I know a La Vega Pirate would not like Connally, but there is a good chance that a $10 billion data farm will be be built just north of town in Connally ISD. There are some great homes in the country and river off of Gholson Rd. If that data center come to fruition (they have already bought the land), then CISD will become one of the richest per student capita districts in the state and will have to really try hard to spend all the tax dollars that will come its way.

Jackson Bear said:

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My wife and I were exactly in your situation almost 20 years ago. We moved back from Dallas for several reasons, but one was to be closer to family and that allowed my mom to care for our son instead of daycare. It proved to be a wonderful experience for both my son and mom. If your mom lives in the Timbercrest area, then living in the west side of town near easy access to Highway 6 would make for a really easy commute to her house plus either Providence or Baylor Scott/White for your wife. That rules out China Spring, which has no direct routes to any of those locations.

Our first house was in WISD and we (like FirmBear24) sent my son to St. Paul's. No one does elementary education like the Episcopals. We could have transferred him to Midway anytime after 1st grade because my wife got a teaching job there, but the overall education and spiritual formation was such a good fit we kept him there through 6th grade. Keep that school in the back of your mind if you ever decide private school is an option. From there the best private in town in Vanguard by far. I taught there for many years.

From the west side of town near the hospitals and easy access to I35 and Timbercrest you have the options of Robinson, Lorena, and Midway. My personal opinion is Midway is by far the best option if your are looking for the best public school academic opportunities combined with high level sports/fine arts and other extracurriculars. Midway's size allows them to offer more advanced classes and CTE education. I also personally like the high level of competition in athletics and would rather my son play on the 6A level. My son thrived in this environment and has a group of 15-20 friends for life that all came from great homes and families. He became an all-state athlete and National Merit because of the opportunities at Midway and their excellent staff and leadership. The community is very strong and the boys all went to the Wed. night and Sun. night activities at FBC Woodway. That church is too conservative for us on Sun. morning, but their Youth Ministry is great and contributes to the community feel of MISD.

There are many neighborhoods in your price range in the district. Some are new homes, and some are older that need updating like FirmBear24 said. Don't worry about a supposed new high school that will split the district in the short term or probably the medium term. I had a conversation with Rick Tullis of the Midway board this summer (he is probably going to be the next county judge as well) and Midway is surprised at the latest attendance numbers slowing down in the elementary levels. MHS is a medium size 6A and it is extremely expensive to build a new high school. Contrary to what people say, there is no land owned by Midway that could support a new high school. No one wants to split the community because it would have to be done North/South and would result in a wealthy high school and another school that would overall be another demographic.

Shoot me a DM if you have any questions. FirmBear24 would also be a great resource.

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appreciate it!!

Jackson Bear said:

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I know a La Vega Pirate would not like Connally, but there is a good chance that a $10 billion data farm will be be built just north of town in Connally ISD. There are some great homes in the country and river off of Gholson Rd. If that data center come to fruition (they have already bought the land), then CISD will become one of the richest per student capita districts in the state and will have to really try hard to spend all the tax dollars that will come its way.

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they are currently rated F by the state and about to be taken over arent they? Maybe all that tax revenue will fix those issues but I really fear moving to a district that is worse than even la vega has ever been

The high school is not failing. It has been a B until this year I believe. It actually take the students from the lower level schools that have not done well and gets them graduated and off to college or the workforce.

Just throwing that possibility out there since there is beautiful land out there. If the data center goes in, it will be in the news by the spring/summer.

T-REX said:

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Jackson Bear said:

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I know a La Vega Pirate would not like Connally, but there is a good chance that a $10 billion data farm will be be built just north of town in Connally ISD. There are some great homes in the country and river off of Gholson Rd. If that data center come to fruition (they have already bought the land), then CISD will become one of the richest per student capita districts in the state and will have to really try hard to spend all the tax dollars that will come its way.

