Houston middle schools and High schools near University of Houston (Pearland: apartment, rental)

[nyswiss]

Hi,
I have been searching schooling and housing threads, but have not found to much information on my specific situation. I will be relocating to Houston this summer with 3 children in 8th grade, 6th grade and 1st grade. I am looking for an apartment in an area with good public schools (elementary, middle, and high school) as well as a reasonable commute to University of Houston.
From my initial search, it seems finding a good middle school and high school in Houston area can be challenging. Cypress, Fall Creek, Eagle Springs and Summerwood are areas mentioned with good elementary schools. I am not sure how convenient it will be to get to University of Houston from these areas. T H Roger secondary school came up in a list of good schools in Houston. Anyone have any personal information regarding this school and neighborhood ? I have a lot of research to do and any help you can provide will be greatly appreciated.
Is a budget of $1000 to $1200 for a 3 bedroom apartment reasonable for the above metinoed areas?

Thank you in advance.

[Vicman]

T.H. Rogers School has Vanguard elementary and middle school programs, but you have to live within HISD and have your child pass entrance exams.

The areas immediately around the University of Houston are zoned to Ryan Middle School and Yates High School. There are areas zoned to Lamar High School that are close by.

[vegankris]

I live in Eastwood which is just a couple miles from U of H. I have 3 kids, one in elementary, one in middle and one in high school. I'm extremely happy with the schools my kids attend. They are all in the neighborhood and are all HISD schools. My youngest attends Lantrip elementary. It is a magnet school with a focus on environmental sciences and is a blue ribbon school. My middle child attends the Rusk Magnet Middle School. It is focused on math and science and has a wonderfully nurturing environment. My oldest attends Eastwood Academy which is also a blue ribbon school and is currently ranked #72 in the nation among high schools. (there is only one school in HISD ranked higher than Eastwood Academy) Both Eastwood Academy and the Rusk school are currently going through the process of becoming International Baccalaureate schools. Finding a rental home in our neighborhood is tough but not impossible. It is mostly residential single family homes. Eastwood is one of the first residential neighborhoods in Houston with tree lined streets and beautiful old bungalows.

[nyswiss]

Originally Posted by vegankris

I live in Eastwood which is just a couple miles from U of H. I have 3 kids, one in elementary, one in middle and one in high school. I'm extremely happy with the schools my kids attend. They are all in the neighborhood and are all HISD schools. My youngest attends Lantrip elementary. It is a magnet school with a focus on environmental sciences and is a blue ribbon school. My middle child attends the Rusk Magnet Middle School. It is focused on math and science and has a wonderfully nurturing environment. My oldest attends Eastwood Academy which is also a blue ribbon school and is currently ranked #72 in the nation among high schools. (there is only one school in HISD ranked higher than Eastwood Academy) Both Eastwood Academy and the Rusk school are currently going through the process of becoming International Baccalaureate schools. Finding a rental home in our neighborhood is tough but not impossible. It is mostly residential single family homes. Eastwood is one of the first residential neighborhoods in Houston with tree lined streets and beautiful old bungalows.

Thank you so much for the information. If I am correct, magnet schools require one to be a resident of HISD neighborhood and students are selected based on admission tests and lottery ? I will be relocating to Houston middle to end of August. As much as I would prefer to send my children to a charter/magnet school, I think it will be very difficult for my children to get accepted into one of these schools (due to time constraints).
I have come across Memorial HS during my research. Are children zoned to Memorial HS based on their address or is there also an admission test ? What will the commute be like to University of Houston from Hedwig village ? What if I chose to take a bus to University of Houston ?

[nyswiss]

Originally Posted by Vicman

T.H. Rogers School has Vanguard elementary and middle school programs, but you have to live within HISD and have your child pass entrance exams.

The areas immediately around the University of Houston are zoned to Ryan Middle School and Yates High School. There are areas zoned to Lamar High School that are close by.

Thank you for the information. The schools you have mentioned (Ryan middle school, Yates high school) don't seem to be rated very highly. Lamar High school has a better rating than the other 2, but very bad reviews. I don't mind commuting (45-60 minutes) as long as my children are in a good school.

[Mustang1]

I would suggest the Pearland & Clear Lake areas if you are open to the suburbs. Neither would be a bad drive to UH & you should be able to find a 3 bedroom in your price range.

[Vicman]

Which sites have the reviews? They could be useful...

Originally Posted by nyswiss

Thank you for the information. The schools you have mentioned (Ryan middle school, Yates high school) don't seem to be rated very highly. Lamar High school has a better rating than the other 2, but very bad reviews. I don't mind commuting (45-60 minutes) as long as my children are in a good school.

[vegankris]

Originally Posted by nyswiss

Thank you for the information. The schools you have mentioned (Ryan middle school, Yates high school) don't seem to be rated very highly. Lamar High school has a better rating than the other 2, but very bad reviews. I don't mind commuting (45-60 minutes) as long as my children are in a good school.

