Yogi said:jrock42 said:BUAlum97 said:
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.
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.
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.
Lorena as a city and town have a lot of things to figure out and fix before it turns into a bad district.
The change in superintendent won't help much either, especially since it seems like the new one is not very good. The school board is what needs to go.
Getting lawyers and wanting to depose a 10 year old girl about a documented assault that the criminal plead guilty to that happened when she was 5 is just sick.
The fact that the state has realized the laws were messed up, changed the laws and yet the principal still has a job is insane. But she won't for long. I think the state is about to revoke her certificate.
Then hopefully the family wins their lawsuit and the entire board loses their seats.