NRH or Watauga

[JackieB23]

I live in NRH on the border of Watauga (just east of Rufe Snow). Lived in the area since 2010. I have a kid in Foster Village Elementary and a kid (transferred) at Birdville High who went to North Ridge Middle. My daughter has many friends over on the Watauga side of Rufe Snow, mostly between Hightower and Starnes.

North Watauga is just fine and perfectly safe. Parts of it are in the Keller ISD and parts in Birdville but I don't think there's a MASSIVE difference between the two districts and their schools in this part of Tarrant County (Birdville ISD has a FANTASTIC facility in the Birdville Advanced Center for Technology and Learning - it's a lot like a Junior college and my kid gets to take engineering classes there). The perception is that Keller is "better" but there are schools in BISD as good or better in that same area as the schools you'll find in KISD.

I don't think there is a material difference between Birdville High and Richland High, so don't worry about that too much. We chose the transfer because a lot of her friends did at at the time, and Birdville is closer to us physically than Richland, but if she'd gone to Richland she'd have done just as well (she is in the gifted program and an honors student). There is a HUGE difference, though, between those two schools and Haltom High - if you can do so, avoid Haltom High.

In Middle Schools, North Ridge is not ranked as high as Smithfield Middle but honestly I don't see a ton of difference between the two when rubber meets the road. Both are solid schools. Green Valley Elementary is one of the best schools around, but Smithfield, Walker Creek, Foster Village, and North Ridge are all just fine (as is W.A. Porter over in Hurst and Hardemann over in Watauga).

I would choose NRH over Watauga because I hate Watauga's silly park zones. I would call both as safe as any suburb is - most of our crime is petty stuff like car break-ins or people taking packages off our porches.

In NRH, I'd recommend that you to try to stay north of Chapman if you're west of Davis (and thus east of Rufe Snow). South of Chapman has some very fine neighborhoods but others that are spotty, and it can vary from street to street, so might be best just to avoid it.

If I were to move again and stay in NRH I'd choose Green Valley or Smithfield, or east of Davis and north of Mid-Cities (maybe along Amundsen Road, in that area). The convenience of the schools, shopping, commuting, and NRH Centre/Library/NYTEX Sports Centre, plus the coming development of the rail station on Smithfield Road, makes it a pretty nice and up-and-coming area of town.

[wanderer74]

I've lived in both Watauga and NRH--currently I'm in Watauga, but in the far west corner that's part of the Park Glen area (but zoned to Birdville ISD.) The above poster JackieB23 is correct about the schools. Smithfield Middle is where my kids have gone and it's excellent. The teachers are very involved and really care about the kids. There is not much difference as far as I can tell between Birdville High (where my kids attend/attended) and Richland High, but you want to avoid Haltom High.

Once we moved we would've been zoned to Haltom High and I chose to use open enrollment to keep my kids at Smithfield/Birdville. My kids have also taken classes at the Birdville Advanced Center for Technology and Learning--also called the BCTAL--and we can't say enough good things about it. It's just a really a stellar facility with lots of useful programs that help students explore careers and gain skills. Keller ISD is rated better and recently opened a program similar to BCTAL that doesn't offer as many courses yet. As others have said, part of Watauga is zoned to Keller ISD. In general, KISD schools that are further north (zoned to Timbercreek High School) are considered better, but it's also a lot more expensive and further out.

We have not experienced any crime at all in Watauga OR NRH. They are both extremely safe areas. Even back in the late 1990s we owned a house in Watauga and never had any problems. If you care about reputation, NRH is probably considered a bit nicer than Watauga. But Watauga is in general a safe area where people mind their own business. Same with NRH. Both Watauga and NRH have nicer parts and older, more rundown parts, but neither is a particularly high-crime city. Other districts are more popular and flashier, but that doesn't make them better.