Relocating to Harlingen

[doss1]

I think the level of Spanish spoken has decreased in schools in the Valley. If you're in Harlingen, you won't have to worry about your kids not knowing Spanish. This is more reserved for the border towns like Brownsville, Olmito, La Joya, etc. On the plus side, having your kids enrolled in school in the Valley can be a benefit and they may be able to speak it after they graduate! My mom is aleman, blonde with blue eyes and she works as a counselor in a small school that has 95% of kids of Latin ethnicity. She has picked up enough to get by...and that's all you really need anyways.

[MrsG78526]

If your husband doesn't mind a 30 minute drive, you may want to consider living in Brownsville. The northern part of town--off of Alton Gloor--has many family-friendly subdivisions such as Emerald Valley, Lakeway, The Woods, Sugar Mill, Briarwyck, etc. For younger children, Kenmont is a great Montessori school. For older kids, these neighborhoods (except The Woods) will have you zoned to either Hanna or Pace H.S. Both are good schools with a diverse population. I have friends who are teachers in Harlingen and, from what I've heard, I would much rather have my children attend school in Brownsville. For the health-minded, this area of town has a great bike and walking trail that meanders through many "resacas" or man-made ponds. You're also near the shopping mall and movies, many stores (Super Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, Target, H-E-B, Best Buy, etc.) as well as Gold's Gym and fast-food and dine-in restaurants. Most teenagers here enjoy the mall, movies, going to South Padre (about 30 minutes away), and the seasonal activities that are offered such as (Sombrero Festival or Boo at the Zoo). It's not the most exciting life, but it gives kids something to do. As a mom, you'll want to watch for the kids going "across" to eat/drink in Mexico. Underage drinking is very common in that regard. For summer fun, a season pass to Schlitterbahn on Padre would be a great thing for the kids.

Hope that helps.

[schog]

Originally Posted by elvalle_mayne

There's a lot of kids who can't speak Spanish in the valley and are Mexican. yeah they get picked on a bit, but isn't that a part of growing up? As long as they can stand up for themselves (a simple shut up it's annoying will suffice) they'll be fine. Fact is, the students are just giving them a hard time for the sake of it, not like they're really trying to shun them out of society.

True.... but we come from Santa Teresa, NM that shares a school in Sunland Park NM in the Gadsden ISD. HUGE socioeconomic difference. We just had more than four incidents where it got physical due to some students calling them some expletives in Spanish and pretty much got slapped around for it for not responding in Spanish (that was one) by four girls. Having derogatory songs sung about them in Spanish ( I witnessed that one). Things of that nature. I was told on one occasion that a student told her parents that the school would check legal status to scare her parents so they wouldnt show up for a conference we held. Just dont want it to get that bad again. I know kids can be cruel and teasing is part of growing up but my kids had anxiety going to school. We moved them to an El Paso school a year ago, no problems.

[MrsG78526]

You'd be surprised by how many kids don't speak Spanish down here. While most first-generation kids do, a lot of second or third generation students struggle with the language. Honestly, as a middle-school teacher it really isn't an issue for kids who don't speak Spanish. All kids have their cliques and the ESL kids tend to stick together. It's truly not an issue here...at least not in Brownsville schools.

The only things I know about Harlingen and Harlingen South are bad things with tons of fighting, poor administration, and district-wide problems. You'll hear A LOT about the Brownsville school district, but it is all politics and school board issues and very little to do with the schools. In all honesty, my children are attending private school through the fifth grade and will then attend Vela Middle School and Hanna High School. This is a matter of my personal choice and preference as I work for the district and can request student transfers.

If you'd like to get a feel for the schools, I suggest you checkout their webpages. I know Hanna has a yearbook page with tons of pics (::: My Homepage :::) and the Pace website has tons of pics throughout including their band page (Pace Band Home Page (http://www.bisd.us/pace/Band08-09/index.html - broken link)).

Best of luck.