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they are currently rated F by the state and about to be taken over arent they? Maybe all that tax revenue will fix those issues but I really fear moving to a district that is worse than even la vega has ever been

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If you're an old La Vega boy, you should probably try Robinson. I know that sounds sacrilegious, but if you moved all the way up to Woodway, the culture shock might be too much to bear. Robinson's a pretty good transition zone. It's kinda like Bellmead and Woodway had a baby.

Robert Wilson said:

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T-REX said:

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Jackson Bear said:

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I know a La Vega Pirate would not like Connally, but there is a good chance that a $10 billion data farm will be be built just north of town in Connally ISD. There are some great homes in the country and river off of Gholson Rd. If that data center come to fruition (they have already bought the land), then CISD will become one of the richest per student capita districts in the state and will have to really try hard to spend all the tax dollars that will come its way.

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they are currently rated F by the state and about to be taken over arent they? Maybe all that tax revenue will fix those issues but I really fear moving to a district that is worse than even la vega has ever been

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If you're an old La Vega boy, you should probably try Robinson. I know that sounds sacrilegious, but if you moved all the way up to Woodway, the culture shock might be too much to bear. Robinson's a pretty good transition zone. It's kinda like Bellmead and Woodway had a baby.

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I went to la vega but ive lived in major metros the last 12 years. I live in a 5a district now. Not worried at all about living in a big school district. I actually prefer not small town culture

T-REX said:

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Robert Wilson said:

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T-REX said:

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Jackson Bear said:

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I know a La Vega Pirate would not like Connally, but there is a good chance that a $10 billion data farm will be be built just north of town in Connally ISD. There are some great homes in the country and river off of Gholson Rd. If that data center come to fruition (they have already bought the land), then CISD will become one of the richest per student capita districts in the state and will have to really try hard to spend all the tax dollars that will come its way.

---

they are currently rated F by the state and about to be taken over arent they? Maybe all that tax revenue will fix those issues but I really fear moving to a district that is worse than even la vega has ever been

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If you're an old La Vega boy, you should probably try Robinson. I know that sounds sacrilegious, but if you moved all the way up to Woodway, the culture shock might be too much to bear. Robinson's a pretty good transition zone. It's kinda like Bellmead and Woodway had a baby.

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I went to la vega but ive lived in major metros the last 12 years. I live in a 5a district now. Not worried at all about living in a big school district. I actually prefer not small town culture

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Then MISD is what you want. It is like Keller ISD or another quality North DFW school district with the price and quality family life of Waco. You can't beat a location next to Highway 6 that connects to I35. You have all the businesses and services less than 10 minutes a way and Baylor/downtown at most 15 minutes a way. HEB has also just bought land at the intersection of Hewitt Dr. and the interstate and will build there at some point. Which means more commercial development will follow.

We live in MISD (near Harris Creek-ish), send our kids to a public Midway elementary, and its been superb. We had a lot of friends who moved to Lorena about 4-5 years back, and all but one of them have come back, oddly enough. And the one who didn't pulled their kids from LISD and sent them to Woodway Christian.

We are "McGregor" by mailing address, but that west corridor of 84 is impossible to beat in my opinion. You can find houses in Sunwest that are in your budget and would seemingly fit the bill across the board.

I think some of the 6A varsity sport opportunities concerns are justified, although in chats I've had with the MHS softball and volleyball coach(s) of late, they said they had a very hard time filling freshman/JV rosters. The top tier kids are absolute studs, but short of the varsity creme de la creme, opportunities abound more than one might think. We're a big golf and baseball family, so, we'll see how that ends up. Midway baseball obviously just won it all last year.

I think you'd be happy in many of the places you mentioned, but again, 84 West Midway livin' has been spectacular for us and I would not choose any other spot in town to live over it. My two cents, anyway.

My daughter goes to Park Hill Elementary in Midway ISD, and it is a fantastic public elementary school. There are hundreds of involved parents, and the homes near there are well within your price range. The teacher-to-student ratio is very low by public school standards, which is an underrated advantage. The building and facilities are also brand new, which means that they have all the latest technology. There's no elementary school in the Waco area to which I would rather send my kids, even if I had free choice.

