" type of school ( been there done that).
Well, then you'll want to re-think your previous posts about wanting Plano West schools for your kids. Plano Senior is pretty much the same academically as Plano West, but without the BMWs and Mercedes in the student lot.
I don't know about sabotage, but Plano West had kids and their parents suing the school district about GPA calculations for valedictorian. As I recall, Student A played a sport but had an agreement with the counselor that the grade for playing the sport wouldn't go on her transcript. Student B's parents insisted that it be counted in Student A's GPA - as an unweighted course, even with a 100 it would lower Student A's GPA - and make Student B the valedictorian. So, um, yeah.
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That being said, if the school is stellar, the parents are involved and the teachers are open and understanding to making sure that each child achieved the best grades they can to go into the college of their choice. Then that is fine.
I mean what happens to the kids that get 85% on a test are "only" a 3.0 student..do they just thrown in the "oh she/he is lazy" catagory and doesnt work hard enough or they just dont have the aptitude--or worse yet ignored?
The "average Joe" does get lost in the shuffle in PISD, unfortunately. But, with a bajillion extracurriculars available, the kids left out are the ones not putting any effort into finding a place for themselves.
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Is the school filled with helicopter parents who start comparing notes to the how many activities my kids are in versus yours.
A lot of the west side elementaries in Plano sure are.
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I also notice a high concentration of asians in the schools....it actually looks kind of cool to see that much diversity. Normally its always been a small percentage (can count them on my hands) growing up for me.
What is the good,bad and ugly on how the parents/teachers are Plano schools?
That might be less cool than you think. I once had Asian parents discourage their son from associating with my son. I guess the gaijin influence will cause their kid to lose focus on his studies. Or maybe a white kid couldn't possibly be as smart as their son. Whatever. It's an interesting experience for a white person to be the victim of racism.
That said, for the most part, the Chinese and Indian influence is a big positive for the district, both in terms of the achievement level and in terms of the social acceptance of smart, nerdy kids.
Plano pays a lot and has fewer behavior problems than most other schools. So teachers generally don't leave unless they are "invited" to do so by their principals.
Parents stick their noses into the school quite a bit. Some are very helpful, some are just busybodies. Probably no more or less than in other suburban districts.
I don't know about sabotage, but Plano West had kids and their parents suing the school district about GPA calculations for valedictorian. As I recall, Student A played a sport but had an agreement with the counselor that the grade for playing the sport wouldn't go on her transcript. Student B's parents insisted that it be counted in Student A's GPA - as an unweighted course, even with a 100 it would lower Student A's GPA - and make Student B the valedictorian. So, um, yeah.
what the student asked for and the counselor agreed to do (according to your story--I don't live in that area so don't know)--was ILLEGAL--the parents of any other student should not have HAD to sue the district to have accurate GPA info used to rank students...
if that counselor DID do what you say--s/he should lose license--and the student should have a notation about that behavior in permanent school jacket-so that it goes to any employer or college student applies to--
behavior like that usually shows disregard for authority and rules that apply to individual conduct that does not change...IMO
I don't know about sabotage, but Plano West had kids and their parents suing the school district about GPA calculations for valedictorian. As I recall, Student A played a sport but had an agreement with the counselor that the grade for playing the sport wouldn't go on her transcript. Student B's parents insisted that it be counted in Student A's GPA - as an unweighted course, even with a 100 it would lower Student A's GPA - and make Student B the valedictorian. So, um, yeah.
what the student asked for and the counselor agreed to do (according to your story--I don't live in that area so don't know)--was ILLEGAL--the parents of any other student should not have HAD to sue the district to have accurate GPA info used to rank students...
if that counselor DID do what you say--s/he should lose license--and the student should have a notation about that behavior in permanent school jacket-so that it goes to any employer or college student applies to--
behavior like that usually shows disregard for authority and rules that apply to individual conduct that does not change...IMO
That's certainly one way to look at it.
The other way is that Student A is being penalized for doing an extra activity. Had she instead chosen to NOT play her sport and NOT earn her unweighted 100, she would be valedictorian. Does that seem fair?
If we took away school counselors' licenses each time they gave out incorrect information, we wouldn't have any left.
The issue at hand was whether taking a course 2 times results in 2 entries in the GPA calculation, or only 1 entry. PISD policy states that when a course is re-taken, only the highest grade counts for GPA purposes. However, courses such as band and athletics CAN be repeated and credit earned multiple times. Where their policy is silent is as to whether athletic courses MUST earn credit multiple times. The idea of rejecting possible credit isn't something that comes up for 99% of students.
Student A was told one thing, and made course decisions based on that. Had she had correct information, she would have made different decisions.
Student B wanted the rules applied as they are, not as they were told to Student A.
Both have valid points, and in the end, both were made co-valedictorians, to the satisfaction of ... no one. It was a very ugly scene, with charges of racism, favoritism, and more.
Now that I think about it, I like this response better.
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Originally Posted by loves2read
what the student asked for and the counselor agreed to do (according to your story--I don't live in that area so don't know)--was ILLEGAL--
... the student should have a notation about that behavior in permanent school jacket-so that it goes to any employer or college student applies to--
behavior like that usually shows disregard for authority and rules that apply to individual conduct that does not change...IMO
That's a bit extreme, don't you think?
Let's role-play this conversation:
Student A: Hey, Counselor, I really want to play Sport X this year.
Counselor: What's stopping you?
Student A: Well, it's an unweighted course, and it would actually LOWER my GPA. I'm in the running for valedictorian and I don't want to mess anything up.
Counselor (Shuffling papers): Umm Hmm...
Student A: So I was thinking, what if this course counted as a re-take of the sport from last year? That's the way it would work if I took, say, Geometry a second time.
Counselor (Continuing to shuffle papers) Yes, I see. Well.... I don't see anything in the district policy that says you HAVE to accept double credit for an identical course. I guess that would work. I'll make a note of that when they calculate your GPA that this 100 should be viewed as a re-take of last year's 100.
I'm missing where the ILLEGAL activity and "disrespect for authority" are in this scenario.
Of course, I'm leaving out Act II & Act III:
Act II:
[Six Months Later]
Student A: Hey, Counselor, how come I'm not valedictorian?
Counselor: Well, Student B has a 4.999 GPA, you only have a 4.998 GPA.
Student A: But that's because I have 2 years of Sport X credit on my transcript. You told me I'd only have 1 year recorded.
Counselor: I was wrong. So sue me.
Student A's Dad: I will!
Act III:
[A Few Weeks After Act II]
Student B: You said I was valedictorian! What happened?
PISD Lawyer: We were sued and forced to honor representations made to Student A.
Student B's Dad: Is it because we're Ethnic Group Alpha? Or Student A plays Sport X? We're suing!
My son went to Plano schools from fourth grade through 10th grade. Plano schools are tougher than some districts, but I don't think it's so tough you wouldn't want to put your child there. I obviously can't speak to the senior high school level (11th and 12th grade) but before that, we had no problems with Plano schools "pushing too hard" or expecting too much. (Might depend on the particular school, that was our experience.) His particular schools were Forman, Armstrong and Williams. They are all east side schools. Some people may believe they are easier than the others. I don't really know, but I doubt there's a significant difference.
Any web references to Dallas Morning News or other articles covering the valedictorian suing school / counselor drama ?
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