Are there many great schools in N. SA? Is greatschools.net accurate? (San Antonio: how much)

[benandgrace]

Thanks for all the help from this forum. I feel like I'm starting to get to know SA nearly as well as I can before my first visit. I see a lot of negative statements in this forum about SA schools, mentioning that SA schools lag in teaching/learning. On the other hand, I've read a few positive statements about northern SA schools. So I'd like to see how much info and opinions I can gather about learning (or lack of) in northern SA schools. I'm interested in Shavano Park, Stone Oak, and other norhern schools not far away from the Hollywood Park area (where I would work). Some zip codes have already been suggested to me, so opinions about schools in these areas would be helpful:
//www.city-data.com/forum/san-a...vano-park.html
I think I remember that greatschools.net gave most Shavano Park schools very high ratings. I don't know much about that site or how accurate they are.

[Michele164]

In my opinion Alamo Heights has the best public schools in the city, then the Stone Oak area-Northwest ISD and then Northside ISD. However, most if not all are overcrowded. My daughter attends a school in Northside ISD, it is okay. We had the choice to move to Stone Oak, but because of all the traffic in the area we dediced not to. I do not know anything about Shavano Park. I would not rely too heavily on greatschools.net it can be a good start to finding a school district.

[slaleman]

Here's the funny thing about schools - it has very little to do with the teachers in the school, and a whole lot to do with the families that attend that school. Now I'm sure there are teachers who would disagree with me, but keep in mind that I'm an educator too, and this is my opinion on the matter.

Parent involvement has an awful lot to do with how well kids do in school, and from all of the schools I've worked at/with in the San Antonio area, the ones that have the highest level of parent involvement also seem to be the ones with the best reputation. That's not to say that they're necessarily the best schools with the best teachers, but the more parent involvement, the more chatter you see on boards like this. The other piece of this is that parents who are involved in their child's education are more than likely going to help continue that child's education at home.

In poorer neighborhoods, many parents have to work long hours or multiple jobs to make ends meet, and therefore don't have the kind of time to be as involved in their child's education. That isn't to say they don't value education, because a lot of them do (and we've already beaten THAT discussion to death here). In the "rich" neighborhoods it seems like (to me anyway) there are an awful lot of stay at home moms who have the time and ability to be at the school with the kids, and pick them up after school, and help them with their homework when they get home.

And that's where the perception of "better" schools comes in. Walk into a school north of 1604 and notice how many parent volunteers there are, how many parents come to have lunch with their kids. Do the same thing for schools inside 410 and see how they compare.

That doesn't say anything about the desire or will of those students to learn, or the ability of the teachers. All it shows is how involved the parents are, and ask any teacher - the kid whose parents are involved, most of the time will outperform the kid whose parents aren't involved.

Apologies for the lengthy post...

[GIAcakes]

Hi. I live in MN but I can tell what I have heard. A friend of mine just moved back to Mn from living in SA for 10 years. She an intelligent, educated librarian. She told me the only districts she would recommend would be NISD and NEISD. She had a few friends who were teachers in these districts, and send she can vouche for their "fabulousness". I do trust her opinion. We are known for good schools here in MN, and she was comparing them to our schools.

I do trust greatschools.net. They post the schools test scores. I would hope that is accurate info. I'm not sure about trusting the overall rating, but they do give important info.

[42JetSet]

When we were searching for the area/schools we wanted our children to be in, I looked at each school's website and really went over the profile of each school and studied the test scores for the past couple of years. I did start at greatschools.net and let it be a jumping off point and link to those test scores. Like so many people, we chose where to look for homes based on exactly where we wanted our girls to go to school... not just the district, but individual schools.

I am right there with you feeling like I'm going in blind! This is really intimidating. You have to take a lot on faith when you are coming in with absolutely no one to guide you -- I totally understand your angst. We decided if we don't like the school system we've chosen we can always go to "Plan B" (and no, we don't know what "Plan B" is yet, but we'll figure it out if it comes to that!). So far, with pre-enrolling from a whole continent away, we've had good communication, good help and very kind, patient people answering our questions. We'll see.... ~:-}

[jenniplus]

I live on the northwest side of town, in the great northwest subdivision. My kids attend northside isd schools. I believe, like the above poster, that the school is only as good as the parental involvement. We love our elementary and while we have been itching to move to a bigger place (we have 5 kids), we stay because of the school. Our middle school is considered less than desirable by many of the parents here, but I love it. While back in the 90's there were problems, they are strong disciplinarians and don't put up with anything anymore. My friends who live in Alamo Heights talk about all the programs they have, which I would love for my children to benefit, but I am not interested in emptying my bank account for a schools. I will have to teach them on my own to be bilingual, have a good study and work ethic.

Before we moved back to San Antonio (our oldest were 3&4) we knew we wanted Northside ISD and we wanted to live on the far northwest side of town. We thought if the schools didn't pan out we would plan b it too...private school. Fast forward 9 years + 3 more kids. Thank goodness it worked out, because I can't spend that much money on private school for 5 kids. We are involved. While I am not a PTA mom per se, I am up there at both schools and we volunteer when we can and try to get on one committee per school per year. I know that when the teachers know you, it makes a huge difference. It's a shame, but that is the game. We get the teachers we want, we get those courtesy phone calls before there can be a problem.