Big Frog II
Active Member
My kids went to McLean and had a great experience.
OT - Need the Board's input on FW private schools
- Thread starter Armadillo
- Start date
ftwfrog
Active Member
For what it's worth, McLean is a fine 6th grade & middle school. Of course I've had a few private school parents tell me it's awful, and their child would never step foot on that campus, but it all depends on what you compare it to.
I don't blame you for wanting to stay in Fort Worth. We moved to the burbs and other than us loving the school's where we are, we wished we lived within a stones throw of TCU.
Good luck dirtbag. Sounds like no matter where our kids are, we'll worry.
Matt Mosley
Member
I went to public school and look how I turned out.
Unemployed, live with my parents, and love rape.
Unemployed, live with my parents, and love rape.
tcumaniac
Full Member
This line of thinking is why so many families, including my own when I was growing up, find Aledo to be such an attractive option.
My wife and I don't plan on having kids any time soon, so hopefully this whole school issue is somewhere close to 10 years away, but it is something I have in the back of my mind.
Experiencing All Saints and then moving to Aledo, I'd say private schools aren't worth the money. I received an excellent education from Aledo, got into TCU with excellent scholarship money (and every other school in the state of Texas), and felt more than prepared for college when I stepped foot on campus.
For a lot of people, the grandparents may be footing the bill, or money may not be an issue. But unless I hit it big in the next 10 years, my kids will be going to public schools. Especially in elementary school.
Bob
Active Member
Well, that's the way it was back then, all just a bit.
Cheers to you to, but that's the way it was just a bit back then. Hope no hairy krishnas spit on you in LAX when you got back from Nam.
UnderToad
Active Member
Made this decision with my kids 15 or so years ago. Was told something interesting by a mom with kids at TVS, CDS and All Saints. She told me TVS was run by the teachers, CDS was run by the administrators and All Saints was run by the parents. I found this to be pretty accurate.
We chose All Saints. Both my kids made the TCU transition easily, graduated on time and found great jobs in their fields.
We chose All Saints. Both my kids made the TCU transition easily, graduated on time and found great jobs in their fields.
flyfishingfrog
Active Member
I think it depends on what your goals are and who you are as a person.
If you are self driven - then where you go to school and what the environment is like is less of an issue.
If someone is trying for TCU, Baylor, etc that is a different goal then an Ivy, Duke, or Stanford.
If you are expecting a scholarship (athletic or academic_ to support your college education vs someone pay for it - that is different also.
As I said, I have it all in the youngest generation of my family and each kid has different abilities and focus areas - so each wants a fit for them.
But in general, I will be honest and tell you that there is a difference in the quality of education the Big 3 private schools are providing vs public schools even if you go all they way from Tanglewood GT through Paschal Honors/AP.
I am not saying that difference is important to everyone or that every kid will benefit from it or will be hurt if they don't have it.
But there is a difference.
Peacefrog
Degenerate
Hell. Y'all have me confused as ship now. We are actively trying to get back to FW. Really just waiting on the right house. We no longer want to do the suburb thing and I just can't spend 20k to send my two kids to elementary. So it's tanglewood or lily b for now. I'll figure out middle school and high school in 5 years. But I am not living in the suburbs again.
I went to public school and didn't pay a dollar for tcu tuition. Are the public schools in FW really that bad or is just an image thing?
I went to public school and didn't pay a dollar for tcu tuition. Are the public schools in FW really that bad or is just an image thing?
flyfishingfrog
Active Member
Where and when did you go to public school?
Peacefrog
Degenerate
flyfishingfrog
Active Member
exactly - that was a long time ago and probably not in a large metropolitan school district.
Just like TCU is a lot different to both get accepted to and get a scholarship from even 10 years ago then it is today.
Not trying to be a jerk - but the "I went to public school and it was good enough for me so its good enough for my kids" is not an well thought out perspective given today's educational environment - particularly if you want to live in Ft Worth proper.
Think about what type of environment your kid will excel at or you want your kid to be surrounded by and find that if you can - private, public, suburbs, city, small classes, large classes, science/math heavy, arts focused, ....
Your kids will spend more time with their classmates and teachers than any other single group in their entire life besides you and your spouse - the environment and the people in it will play a big role in shaping your child whether you like it or not.
and realize you might have to either select where you live based on it or spend money for tuition to get it.
Zebra Frog
KMA
Since I live in Plano, I can't help you with private schools in FW.
