Cedar Hill is not a Bad City!!! (Dallas, Plano: to rent, crime)

[itellyouthetruth]

Agree, Cedar Hill is thriving! Thinking about purchasing some investment property in Cedar Hill!!!

[adpace]

I agree with you all - Cedar Hill is a great place. But there does seem to be some sort of negative perception about the area that I just don't get. We were going to buy a home there and were warned over and over not to by lots of different people. We ended up in Midlothian, but I still look at Cedar Hill and think it is a beautiful place that has so much going for it. I'm a little sad we didn't move there, but I'm sure we will be very happy in Midlothian as well! I think eventually Cedar Hill will get the credit due to it as developments keep moving further south. It's just too beautiful and well kept there!!

[theloneranger]

The biggest problem with the area, IMHO, is that the public schools aren't comparable to economically equivalent areas, be they north of downtown or rural Texas or wherever.

Cedar Hill ISD is probably the strongest urban district in southern Dallas Country, and it's not what most people would call a strong school district on the whole/ The TAKS scores aren't terrible but that's far from the only issue.

[southern living]

Originally Posted by adpace

I agree with you all - Cedar Hill is a great place. But there does seem to be some sort of negative perception about the area that I just don't get. We were going to buy a home there and were warned over and over not to by lots of different people. We ended up in Midlothian, but I still look at Cedar Hill and think it is a beautiful place that has so much going for it. I'm a little sad we didn't move there, but I'm sure we will be very happy in Midlothian as well! I think eventually Cedar Hill will get the credit due to it as developments keep moving further south. It's just too beautiful and well kept there!!

I have had some of those warnings (mostly from my caucasian counterparts). All of them changed their minds when they came to visit and looked around.

My caucasian son goes to cedar hill schools. They are majority black schools and he has never had a problem. In every objective test that compares students nationwide (they take the ITBS) he scores in the 90th percentile or better. That just would not happen if the schools were not good. He now attends the collegiate, which IMHO is one of the best in DFW.

I think racial bias, more than anything else lends to the negative perception. a little research will show all the warnings about cedar hill are false


What other "issues" are you alluding to loneranger?

[theloneranger]

Originally Posted by southern living

I have had some of those warnings (mostly from my caucasian counterparts). All of them changed their minds when they came to visit and looked around.

My caucasian son goes to cedar hill schools. They are majority black schools and he has never had a problem. In every objective test that compares students nationwide (they take the ITBS) he scores in the 90th percentile or better. That just would not happen if the schools were not good. He now attends the collegiate, which IMHO is one of the best in DFW.

I think racial bias, more than anything else lends to the negative perception. a little research will show all the warnings about cedar hill are false


What other "issues" are you alluding to loneranger?

Actually the ITBS has been shown to mostly show a student's natural intelligence. Having a good education helps, but naturally smart kids who haven't been educated very well still tend to do well on standardized norm-referenced tests like the ITBS or Stanford.

[theloneranger]

Originally Posted by theloneranger

The biggest problem with the area, IMHO, is that the public schools aren't comparable to economically equivalent areas, be they north of downtown or rural Texas or wherever.

Cedar Hill ISD is probably the strongest urban district in southern Dallas Country, and it's not what most people would call a strong school district on the whole/ The TAKS scores aren't terrible but that's far from the only issue.

The extreme focus on athletics is one--the saga of the QB from '06 who couldn't graduate and get to college is one that comes to mind especially. The athletic programs (at least football and basketball) are excellent, though.

The crime rate and gang problems in CHISD are higher than most northern districts, though it's not as bad as most of DISD or some other southern districts.

The students definitely underperform relative to their income levels. Based on the largely middle-class incomes and ethnically homogenous schools, you'd expect scores to be much higher, and you'd definitely expect them to do much better in college placement.

They also don't have strong advanced programs relative to the rest of the area--their strongest students don't gets as good of an education as they would living in a comparable area economically.

