Where to start? (Schools, housing, etc. for family)

[bookworm2768]

Originally Posted by nmnita

Carrollton might be a good location, I hadn't even thought about that, it is probably a little more diverse than say, Flower Mound. I will say, as for Muslims you will not find too many in these areas, other races and religions, yes.
Nita

Actually I've been pleasantly surprised by the mix of religions in Carrollton. there is a mosque just south of old denton and George Bush and there is a fairly large Pakistani and Indian Muslim population in the town. I haven't met anyone yet from the middle east but have met plenty of Muslims from Pakistan as wel as India.

If you do end up considering Carrollton please do a search for it on the forum. There have been many previous threads discussing the pros and cons of living here and some fairly heated arguments about what is wrong and right with the school district

It is by no means as 'pretty' as some of the newer areas and the further south in Carrollton you go the more crummy it seems to get. A generalisation, of course, but we bought a home as far north and as far West in carrollton as we could get while still staying within the school district.

[loves2read]

HEB has two high schools--Bell and Trinity--they are 10-11-12 grades and it is a 5A school so it is about the same size as any other 5A school---right now I think a high school needs to have about 2K students to be rated 5A--larger classes are usually 10th and they grow smaller each year--so I would say that they are about the same...
ANY 5A high school will have same number of students in TX
if you want smaller school size you would have to go to 3 or 4A school--
districts like Everman, Kennendale are 3A
sometimes a district might have a 4A high school and a 5A school because one is a new school and not at full enrollment--Grapevine HS was 4A at one time
these links are to the UIL ranking for 3A and 4A schools--check out the different regions for ones that would be where you would want to live--
4A
http://www.uil.utexas.edu/2008align/pdf/4A_fb_bsktb.pdf (broken link)
3A
http://www.uil.utexas.edu/2008align/pdf/3A_fb_bsktb.pdf (broken link)
Dallas is usually region 10 and FTW region 11 but they shift around some

regarding diversity--there is a mosque in Colleyville off CheekSparger and Brown Trail and a Jewish synagog -- along with other Catholic/Protestant denominations--of course the people who attend could come from other areas--not just Colleyville--but most areas of DFW ARE diverse--go to the mall or a grocery store or WaLMart and check out parking lots and check-out lines
rarely are you seeing only one type or ethnic group in the Mid-Cities areas...
price is the denominator--higher priced homes means normally less ethnic diversity and certainly less educational diversity--Southlake has growing numbers of Asians and other minorities but they are usually very well-educated and professionals with better than avg income--very different from the ethnic diversity in areas where homes are priced on average of 220K or less....