My child is currently enrolled in private PreK, but I do want to transition my child to the public education system when they are ready for Kindergarten.
I'm currently zoned to attend Joe Lee Johnson Elementary > Deer Park MS > McNeil HS. Joe Lee Johnson was rated fairly decently when I first moved to Round Rock, but more recently, I've read and heard that the administration at that school hasn't been responsive to concerning behavioral and bullying issues, so I plan to submit an in-district transfer request when enrollment opens for the new school year.
I've been scouring old reddit threads and school review sites and it's still unclear to me which schools will help my kid learn and be prepared for the future because no reviews seem specific enough for why they like certain schools.
My main top criteria:
- Do students feel safe at the school, and would they get adequate support and follow-through from staff to address bullying and safety issues? Is there good communication between staff and families about issues when they occur?
- Is the way the curriculum is taught preparing students to succeed at the next grade level and beyond? Is there good communication between teachers and families to help support students at home and at school academically?
- Is there a good student-to-teacher ratio so that students who need additional support actually get the intervention support they need?
- What is the level of diversity in the student body? Do students feel supported at school no matter their background?
- Are the MS and HS feeder school patterns continuing to prepare students for the future?
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Based on what I've looked into so far, and the distance to where we live, I've been debating between Fern Bluff and Deep Wood which both feed into Chisholm Trail MS and Round Rock HS. Ideally, I would like my child to keep to the feeder pattern so they can maintain friendships as they grow older, but I am willing to change the MS or HS if they are not preparing my kid well.
I've been debating between Fern Bluff (Good testing scores--obviously taken with a grain of salt/good reviews) and Deep Wood (for smaller classroom sizes and community feel, even though they don't test as well). But would love to hear more anecdotes from more families that have kids who have gone there more recently, especially around the top criteria I have in mind. Or even current teachers who work at those schools.
I have been asking families in my neighborhood, and it's so concerning to me that so many families are panicking about getting their kids a quality education. There's definitely mistrust in the ability for our public education system to do that (especially because of defunding and politics), but I also don't think I want to contribute to the problem of defunding our public schools by going private (no shade to other parents; perfectly understandable to want what is best for your child). Is Round Rock ISD broken? Thank you in advance!
