Inner Loop Elementary Schools

[RAS909]

Originally Posted by JasonAndJulie

Where are you moving from? Are your children currently enrolled in magnet schools?

Hi,
We will be moving from Baltimore where the kids are enrolled in private school. School year ends June out here so we are looking to relocate right after school year ends.

[kjdavis]

I recently moved here rather quickly and didn't have time to map out my kids' school experience. Reflecting back on it, I would say live in the neighborhood where you know you want your children to go.

I moved inside the loop in a very prestigious neighborhood, but my kids are zoned outside of the loop to a title 1 school. They are being taught far below capacity and I am beyond frustrated with how difficult it is to get them into the neighborhood Vanguard program. They were both tested right away per teachers/magnet coordinators request (I didn't even know they were being tested), but I am nearing the end of the first quarter and nothing has changed.

One of the largest mistakes we made moving here is not doing our homework about getting our kids into good schools. The schools with great programs are always full. We arrived 1 month before school started and I drove around the city talking to every Magnet coordinator I could. It was too late to get them in anywhere else.

I am very frustrated with the whole process. I don't mind that my kids go to a title 1 school. The school on our street in AZ was title 1, but the education was very high standard. I don't see that here at all.

Sorry to vent on your thread. I just wasn't prepared for this to happen and feel that it may happen to other parents.

[RAS909]

kjdavis, thank you for your post. I am sorry for your frustration and hope everything works out for your kids. but, i am glad you wrote because as a out of town relocater, I am getting to understand similar issues...all the magnet programs have their deadline in Jan. Schools out here end in June so we can't move earlier and won't get a HSID address before that...so how do we apply to the magnet programs or even ensure that one of the elementary schools we are looking at won't get filled up by June? Any ideas would be appreciated. Also if you don't mind, did you by any chance face your problem in the West U, Horn, River Oaks or ROberts elementary zone? Thank you again and hope for the best for your family.

[Decafmom]

We relocated here in the middle of last school year and had many of the same questions. We ended up sending our child to a private school, so we never really had to nail down all the answers, but let me tell you what we did find out.

It is my understanding that if you move into a school zone before the first day of school, they accommodate you at the neighborhood school that school year. This did not apply to us; we moved during the school year, so we would only be accommodated by the neighborhood school if they were not already at capacity. Our child would have been sent to a nearby school with room for new students, then we would have gotten a spot at our zoned school the following fall. If you move during the summer, I believe that your children would get spots at the neighborhood schools; it is possible that there is some registration deadline before the start of the school year, but I do not think it is significantly earlier. The schools themselves should be able to answer this.

I do not think that there is a way to secure a spot in one of the more sought after vanguard magnet programs if you do not live in HISD in December of the year before (plenty of people who do live in HISD in December are unable to secure spots at these schools!). You can kind of get around this by moving into the school zone for a magnet school (ROE, Travis) before the start of the school year. I believe, just from what I have gathered online, that ROE does not distinguish between zoned students and magnet students in forming classrooms, so this may be an option for you (PLEASE verify all this info with someone who really, truly knows - this is just what I was able to gather through various informal channels). However, a home in ROE's district is so expensive that, unless you were already looking at homes in that price range, it might be more cost effective just to live somewhere else and pay for private school. It would also leave you more options if you were not satisfied with the school. Travis elementary is another vanguard magnet, but they do separate the magnet students from the neighborhood students, so your children would have to both test into the vanguard magnet program and secure a spot in those classrooms. I do not know how hard this would be/how long it would take/how capacity issues would affect this.

We toured West U elementary and Roberts and considered buying in these districts. West U has gifted classrooms and regular classrooms, Roberts keeps its gifted students in regular classrooms but differentiates on an individual basis for students needing more challenge. West U was able to tell us right away that there would not be a spot for our child moving into the district mid-year; they were at capacity. We never asked at Roberts.

Hope that helps somewhat. If I were you, I think I would call a few of these neighborhood schools, and ask exactly how a student who lives in the zone registers to attend/if there are any deadlines you need to be aware of. Our situation was complicated by the fact that we were trying to make a move in the middle of the school year; I think you will have more options/clarity moving in the summer.

[MCoe]

A new PP who will be moving to Houston in Dec - so thank you Decafmom. A lot of useful information that makes me realize I need to be looking into the admission process at these schools sooner rather than later!

[RAS909]

Thank you for the very useful information!! We are visiting the open houses in Nov for these schools and will definitely ask these questions. We are also checking out St. Johns but would really prefer to the send the kids to public elementary and then transition over to private if needed at MS level. If you don't mind, what private school did you decide on? Any other useful nuggets of information regarding private school applications? Thank you again!!

Originally Posted by Decafmom

We relocated here in the middle of last school year and had many of the same questions. We ended up sending our child to a private school, so we never really had to nail down all the answers, but let me tell you what we did find out.

It is my understanding that if you move into a school zone before the first day of school, they accommodate you at the neighborhood school that school year. This did not apply to us; we moved during the school year, so we would only be accommodated by the neighborhood school if they were not already at capacity. Our child would have been sent to a nearby school with room for new students, then we would have gotten a spot at our zoned school the following fall. If you move during the summer, I believe that your children would get spots at the neighborhood schools; it is possible that there is some registration deadline before the start of the school year, but I do not think it is significantly earlier. The schools themselves should be able to answer this.

I do not think that there is a way to secure a spot in one of the more sought after vanguard magnet programs if you do not live in HISD in December of the year before (plenty of people who do live in HISD in December are unable to secure spots at these schools!). You can kind of get around this by moving into the school zone for a magnet school (ROE, Travis) before the start of the school year. I believe, just from what I have gathered online, that ROE does not distinguish between zoned students and magnet students in forming classrooms, so this may be an option for you (PLEASE verify all this info with someone who really, truly knows - this is just what I was able to gather through various informal channels). However, a home in ROE's district is so expensive that, unless you were already looking at homes in that price range, it might be more cost effective just to live somewhere else and pay for private school. It would also leave you more options if you were not satisfied with the school. Travis elementary is another vanguard magnet, but they do separate the magnet students from the neighborhood students, so your children would have to both test into the vanguard magnet program and secure a spot in those classrooms. I do not know how hard this would be/how long it would take/how capacity issues would affect this.

We toured West U elementary and Roberts and considered buying in these districts. West U has gifted classrooms and regular classrooms, Roberts keeps its gifted students in regular classrooms but differentiates on an individual basis for students needing more challenge. West U was able to tell us right away that there would not be a spot for our child moving into the district mid-year; they were at capacity. We never asked at Roberts.

Hope that helps somewhat. If I were you, I think I would call a few of these neighborhood schools, and ask exactly how a student who lives in the zone registers to attend/if there are any deadlines you need to be aware of. Our situation was complicated by the fact that we were trying to make a move in the middle of the school year; I think you will have more options/clarity moving in the summer.