But if you are thinking about moving and need mortgage financing, keep me in mind. (Shameless commercial)
And Phormer would be the man for your Title company for closing.
But if you are thinking about moving and need mortgage financing, keep me in mind. (Shameless commercial)
And Phormer would be the man for your Title company for closing.
Peacefrog
Degenerate
That's why I'm all over the place on this. I realize it's not the same today as it wa in days of yore. I was convinced the only route was private if living in Tanglewood post elementary. But enough people have said that McLean and paschal are ok that I don't know what to think anymore.
mcdaddy
Active Member
Ummm....no. Not at all.
TwinCitiesFrog
Member
I only went to public high school in Fort Worth so can't speak for elementary or middle but I thought I was well prepared for college going through Fort Worth Arlington Heights, of course I graduated HS 13 years ago. However my experience is that the drop off between honors/AP courses and the regular courses at Heights was huge whereas that wouldn't be the case in the privates. I will also add that I went to high school with a fair number of kids who went public for elementary, private for middle, and then back to public for high school.
When my family moved to Fort Worth I visited All Saints, Oak Ridge, TVS, Country Day, and SW Christian and ultimately decided that public school was the best fit for me. For me it was more of a cultural fit having always gone to public school in a smaller city (about 100k) before moving to Fort Worth the whole private school atmosphere was foreign to me.
As a side note I saw later on in this thread that you went to school in the MSP burbs. I currently live in the SW suburbs of Minneapolis and the quality of the public schools here vs FWISD is night and day.
TCURiggs
Active Member
We have lots of friends that have gone the Tanglewood, McLean, Paschal route with great experiences. That includes multiple people that have given TVS a shot only for one or both of their kids opting to go back to Paschal. Like others have said, every kid is different. McLean and Paschal are by no means bad options, though.
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toad horny
Active Member
My kids are in the Tanglewood, McLean, Paschal path. Daughter is a junior & son is 8th grade. Both have had great experiences and will be 4th generation Paschal/Central High School grads. That being said, it is not for everyone. I have several friends who send their kids to TVS & have been very happy there. My kids have several friends at TVS, CDS, All Saints, Nolan, & Southwest Christian. It is all about fit & personal preference in my opinion.
Pharm Frog
Full Member
Answer = MOOCs. jk
Here's the extent of my perspective on educational opportunities on the best side of the Metroplex:
Here's the extent of my perspective on educational opportunities on the best side of the Metroplex:
- When I moved my family back to Texas from Tennessee in 2000, my father (a former superintendent of very large school districts (5 high school-variety) and very small school districts (1A and 2A)) said that we were welcome to live anywhere we wanted in the Metroplex but that his grandchildren would go to school in Aledo. That narrowed it down a bit.
- This has not been an enduring opinion by the way as he now believes that private schools are pretty much the only efficacious option for most parents wanting their children to be consistently exposed to solid instruction and accountable learning. Much stress on the word "consistently". Much of this changed opinion relates to his work supervising teacher and administration certifications over the past decade+ after he retired.
- Son of Pharm had been accepted at SCS beginning in the 7th grade and we were seriously considering moving him there until the job sent us to Oklahoma. We were very impressed with SCS in 2008-9 and my father had "supervised" the administrative certifications of several private school leaders in the area including SCS. Have no idea how many of these are still at their respective schools. We never really considered private school for Daughter of Pharm primarily because they were and are very different when it comes to academic motivation.
- The list of school districts is quite long that have found disfavor among my family (sister has worked in special education for five districts in Tarrant and Parker counties, mother worked as senior English teacher, debate coach, etc. etc. etc. for a suburban district adjacent to Tarrant County.)
- I don't envy any parent today when it comes to making education decisions for their children. All I can say with certainty is that if you are planning on finding the "perfect" location to outsource your child's education, you aren't going to find it in the public or private world. Be prepared to be intimately involved in their schooling up to and including making your own informed diagnostics as to their learning and secure supplemental resources to fill in any gaps. And a grade is an increasingly poor metaphor for learning.
- One piece of advice I would offer is find out how much time is actually spent by the teachers "teaching" in their classrooms. You may be surprised at how often the teachers themselves are absent. I have found that it is not uncommon to find teachers absent from their classrooms over 35% of the time (accounting for maternity leave, long-term illness, and other completely understandable factors). Substitute logs are a decent proxy. Son of Pharm had a Biology 1 teacher who averaged less than 3 days in the classroom each week.
- Too long. Don't care. Critical topic.