I understand if you want to avoid being bothered by rocket test noises from Space X in McGregor. You should know that parts of the Midway School district also have this problem. We live in the Midway district and rocket tests still rattle our windows.

Miner1973a said:

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I understand if you want to avoid being bothered by rocket test noises from Space X in McGregor. You should know that parts of the Midway School district also have this problem. We live in the Midway district and rocket tests still rattle our windows.

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You can sometimes hear them in Temple and Downtown Waco.

RightRevBear said:

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Miner1973a said:

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I understand if you want to avoid being bothered by rocket test noises from Space X in McGregor. You should know that parts of the Midway School district also have this problem. We live in the Midway district and rocket tests still rattle our windows.

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You can sometimes hear them in Temple and Downtown Waco.

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not worried about hearing them just the shaking of my house lol. But McGregor is further than I want to be regardless

OVERALL RATING PER TXSCHOOLS.GOV
Lorena - 91
Midway - 90
Crawford - 90
Robinson - 89
China Spring - 88
Bosqueville -80


DISTRICT ENROLLMENT
Midway - 8,804
China Spring - 3,011
Robinson - 2,376
Lorena - 1,815
Bosqueville -729
Crawford - 596


STUDENTS PER TEACHER
Bosqueville - 11.8
Crawford - 12.6
Lorena - 13.4
Robinson - 13.8
China Spring - 14.8
Midway - 15.2


% OF STUDENTS MEETING GRADE LEVEL OR ABOVE (ALL SUBJECTS)
Crawford - 71%
Lorena - 65%
Midway - 65%
China Spring - 61%
Robinson - 61%
Bosqueville - 53%


% OF STUDENTS MASTERING GRADE LEVEL OR ABOVE (ALL SUBJECTS)
Midway - 35%
Crawford - 32%
Lorena - 30%
Robinson - 26%
China Spring - 25%
Bosqueville - 16%

I included the analysis above just for review.

These 6 districts are considered the best publics in the area.

Midway - excellent academically with strong extracurriculars and academics. Only drawback is size. If your child excels academically or athletically, the size/competitiveness of these programs could be argued to be a good thing.

Lorena - excellent academically. Growing. Moved from 3A to 4A this school year (in same district as China Spring and Robinson). Similar benchmark scores as Midway but a fraction of the size. Being a smaller school can be hit/miss in extracurriculars and athletics. Some are extremely competitive, some are not. Growth area on south side. Needs to pass a bond but the proposals to date have been poorly executed (IMO).

China Spring - similar to Lorena but that side of town is a side you have to want to be on. I, personally, love it and would live there in a heartbeat but it's definitely more removed and you are going to Bellmead more often for things and the growth is on the opposite side of town along I-35 South.

Robinson - similar to Lorena and China Spring. I think it's going to grow positively in the future because of it's proximity to growth areas of Waco.

Crawford - Excellent small district but probably mark it off your list because of distance.

Bosqueville surprised me when gathering the data as they are below state minimums on meeting grade level or mastering. However, they do have a positive reputation, likely due to their small size (2A) and low student/teacher ratio. I'd go China Spring before Bosqueville, today.

A big factor, since your children are young, is what it will look like in the future.

Midway - Will undoubtedly break into two high schools. Someone previously said that this was unlikely. On the contrary, it's almost a certainty. There are two extremely large communities - larger than Park Meadows in Hewitt - planned off the Highway 84 corridor. One is pushing forward now, the other will follow after. These two developments alone will add 4-5K rooftops in Midway ISD in the southwest side of the district over the next 10 years and they aren't the only residential developments on the board. In short, Midway is amazing and going to keep growing. How that growth affects the district is TBD as it will take many years. There are a lot of great communities across varying housing prices in the district. The 84 corridor is excellent with quick access to a Hewitt (for all your shopping needs).

