Woodlands/Lake Conroe/Conroe (Houston, The Woodlands: hotel, houses, neighborhood)

[ReneeG71]

$400,000 is the top of our price range. I would love to live in The Woodlands. It is definately our first choice, however after searching online, we would have to spend closer to $500,000 for a house we want. I want a new or almost new home that is over 3500 sq. ft. I can only find smaller or old homes in our price range. If you know of anything I missed, please let me know. We can find plenty of homes that meet all our needs in Conroe, but are not so sure on Conroe schools themselves. (not the woodlands schools, we know those are great!) Thanks.

[Indianspringsguy]

Observation: when you get a home in a neighborhood of $400,000 homes, the school will almost always be good in that area. No, ESL students do not adversely affect the classroom. It is generally the opposite. Students are enriched with different cultures and learn even to help the other students, a leadership attribute. I will be publishing something in my blog as soon as I complete an article on this subject, hopefully by the end of this year.

www.woodlandscommentary.com

[SkyeAnjel]

You might try Lakes of Avalon right across from Windrose. They have homes up to 4388 sq ft by J. Patrick homes. They are very nice. They start in the mid 200's for a base plan. According to my paperwork from the last time I toured there, The base is 264,990 for a 3514 sq. ft home and 278,990 for a 4388 sq. ft home and there arealot of different floor plans. Of course these prices may have gone up but not by much ( I collect all the data on the new home builders I visit).
There is also Ryland homes in Gleannloch farms, they have one that is 3395 sq.ft for about 315000. right now.

[SkyeAnjel]

There is also Champion Woods, supermac lives ther and is happy! Imperial has homes from 317000 - 407000. for about 3595 sq ft-4941 sq ft.
They have other builder, just haven't had a chance to talk to the sales people yet although I have toured the some of the homes over there and they are gorgeous! These are zoned to Klein schools.

[Turk]

I'll just say I am very involved in CISD and leave it at that. I did not go to any CISD schools, so other than my employment ties I am open minded. I went to a rural school district so CISD overall is a different world than I grew up in.

All CISD High schools have officers on campus during school hours. In case the mentioning of officers on campus throws up any flags.

Conroe High? The school is a little bit rough, but it has a good administrators who don't take drugs, fights, or gang stuff lightly. The Police officers on campus work hard to do what they can, working with the admin. My personal opinion it is the roughest school in the district, but its no Aldine ISD school. It is a very diverse school ranging from very wealthy to poverty level students (and to me it not a bad thing for kids to experience a school like this, a real mix representing the real world). CISD is also in the process of gathering another bond package to build a new, 2nd Conroe High school, which is needed, as the school is overcrowded. I would guess Graystone would go to the current Conroe High however. The staff members at Giesinger I have dealt with have been pleasant.

Other options in CISD with higher end homes are Benders landing, and I think Spring Trails has some high end homes too. Both are Zoned to Oak Ridge High School, which is also mixed socioeconomically. In benders landing we are building a new junior high and intermediate school right now. Imperial Oaks also has some 300-400K homes I know.

But I will say this, Conroe in the eyes of anyone from the Woodlands will never be as good as the Woodlands. Nor will Oak Ridge, they are going to take any chance they have to cut down the intra-district rivals. But it goes both ways, so take any criticism with a grain of salt. My opinion, the Woodlands isn't as great as everyone thinks it is, and Conroe isn't as bad as people play it off to be (but it does have its moments).

[amyalta]

I hope I don't offend you by asking this, but what evidence do you have for the notion that ESL pupils are a positive factor? I specifically exclude from my choices for my kids, any school which has large numbers of same, and in fact the vast majority of parents I know would run a mile from any such school. The suggestion that children helping each other shows leadership, is a bit thin in my view! Try telling that to the parents of children in one UK school I know of, where my cousin's child spends most of her time looking out of the window whilst the teacher tries to cope with the non-English speakers. And please don't tell me that it would not happen in the USA!

[ReneeG71]

I agree with you. I have an aunt who has taught for 30 yrs and she told me that the ESL students will have a huge impact on my children's learning potential. As a teacher, she felt that no matter how hard they try, a teacher will be forced to spend way more time with the ESL students, simply because they cannot understand directions, etc. But, I have to say, we checked further into the test scores, and her opinion was that the Geisinger school was doing a great job with them. Still, I think I will stay away from those schools.

[Teacher1981]

Hi! You had a question about Giesinger and I might be able to give you some insight. I am a CISD teacher and work in the Woodlands in an elementary school. My sister lives in Conroe, though in Graystone Hills. Her 2 children go to Giesinger and they love it. If I had to teach in any school within the Conroe city limits, I would choose Giesinger. They have zoned it so mostly the area right around it go (down Longmire and some lake) go there. So a lot of affluent parents go there which means the school is kept in great shape and has the latest resources. They do have some bilingual classrooms, but if your child is not bilingual your child will not be in such classroom. If anyone has been to Hailey El. in the Woodlands, that is what I would compare Giesinger too. Pete Junior high is the best option in Conroe, and Conroe High is overcrowded but not "violent" or scary. Hopefully they get a new HS going.
hope that helps

[jesse01]

Montgomery ISD has the best schools in the county. There are several really wonderful communities to choose from including golf course, lake front, acreage and gated. Conroe is just a short drive, but you will find that a lot of your shoppping can be done right in the area.

[robertpolyglot]

Take anything you can get! JUST KIDDING! I lived in Reno for a couple of years...the SKANKIEST place I have ever lived in, amazing that I would have moved 125 up the hill from Sac for that! It was the raise + no state income tax.

Seriously, all of those north of town wooded areas are very nice from what I can see. I seriously doubt that any solidly middle class and above areas would have bad school districts, but I may be wrong.

Aren't you glad to be leaving "The Biggest Little City in the World" - bleh...