You’re comparing Katy and other districts to ALL of HISD. You can’t compare the students and their backgrounds across the HISD area to most of those attending Katy, etc. If you kids are motivated enough to get into an HISD school with an International Baccalaureate program they will have no better education than almost anywhere. Of course the kid needs to be motivated (as well as the parents). Besides, I thought we were talking about best neighborhoods. I’ll place the Heights neighborhoods against any in the city, including West U. We have porches and frequently know most of our neighbors. I love the place.
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Nothing against the Heights, but I hope that each and every person at that “porch party” was a) wearing a mask, and b) maintaining six feet of space between themselves.
If they weren’t, then I can’t say that that’s a strong endorsement for the Heights.
If they were…then that must be one HUMONGOUS porch! I have a hard time believing that that many people could fit on one porch while maintaining a safe distance, but hey, maybe someone has a HUGE lot!
And if they were spread over several lots to maintain a safe distance (which could get pretty far away and weaken the sound), then what’s the point?
As for HISD, there may be a small number of good schools in HISD, but from top to bottom, they won’t come close to matching Katy ISD.
Every high school I see there in Katy (my wife’s previous architecture firm designed some of them) is like an educational palace.
And many people in the better neighborhoods within HISD are going to send their kids to private schools rather than have them settle for what HISD has to offer their neighborhood. I’ve seen that personally. By contrast, you VERY RARELY see that in the neighborhoods zoned to Katy ISD; Cinco Ranch included.
It’s those quality public schools that give such neighborhoods higher rankings.
The few HISD neighborhoods that tend to have better schools (like Bellaire), obviously have better neighborhood rankings, in no small part because they have exceptional HISD schools.
I would imagine that the musician was playing from his porch and the crowd was out front. And 40 people spaced 6 ft apart would take up about 1,000 sq ft. But is that really something worth arguing about?
Well, yes.
After all, aren’t most “public gatherings” now basically prohibited?
There are some really solid elementary schools in the Heights and the surrounding area. There are also some less desirable ones. You can’t lump them all together.
There are also some great magnet schools in HISD.
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Randy,
That may represent a change. When I was a kid growing up, some of those so called “magnet” high school programs were really just “fronts” for recruiting more out of zone football stars to your school.
The old joke used to be that when anyone played Lamar or Washington, they were, in effect, playing the HISD all-stars, as both schools used their “magnet” programs to draw in more top jocks from outside their zones.
There is some of that in HS but there are magnet schools at the different levels. There are also some HISD magnet high schools that don’t seem to focus on sports.
I’m not an expert on any of that though.
Lamar used to have (and possibly still has) a “magnet” business program. Back in the day, they would recruit jocks from other HISD schools to play football there as “magnet” students. They would typically have to take one business class elective while there in order to qualify as “magnet” students, but otherwise, they were recruited to be jocks.
Since some of you want to give respect and kudos to the high achievers I want to give a shout out to the low achievers too.
A particular brand of low achievers.
Those that:
Slept in a homeless shelter.
Went to school with an empty stomach
Did not have parents that read the Houston Chronicle with them growing up.
Did not have parents that read at all
Did not have parents
Had a parent, sibling, or a stranger that beat them or raped them.
Had a learning disability that was not diagnosed.
But they came to class and some how made it through.
And I congratulate their teachers too who did their best each day for 50 minutes with 30 of these students - times 5 times a day - times 5 days a week.
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Allow me to make ONE amendment.
I’ve now become aware of something that I was not aware of previously.
Apparently there is one thing that now exists in HISD that did NOT exist back in my time: Carnegie Vanguard High School. It opened in 2002, and has a 100% AP curriculum. There was no such thing in HISD back in my time; there was a Jones High School that had Vanguard, but it wasn’t particularly well thought of. Outside of Bellaire (which, at the time, was easily the top HISD school in town), HSPVA (for specially talented types), and Lamar (with its IB curriculum), HISD schools represented pretty slim pickings.
However, it is worth noting that it is a 100% magnet high school, and is not a typically zoned neighborhood school.
It draws students from throughout HISD. Given that, its presence cannot be necessarily taken as a positive reflection upon the neighborhood that it is located in. It is apparently centrally located in order to accommodate students from throughout the city.