Lorena - I suspect in 10 years Lorena will be a large 4A. It's previously been a large 3A and is small 4A now. There are a lot of rooftops going up in the area and one planned on the opposite side of Highway 35. However, the growth is a little less explosive than what Midway is seeing. Lorena desperately needs to support a bond for current needs and future growth but the last two, which have failed, were hastily and poorly presented (IMO). Too many unanswered questions and uncertainties led to them both being voted down. Overall, I think it will grow positively over next 10 years and has opportunities for housing across a lot of bandwidths.

Robinson - I suspect Robinson will be a large 4A in 10 years. It's growing but at a slower pace than Midway and Lorena. I do anticipate future growth in Robinson because it's positioned well, geographically. It's closer to shopping, closer to Baylor, closer to downtown, etc. It's Achilles Heel is that it has generally lacked in new construction housing and had a lot of older homes. It needs a couple of nice developments to go in but it's been expensive to do so and that's generally led to the "old house that needs reno" vs "home out of our budget" scenario without much in-between. In short, housing that meets your desires could be an issue.

China Spring - I suspect China Spring will flatten out a bit in growth over next 10 years. It's a wonderful area and I love it but it is not great geographically. It's a solid 20-25 min drive to the Waco Marketplace from China Spring and it *feels* further because it winds around the lake. You can almost get to the Waco Marketplace faster from the far north side of Temple than from China Spring. While all the necessities are nearby in Bellmead (Sams, HEB, Walmart, etc) it's definitely a different socio-economic class there. There will be growth in CS but slower than the aforementioned three. Housing across multiple bandwidths here.

Crawford - Excellent academically and athletically for it's size but you are pretty far out there unless you live in the slice of Crawford ISD that creeps towards Hwy 6 on the north side of the lake. IMO, it will grow and grow positively but much, much more slowly than the aforementioned four due to distance. I'd send my kids to Crawford in a heartbeat but scratch this one from your list because how far removed it is. Housing is hit/miss. Lots of beautiful resell homes. A small amount of new construction but generally pricey.

Bosqueville - A quality small district wedged between Waco and China Spring. There is a 2000-home (and beautiful) master planned community planned inside Bosqueville in the future. However, the rise in interest rates and slowdown in the housing market put the brakes on that project hard. I suspect it will absolutely come back to life again as the market improves. Could drastically change the district if it comes to fruition but it's a 10+ year project that's probably 2-3 years (at best) from being real. At this point, not a factor in your thinking so scratch this one. It's a small district with small footprint so not easy on housing. However, there are two newer neighborhoods in it though that fit your price point comfortably.

Midway might do something worse than have two high schools. They could go the route of Allen and have a small college campus for a high school. That would make it next to impossible to do a lot of extracurriculars because the competition is so tough. Let's say your kid is into theatre. Well there are only so many roles. What if they are interested in model UN. Good luck getting on the team. Academic Decathlon, each school gets 10 people and two alternates whether it has 20 students or 6000.

Are high schools that big really good for anybody other than the administrators?

I think the cost to build a second high school at Midway would be astronomical right now, they just passed a bond last month, would be curious to see how well voters would stomach would what surely be another monster version were a second HS come into play. Count me among those who highly doubt a second HS would built in the next decade. 15 years+, maybe.

SteamedHams said:

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I think the cost to build a second high school at Midway would be astronomical right now, they just passed a bond last month, would be curious to see how well voters would stomach would what surely be another monster version were a second HS come into play. Count me among those who highly doubt a second HS would built in the next decade. 15 years+, maybe.

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I agree. Midway isn't going to build a new high school any time soon. Midway is a relatively small 6A compared to Dallas, Houston, and Austin-area schools. They have been struggling in many extracurriculars because of this.

It's also important for everyone to keep in mind that the birthrate, in America and everywhere else, has been crashing for several years now. Combining this with reduced immigration, the number of students in American high schools is projected to plateau this year, after which it will begin shrinking. School districts that overbuild may in a few decades find themselves with underused facilities that are increasingly burdensome to maintain.

ARbear13 said:

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SteamedHams said:

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I think the cost to build a second high school at Midway would be astronomical right now, they just passed a bond last month, would be curious to see how well voters would stomach would what surely be another monster version were a second HS come into play. Count me among those who highly doubt a second HS would built in the next decade. 15 years+, maybe.

