Middle schools for houses zoned to Bellaire HS (Meyerland/Johnston, Pershing, Fondren) (Houston: transfer, buy)

[havehouquestions]

Greetings.

We are currently looking at houses zoned to Bellaire High School, and quite interested in having a house that is also zoned to good elementary and middle schools. No kids yet but we plan to make this our "forever" home.

We have been mainly looking at greatschools ratings but have also looked at the TEA's School Report Cards. Based on the above, it seems that, with respect to middle schools, Meyerland/Johnston is slightly "better" than Pershing which is slightly "better" than Fondren. Additionally, Pin Oak seems to be a great school, but one cannot, to our understanding, be "zoned" to Pin Oak. Rather, there is only a lottery for those zoned to Meyerland, Pershing, and Fondren to attend Pin Oak.

Does the above generally seem to be a correct understanding of the middle school options and their relative rankings? Many of the houses we have liked have been zoned to Pershing, any specific things that we should consider or evaluate with respect to Pershing in particular?

Thank you so much!

[lotophage]

I think your understanding is right, as things currently stand. I expect Pershing will overtake Meyerland in the rankings over the next couple years because of the demographic changes inside the loop (and also in Meyerland.) The rankings are very affluence driven, so I wouldn't consider the small difference between Pershing and Meyerland to be all that significant. Fondren isn't typically on the radar for most of the people I talked to, so I don't really have sense of how it is regarded.

Meyerland does have the music magnet which provides a possible path into HSPVA, which is better than any available zoned high school options. I'd be okay with sending my kids to either Meyerland or Pershing, but I would definitely try to get into Pin Oak.

[Meyerland]

This is my personal rankings of middle schools in HISD on the West/SW side.

1.Pin Oak - 2 entry gateways : Boundary Lottery and Magnet Lottery (Its easier to get in than most people think) If you are zoned to Long, Meyerland ( Johnston) , and Pershing you apply directly to the campus. Fondren students can not use the boundary option.
2. Lanier ( Boundary and Magnet)
3. TH Rogers ( Vanguard Magnet)
4. Tanglewood ( Grady) they accept applications at the campus, and you can tour here. It’s not a Magnet. This is a small campus near the Galleria.
5. meyerland MS ( Johnston) It is still far above Pershing IMO. There is less discipline issues here than at Pershing.
6. Pershing

Fondren isn’t even on the list.

[Meyerland]

All but 2 kids out of 100 kids in my daughter’s fifth grade class got into a middle school they liked. Everyone car pools or uses the buses. It’s not that big of a deal. It’s harder to get into the Magnet programs in elementary than it is to get into middle school.

[predatorprey]

I also would consider Magnet schools, some of witch have both Elem and Middle school programs in the same building.

Mandarin Immersion Magnet School - PK-8
TH Rodgers (If your future kid qualifies for GT) - PK-8

[havehouquestions]

Originally Posted by Meyerland

This is my personal rankings of middle schools in HISD on the West/SW side.

1.Pin Oak - 2 entry gateways : Boundary Lottery and Magnet Lottery (Its easier to get in than most people think) If you are zoned to Long, Meyerland ( Johnston) , and Pershing you apply directly to the campus. Fondren students can not use the boundary option.
2. Lanier ( Boundary and Magnet)
3. TH Rogers ( Vanguard Magnet)
4. Tanglewood ( Grady) they accept applications at the campus, and you can tour here. It’s not a Magnet. This is a small campus near the Galleria.
5. meyerland MS ( Johnston) It is still far above Pershing IMO. There is less discipline issues here than at Pershing.
6. Pershing

Fondren isn’t even on the list.

Thank you so much for your helpful list and for letting us know about the success of almost all kids in your daughter's fifth grade class getting into a middle school that they like.

Regarding the Lanier boundary option - we noticed that it is not listed on https://www.houstonisd.org/Page/148204 "BOUNDARY OPTION TRANSFER"? Should we be looking somewhere else...?

[havehouquestions]

Also, as a general follow-up, we are most likely to currently buy a house zoned to Twain, Pershing, and Bellaire. We haven't really seriously looked at houses zoned to Lamar as it seems to be lower ranked than Bellaire (we want to stay inside the loop and definitely within HISD), and have seen houses zoned to Horn, Kolter, Lovett, Condit, and Herod as well as Pershing and Meyerland (Johnston).

The question - is there a theoretical triad of elementary, middle, and high school that we be "optimal" to be zoned to (and that one can, actually, be zoned to somewhere in Houston)? I am guessing that the answer is no (or controversial), but wanted to double check...

Thank you all for your helpful replies!

[houston-nomad]

Your Twain-Pershing-Bellaire triad is pretty good. Some people might argue for an elementary like Roberts or River Oaks, but I think once you're in the top tier of schools it's just a matter of preference. Twain is great. Pershing, as noted above, is not the best but it's hard to get all three. Maybe better to get a Meyerland-Bellaire combo but I don't know if it makes a huge difference. Being zoned to Bellaire will definitely give you piece of mind, but that is also a long way off for you.

[hbcu]

look at it this way when the kid is a senior

there can only be 1 valedictorian, Bellaire and Lamar's graduation classes are normally absurd (700+) so top 50% is a 350 class ranking. Your competing against non-zoned students and zoned students cramped into those schools. HISD buses kids from all over to those schools for some dumb reason.

Go elsewhere the path is much less for the same objective - get into college and a higher class ranking means more opportunities and certain schools look at economically disadvantaged schools first for scholarship money.

[Meyerland]

The Lanier Boundary zone is an automatic entrance if you live in their zone. Look up the zone on the HISD Boundary map for middle schools. I like the Briargrove El, Tanglewood MS, and Lee zone. All the kids zoned to Lee HS can attend Lamar HS.