Richardson or Garland?

[MaryS80]

Originally Posted by momof2dfw

Most of our subs are all former full time teachers that had kids and stayed home and when the kids started school they went to substitute teaching. So they are familiar w/ the system, have tons of in classroom experience, etc. Being that they really help the teachers when they have to be out as they can keep the kids going on their schedule w/o having to make up anything when the teacher gets back. Since many of them are parents of students they also know the kids by name and the kids know them (and their parents - so you filled in the other day....... how was my child?).

It is not just people that have never lived in the Dallas area that bad mouth the area. My mom is a realtor and she has heard it many times from other realtors. Sad reality is that most of them have NEVER been to Garland EVER. In their minds if the entire city/town is not brand spanking new it is not worthy. Whatever, more room for me. Besides, not that many houses for sale over here like in other areas. Why? Everyone is happy with where they live.

Exactly!!! There are less forclosures here because people buy reasonable house in their budget, not some huge monster house bought to impress others. I have a friend who grew up in Plano and he just thinks Garland is trash. I get him right back and tell him Plano is a bunch of over indulged rich kids on drugs. Garland is the best kept secret in Dallas.

[HockeyDadof2]

And then there are some people who have lived in Garland and experienced SOME failures of GISD. My eldest son attended Abbett Elementary and we experienced a lot more snotty over indulgent parents there than we have now that we have moved to Plano. He later went to Beaver; where he had an absolutely incredible experience with a staff that is second to none. Then on to Jackson......eek. The kids that were part of the magnet program were great, however the overall population was very distasteful. Kids being pulled into the bathrooms and beaten up was a fairly regular occurance. We have since moved to Plano and haven't looked back. Both of my sons were well below Plano standards when we moved here, and that was with my oldest son being a straight A student in Garland. True enough it's tough to get into the top 10% in HS in Plano but he is 92% right now. Every city/school district has it's good and bad. Plano is a great fit for my and my family, Garland is a great fit for others. Personally I would choose Richardson over Garland. My hope would be than people who ask questions on these boards get information from others sources as well.

[stargazer]

Hockeydad I think you answered a question pretty much I was wondering about. I hear about how awesome the magnets are but was wondering about the average student and those that do not go to magnet schools. I certanily would love to hear Moms and Mary's perspectives too about the schools that aren't magnets. My daughter is super talented and can really sing well. She is gifted in writing and at 10 years old was told her reading level was at a 10th grade level. She does great at science and social studies as well but has difficulty with math. We have her tutored and it still is an issue. I don't know by what I was reading on the GISD website that she would be accepted into a magnet school unless we lived around the school. We want to find a district that has good schools for kids who aren't going to go into magnet schools.

[momof2dfw]

I also have a "normal" child that does not go to a magnet. Her school is great. The teachers care and a lot of parent involvement w/o it being OVERLY involved. Every school is going to have a handful of parents that want to try and run things but if the staff and admin take charge it will stay in line. There are however some things that I wish the neighborhood schools would implement that the magnets do. I believe it would be beneficial for all students but sadly it would take a lot of resources in some cases. Overall though it is a very good school. The one thing w/ the magnets though is that the kids are all grouped together for each subject depending on ability. This means they do change classes/teachers for every subject and will have a wider exposure to different people. Then in the middle school academy not only are their regular classes for each subject but you also have honors and enriched honors. If your child is a wiz at reading, social studies and science they would be placed in enriched honors classes (unless you the parent thought it was too much of a struggle and wanted them in a reg. honors class) while for math they could be in an honors class or a regular class. In the neighborhood schools this is not the case (and this is the same for just about EVERY district in the metroplex). This is where I have a problem as my youngest is great at math and science and being in a class w/ kids on the same level could help keep her interested. I have no problem w/ the regular neighborhood schools, if I did I would NOT have my other child in them. I value education too much and if it were not in her best interest to be there she would be in private school or somewhere else.

As for being accepted into a magnet it is based on scores and grades. The only kids that get into a magnet w/o this are the few that live in the immediate area that get accepted to fill the slots for "neighborhood kids". I've seen a many of these kids thru the years shine and end up being in g&t classes.

Today was the awards ceremony at the middle school academy. There were many 6th graders that have taken courses and/or already tested out for some high school classes. I also was very impressed w/ the fact that several of these kids have already won academic scholarships for college.

[HockeyDadof2]

So in secondary school you can't say take Honors Math and Spanish and take regular English?

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by HockeyDadof2

So in secondary school you can't say take Honors Math and Spanish and take regular English?

Yes you can. I was refering to the academy w/ the enriched honors classes available.

[HockeyDadof2]

Originally Posted by MaryS80

Exactly!!! There are less forclosures here because people buy reasonable house in their budget, not some huge monster house bought to impress others. I have a friend who grew up in Plano and he just thinks Garland is trash. I get him right back and tell him Plano is a bunch of over indulged rich kids on drugs. Garland is the best kept secret in Dallas.

So much for all those people that bought houses they could afford in Garland!

Suburbs share foreclosure woes | WFAA.com | Business (http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/DN-foreclose_31bus.ART0.State.Edition1.36d5c91.html - broken link)

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by HockeyDadof2

So much for all those people that bought houses they could afford in Garland!

Suburbs share foreclosure woes | WFAA.com | Business (http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/DN-foreclose_31bus.ART0.State.Edition1.36d5c91.html - broken link)

Yes, but the homes being foreclosed on in this city are on the lower end and not really effecting the more sought after areas. While Frisco had the 3rd highest jump they also had the highest value of foreclosed homes. BIG difference. I'd say most of the ones here in Garland are either investors that want to dump them, investors that had rent homes that are a dump they can't sell and a few that may have other issues like job loss, sudden change in health, job transfer or just hideous and can't sell to anyone.

"In Dallas, the average loan value of homes posted for foreclosure was $110,402, compared with $99,993 in Fort Worth.

In Frisco, the average loan amount this year is $262,714 – one of the highest in Collin County."

[HockeyDadof2]

From the article -

""Garland is second with 967 postings.

"I think it has a lot to do with demographics in those cities," Mr. Roddy said, citing the large number of affordable homes, which appealed to first-time homebuyers.

Some of those novice homeowners get into trouble when they have a financial hiccup, he said.""


I think the writer is probably more right on with this one. My point in cross posting the article was that it's a problem in all the cities around the metroplex, and contrary to MaryS80 contention, even her little slice of heaven isn't immune. The primary reason the average value of the forclosures in Garland are much lower is because the average home price in Garland is much lower. The median value of a home in Frisco in 2005 is estimated at $210,200 in Garland $117,000.