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I agree. Midway isn't going to build a new high school any time soon. Midway is a relatively small 6A compared to Dallas, Houston, and Austin-area schools. They have been struggling in many extracurriculars because of this.

It's also important for everyone to keep in mind that the birthrate, in America and everywhere else, has been crashing for several years now. Combining this with reduced immigration, the number of students in American high schools is projected to plateau this year, after which it will begin shrinking. School districts that overbuild may in a few decades find themselves with underused facilities that are increasingly burdensome to maintain.

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On the first page of this thread, JacksonBear nailed it:
I had a conversation with Rick Tullis of the Midway board this summer (he is probably going to be the next county judge as well) and Midway is surprised at the latest attendance numbers slowing down in the elementary levels. MHS is a medium size 6A and it is extremely expensive to build a new high school

My wife was cajoled into participating in the building committee for Midway ahead of this bond election, where for several months they met and toured all the facilities, looked at needs, available land, demographics, trends, etc, in order to make a recommendation for the bond package.

And it was very clear that a second HS was way, way down the list of considerations. There is a giant Speegleville matzbah ball still outstanding that was NOT addressed by this most recent bond, and that will have to be sorted out in the next bond, again, before a second HS. And the demographic data for this past year DID show a surprising slowdown, compared to what their re-districting data had shown a few years before (when Chapel Park/Park Hill came into existence), and that trend appears to be accelerating as birth rates decline.

Robert Wilson said:

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Are high schools that big really good for anybody other than the administrators?

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Sports coaches that like to win championships and have ridiculous facilities like it too. Other than those two groups I don't know if anyone else.

SteamedHams said:

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I think the cost to build a second high school at Midway would be astronomical right now, they just passed a bond last month, would be curious to see how well voters would stomach would what surely be another monster version were a second HS come into play. Count me among those who highly doubt a second HS would built in the next decade. 15 years+, maybe.

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Great point. I hate hearing how the bond is not projected to raise taxes due to growth in the system. Why don't you cash flow the upgrades as needed instead of paying interest on a bond then.

Robert Wilson said:

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Are high schools that big really good for anybody other than the administrators?

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If you build a second high school, you have to pay for an entirely new admin staff. New principal, new assistant principals, more counselors, new secretaries, more dedicated busses, more coaches etc. Costs do not scale linearly v. growing an existing high school.

A school that has 2,000 students costs way less to operate than having two schools with 1,000 students a piece.

That has been a huge issue for Speegleville Elem, that they have such a small enrollment relative to other schools, yet they have to pay for a dedicated principal, a staff, have specific bus routes, the cost "per student" is completely out-of-whack with every other school in the district.

If you front the cuckoo bananas price tag to even build a second high school, it will cost a king's ransom to staff and operate it that you wouldn't have to pay if you just expanded the current high school.

SteamedHams said:

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Robert Wilson said:

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Are high schools that big really good for anybody other than the administrators?

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If you build a second high school, you have to pay for an entirely new admin staff. New principal, new assistant principals, more counselors, new secretaries, more dedicated busses, more coaches etc. Costs do not scale linearly v. growing an existing high school.

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This is very similar to a discussion I had with former Trustee (now judge) Pete Rusek, who was a phenomenal trustee for Midway for years.

SteamedHams said:

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Robert Wilson said:

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Are high schools that big really good for anybody other than the administrators?

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If you build a second high school, you have to pay for an entirely new admin staff. New principal, new assistant principals, more counselors, new secretaries, more dedicated busses, more coaches etc. Costs do not scale linearly v. growing an existing high school.

A school that has 2,000 students costs way less to operate than having two schools with 1,000 students a piece.

That has been a huge issue for Speegleville Elem, that they have such a small enrollment relative to other schools, yet they have to pay for a dedicated principal, a staff, have specific bus routes, the cost "per student" is completely out-of-whack with every other school in the district.