Ryan middle school and Yates high school are not good. Ryan middle school is only at about 25% capacity because no one wants to send their kids there. Most of the neighborhood kids who have parents who are somewhat involved in their kids lives, send them to YES or KIPP.

Here is the thing. You can do what is "safe" and move to the burbs and send your kids to suburb schools because it's pretty much a guarantee. But, remember, no matter what anyone on here says, the commutes from any far out suburb (and by far out I mean outside the second loop) are terrible. You need to be realistic about it and just plan on spending a lot of time in your car creeping along in traffic. Not to mention the terrible Houston drivers and the hazard associated with driving on the highways here.

Now, as far as schools are concerned.... the ones I mentioned are excellent schools. They are application schools, but since they are in the East End of the city no one really pays attention to them so they are not difficult to get into. Trust me, these schools are full of neighborhood kids. It's just the stigma associated with the area. So, I wouldn't worry about whether or not your kids can get into these schools. As long as they don't have behavioral problems, you shouldn't have a problem getting them in. I knew it was a risk when we decided to live in Eastwood vs. a shiny new suburb. But this is a risk that has paid off in a huge way. I absolutely love Houston and the reason why I love it so much is because of where I chose to live. I would absolutely make the same decision all over again. My husband has a 5.5 mile commute, I'm 2 miles from the edge of downtown and my kids are super happy in school. We never have to drive on Houston's notorious highways, have easy access to public transportation and bike all over the inside of the loop. For us it is a quality of life issue to not have to rely on highways to get to and from work.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by nyswiss

Thank you so much for the information. If I am correct, magnet schools require one to be a resident of HISD neighborhood and students are selected based on admission tests and lottery ? I will be relocating to Houston middle to end of August. As much as I would prefer to send my children to a charter/magnet school, I think it will be very difficult for my children to get accepted into one of these schools (due to time constraints).
I have come across Memorial HS during my research. Are children zoned to Memorial HS based on their address or is there also an admission test ? What will the commute be like to University of Houston from Hedwig village ? What if I chose to take a bus to University of Houston ?

If you are in Europe, be aware that public transportation will seem very deficient in the US. From Hedwig Village, I believe there is a Memorial express bus to downtown, but then you would have to transfer and it won't be immediate. If you intend to use mass transit look up ridemetro.org so you have an idea. In Houston in particular, most of the riders on city buses are those too poor to own a car. Only on the suburban park-n-ride and express buses are there a lot of discretionary transit users.

Middle schools in the city are pretty weak. You might look at housing in the Pershing Middle School area. Pershing feeds Bellaire High School which is very good. The commute to U of H is pretty easy. Lamar HS's international bacclaureate program is considered pretty good (which requires admission-the negative reviews you saw were probably about the rest of the school). Most of Lamar HS students come from Lanier Middle School. There are some excellent elementary schools in that area, but the housing is also generally more expensive. I knew people with kids in Pershing who were pleased. I don't know anyone who has had kids in Lanier in recent years. These are the Houston Independent Schools closest to U of H to the west (other than Yates HS and Ryan MS which you need to avoid).

Memorial HS is based on address and the schools there are very good, but the commute is not easy. Memorial is in the Spring Branch Independent School District if that helps you look things up.

Pearland, as suggested, has some good schools and the distance is shorter to U of H. There is a big variety of housing in the area. Pearland is the Pearland I.S.D.

GreatSchools.org is a good source for information on schools in the U.S. if you haven't already discovered it.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by nyswiss

Hi,
I have been searching schooling and housing threads, but have not found to much information on my specific situation. I will be relocating to Houston this summer with 3 children in 8th grade, 6th grade and 1st grade. I am looking for an apartment in an area with good public schools (elementary, middle, and high school) as well as a reasonable commute to University of Houston.
From my initial search, it seems finding a good middle school and high school in Houston area can be challenging. Cypress, Fall Creek, Eagle Springs and Summerwood are areas mentioned with good elementary schools. I am not sure how convenient it will be to get to University of Houston from these areas. T H Roger secondary school came up in a list of good schools in Houston. Anyone have any personal information regarding this school and neighborhood ? I have a lot of research to do and any help you can provide will be greatly appreciated.
Is a budget of $1000 to $1200 for a 3 bedroom apartment reasonable for the above metinoed areas?

Thank you in advance.

Cypress (Cypress-Fairbanks I.S.D.) is far to the northwest out highway US 290. University of Houston is 3 miles southeast of downtown. Summerwood (Humble I.S.D.) is northeast about 10-15 miles from downtown near Beltway 8 south of Lake Houston. It used to be a difficult commute, but they widened the freeway about 5 years ago and I really don't know now.