These are just a few. Again, CHISD isn't a bad school district, but it should be much better than it is. And it's the best in it's area of Dallas County. I would never recommend Desoto ISD or Lancaster ISD to anyone. I definitely wouldn't have recommended WHISD when it was open. I'd hesitate to recommend Duncanville ISD, though the large schools are definitely the biggest concern there. I don't think I'd recommend Red Oak, though it's in Ellis Co. I think. I wouldn't recommend Forney ISD.

Overall, the southern sector doesn't do quite as much with education as it should and it could.

[southern living]

Originally Posted by theloneranger

The crime rate and gang problems in CHISD are higher than most northern districts, though it's not as bad as most of DISD or some other southern districts.

this is another perception problem that CH faces. If there was more gang problems in cedar Hill, why is this not reflected in its crime rate, which is comparable to other nothern cities such as frisco, plano and lewisville. I posted these stats in the other thread.

The district does have a higher percentage of low income students from south dallas. this IMHO, skews the data.

emphasizing sports, especially football is not unique to cedar hill. this, afterall is texas.

My son is TAG, if he was at a disadvantage for going to CHISD, wouldnt kids from highland park or plano be outperforming him? they are not.

according to data, the best schools in the south are actually duncanville and midlothian, and they compare to many nothern districts

I guess we will just have to agree to disagree

[Acntx]

Originally Posted by theloneranger

The extreme focus on athletics is one--the saga of the QB from '06 who couldn't graduate and get to college is one that comes to mind especially. The athletic programs (at least football and basketball) are excellent, though.

The crime rate and gang problems in CHISD are higher than most northern districts, though it's not as bad as most of DISD or some other southern districts.

The students definitely underperform relative to their income levels. Based on the largely middle-class incomes and ethnically homogenous schools, you'd expect scores to be much higher, and you'd definitely expect them to do much better in college placement.

They also don't have strong advanced programs relative to the rest of the area--their strongest students don't gets as good of an education as they would living in a comparable area economically.

These are just a few. Again, CHISD isn't a bad school district, but it should be much better than it is. And it's the best in it's area of Dallas County. I would never recommend Desoto ISD or Lancaster ISD to anyone. I definitely wouldn't have recommended WHISD when it was open. I'd hesitate to recommend Duncanville ISD, though the large schools are definitely the biggest concern there. I don't think I'd recommend Red Oak, though it's in Ellis Co. I think. I wouldn't recommend Forney ISD.

Overall, the southern sector doesn't do quite as much with education as it should and it could.

Since you don't recommend any southern suburban school districts, why don't you let the people who live in the southern suburbs, have children or other relatives in enrolled in area schools, or have had direct experiences with the schools and districts in question be the ones who can give advice about them. There are good schools, teachers, and programs in each of the districts that you don't recommend. You might not choose to live in the southern suburbs, but there are plenty of us who choose to live in these communities and are perfectly content with our decisions to do so.

[Pintea]

Before we moved here I researched online a little bit. I liked the bigger lots south of Dallas, areas with more trees, better prices and so on.
Then I found information like the one in this link, and that's when I started focusing on northern areas only:
http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/assets/public/remediation/superfund/dallas.htm (broken link)

[adpace]

That's what we kept hearing when people would tell us anything (most people didn't even really have anything specific to say) - the schools are bad, there are gangs and the crime rate is high. A simple search of crime statistics and TAKS pass rates show otherwise. I agree with you, Southern Living, that the perception has a lot to do with racial bias. It's so sad to me because it is such a great community. The people I have met there have all been so nice and I have never felt unsafe or like it is an area that would make me in any way nervous.

I do have some friends that live there who tell me that the schools do have their problems - these are friends who have removed their kids from public schools and put them into private schools so I take them at their word that they believe there really are some problems. That does makes me wonder if there really are some underlying issues there, but as a former teacher I can tell you that any public school has issues and while there may be something to it, I don't doubt it is likely a better school district than many. I think the city just gets a bad rep because people who haven't been there speak before they know. I could be wrong, but that's how it seems to me.

In any case, I'm still a fan of the area regardless of the perception others have of it. I really hope people eventually see what a nice area it is and can put aside any bias they have to see how nice it is there!