If you front the cuckoo bananas price tag to even build a second high school, it will cost a king's ransom to staff and operate it that you wouldn't have to pay if you just expanded the current high school.

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Yeah, I'm sure it's cheaper. That's a good point.

T-REX said:

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RightRevBear said:

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Miner1973a said:

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I understand if you want to avoid being bothered by rocket test noises from Space X in McGregor. You should know that parts of the Midway School district also have this problem. We live in the Midway district and rocket tests still rattle our windows.

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You can sometimes hear them in Temple and Downtown Waco.

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not worried about hearing them just the shaking of my house lol. But McGregor is further than I want to be regardless

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There is McGregor and there are McGregor addresses. We have a McGregor address, but we're several miles east of the town and legally we are in the City of Waco and Midway ISD. Both my kids did 12 years of MISD and we were very pleased with the academic quality. Being a larger school it has a ton of options for AP courses, electives, and athletics. My kids ended up with over 100 hours of AP credit between them, which was a huge cost saver on college tuition! As for SpaceX, it seems like the frequency of tests is way down the past few months. No idea if that's just temporary.

RightRevBear said:

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Midway might do something worse than have two high schools. They could go the route of Allen and have a small college campus for a high school. That would make it next to impossible to do a lot of extracurriculars because the competition is so tough. Let's say your kid is into theatre. Well there are only so many roles. What if they are interested in model UN. Good luck getting on the team. Academic Decathlon, each school gets 10 people and two alternates whether it has 20 students or 6000.

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The are not going to have that problem remotely soon.

RightRevBear said:

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SteamedHams said:

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I think the cost to build a second high school at Midway would be astronomical right now, they just passed a bond last month, would be curious to see how well voters would stomach would what surely be another monster version were a second HS come into play. Count me among those who highly doubt a second HS would built in the next decade. 15 years+, maybe.

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Great point. I hate hearing how the bond is not projected to raise taxes due to growth in the system. Why don't you cash flow the upgrades as needed instead of paying interest on a bond then.

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Ask trustees like Rusek and Tullis about the Gordian Knot that is Texas school finance. There are things districts can and cannot do. DO NOT think it is how an actual business would run its accounting.

Also, districts do have or should have (I know Midway has one) large savings accounts to deal with rainy day situations like the air conditioning at the school goes bad or the roof has a problem. But there are not enough savings to carry that debt load and have a backup fund.

Also, how many businesses and people have zero debt? Putting off many of the facility needs actually increases monthly and yearly costs.

Pretty much everything has been said here and I would concur with people's suggestions. By the time your kids hit elementary school a lot will change in these schools and even more so by high school.

I don't think you can go wrong between Midway, Lorena, Robinson, CS or Bosqueville. With all of them growing they will keep adding more clubs, activities, advanced classes, etc. I know most of them currently offer AP or dual credit.

A lot of your choice can come down to how much house/land you want as you can get different amounts in the different districts. Midway will be smaller lots than say Robinson or the others.

But again all are good choices.

T-REX said:

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Forgot about this thread so figured id update those who chimed in. My family moved to the Hewitt area back in the middle of May! It happened very fast and our home in Keller sold in 3 days from listing it so everything worked out amazing!

Jonathan Grant, a fellow Baylor Bear, was an amazing realtor & helped us tremendously & stayed flexible to our out of town schedule.

Thanks for those who shared input here. We love our new home and neighborhood.

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Well hopefully LaVega takes transfers by the time Jr is school aged.

BaylorHistory said:

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T-REX said:

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Forgot about this thread so figured id update those who chimed in. My family moved to the Hewitt area back in the middle of May! It happened very fast and our home in Keller sold in 3 days from listing it so everything worked out amazing!

Jonathan Grant, a fellow Baylor Bear, was an amazing realtor & helped us tremendously & stayed flexible to our out of town schedule.

Thanks for those who shared input here. We love our new home and neighborhood.

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Well hopefully LaVega takes transfers by the time Jr is school aged.