I suppose that if a student within HISD can get into that high school, they’ll probably find very strong and rigorous academics there.
However, keep in mind that Carnegie Vanguard might literally be the exception that proves the rule. In general, I would say that most HISD high schools are academically either barely adequate or even sub-standard.
I suppose that if you live in Bellaire and can send your kids there, or you can get your kids into Carnegie Vanguard, or perhaps into Lamar (which had a big IB program back in the day) then you can probably feel OK about the education that your kids receive in HISD.
But I would strongly advise against ending your kids to any other HISD school; although, if they have a special talent, HSPVA might be an option.
I’m guessing that museum taught at Carnegie Vanguard. Museum, am I correct?
If so, then yeah, that school may be in a neighborhood that would have been considered not so good when I was a kid, but that now appears to be undergoing gentrification. Likewise, I’m sure that the students there did indeed go on to top schools, but keep in mind that that is NOT a typical HISD student body. It includes only the very best of what every other HISD school in town might otherwise have, were that school not there.
But again, given that most of that HS’s students aren’t from that neighborhood, and are from all over town, that school would not necessarily be a reflection upon the neighborhood itself. The school doesn’t raise the neighborhood’s desirability, necessarily, the way Cinco Ranch’s schools would similarly raise the desirability of that neighborhood.
Yes, but kids are zoned to where they live. It would be great if you can choose the school you desire to be zoned to. As a former HISD student, I don’t look back and regret it. I had some of the greatest teachers one could have, that taught me a lot. I am quite sure many of my firmer teachers are very old or has passed away by now. But I wouldn’t trade it for nothing. My kids are in a top notched Elementary school in Humble ISD covering Kingwood. I have a lot of respect for you Law. Your household mirrors mine in a way. My wife is the Attorney and I am the one with the Architecture Degree.
That is quite a wild story about the former Katy ISG Superintendent. That must have been bizarre to witness an adult accuse the guy of being a bully from junior high and seeking to get him to resign and then have UH remove his dissertation. It’s amazing to me in today’s world that someone would steal content from a similar dissertation. One of the points of a dissertation is to do the research to justify your findings or case. Pretty lazy and full of cheating. Hindt’s probably toast going forward on those two fronts with his career.
But regardless of Hindt’s issues, Katy ISD is definitely one of our best school districts. I regret not moving into the Katy ISD versus our FBISD (which isn’t bad with its “A” ranking per Law’s rankings - but I’ve been marginally OK with them) and I live few miles down the road.
That superintendent thing was indeed a zoo!
But I when I look at Katy High Schools, I see the very best of what public schools can offer, despite that!
Surprised I missed that one. Of course I travel non-stop and miss a lot of local news.
I have 2 nephews and 1 niece that are Katy Tigers. All top students with 5 degrees from Katy ISD. All were very satisfied.
Carnegie and Debakey are easily the best rated public schools in Houston. Its not by accident either.
I never understood how someone could get up at 5 am every day to bus across town for school. For what reason if you don’t finish in a certain percentile or come away with some unique skill.
Lamar recruited-but has nothing to show for it unfortunately. They single handily hurt Yates, Madison, Sterling, Worthing, etc from winning the big one in football as if they stayed one that was the depth needed to win or that impact player. Their track record of qualifying kids to the next level wasn’t any better ironically. They played their games damn near in Fort Bend County and got no support as HISD alumni support at some high schools is atrocious like they were ashamed to go there.
What also hurt is they took plenty of middle class African Americans away from their communities under the guidance of a magnet program so you have generations of kids not identifying with the areas they grew up in which made a major difference. Bellaire and Westbury also did the same in raiding the hood but Westbury couldn’t keep up as their money wasn’t as long. If The original residents would’ve stayed and kept the schools full there never would’ve been a need to pull students.
Now it’s a mess and has spread all over Houston.
The problem with these academic bubbles in Timbuktu (Katy and beyond) is those schools are jammed to capacity so you better be prepared if you fall behind. You don’t have that neighborhood feel of folks looking out for you out there.
And also, some kids fall through the cracks college wise as certain schools aren’t pushed in those areas.