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**** NO

jrock42 said:

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BUAlum97 said:

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I am also from Waco and went to Robinson. My husband went to Midway. My kids grew up in Garland ISD, but I have many family members who went to Robinson, Lorena, and McGregor. We currently live in McGregor ISD, it is an up and coming school district, good people. There are nice neighborhoods outside of "town."

If we would have raised our kids here, they would have likely either gone to Lorena or Midway. Midway for all the opportunities, Lorena for the small town feel.

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Lorena small enough they'll know most in their class and they can play multiple sports. Midway they'll be better prepared for college and probably limited to one sport.

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I don't know where Lorena is today, but I graduated from Lorena back in the day and scored a 4.0 right off the bat in college. Nearly 1/3 of my class were NHS and over half went on to graduate from college. I went on to pursue my JD and MBA and have been practicing law for 22 years now. The #2 ranked student in my class graduated Order of the Coif from UT Law and is now a sitting district judge in Travis County, and #3 went on to medical school and got her MD.

I certainly felt prepared for college. In fact, I thought my advanced classes in English and History at Lorena were as or more demanding than similar classes I took my Freshman year in college. Now, in all fairness, I haven't attended Lorena schools for over 30 years and all of my teachers from those days are either retired or passed on. I still absolutely love the community, though, and always will refer to them as "my family".

That being said, I was friends with kids from Midway (obviously, we lived close together, went to church together, and played in little league sports together), same with Robinson, China Spring, West, etc. I know many of my friends who went to China Spring and Robinson back in the day who did very well for themselves as well.

It just depends on the environment and community you want to live in. Waco is a funny area. If you go north of town, the terrain is different than it is south of town. That being said, my parents still reside around the highest point of McLennan County between Lorena and Moody. But the statement about the prairie is right; only the corn and cotton fields and pastures of my youth have turned into neighborhoods - for better or worse.

I would agree that Lorena still has that "community" type of feel, though it is not without common small time problems and politics. I just try to stay out of those messes.

Yogi said:

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jrock42 said:

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BUAlum97 said:

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I am also from Waco and went to Robinson. My husband went to Midway. My kids grew up in Garland ISD, but I have many family members who went to Robinson, Lorena, and McGregor. We currently live in McGregor ISD, it is an up and coming school district, good people. There are nice neighborhoods outside of "town."

If we would have raised our kids here, they would have likely either gone to Lorena or Midway. Midway for all the opportunities, Lorena for the small town feel.

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Lorena small enough they'll know most in their class and they can play multiple sports. Midway they'll be better prepared for college and probably limited to one sport.

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I don't know where Lorena is today, but I graduated from Lorena back in the day and scored a 4.0 right off the bat in college. Nearly 1/3 of my class were NHS and over half went on to graduate from college. I went on to pursue my JD and MBA and have been practicing law for 22 years now. The #2 ranked student in my class graduated Order of the Coif from UT Law and is now a sitting district judge in Travis County, and #3 went on to medical school and got her MD.

I certainly felt prepared for college. In fact, I thought my advanced classes in English and History at Lorena were as or more demanding than similar classes I took my Freshman year in college. Now, in all fairness, I haven't attended Lorena schools for over 30 years and all of my teachers from those days are either retired or passed on. I still absolutely love the community, though, and always will refer to them as "my family".

That being said, I was friends with kids from Midway (obviously, we lived close together, went to church together, and played in little league sports together), same with Robinson, China Spring, West, etc. I know many of my friends who went to China Spring and Robinson back in the day who did very well for themselves as well.

It just depends on the environment and community you want to live in. Waco is a funny area. If you go north of town, the terrain is different than it is south of town. That being said, my parents still reside around the highest point of McLennan County between Lorena and Moody. But the statement about the prairie is right; only the corn and cotton fields and pastures of my youth have turned into neighborhoods - for better or worse.

I would agree that Lorena still has that "community" type of feel, though it is not without common small time problems and politics. I just try to stay out of those messes.

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Lorena cant even figure out why it is bad to let a teacher hurt a kid. Glad we didnt move to Lorena school district