My Daughter Got Invited to Join a Classical Magnet School - Need Info Please

As an educator and parent, I encourage you to support every avenue of privilege your daughter is offered. If she is in second grade and already being identified as musically advanced, do everything you can to help her follow every advantage. Only one caveat to that and it is this: make sure this is what she loves and is really interested in. There is nothing quite so sad as an "indentured" musician/soccer player/you fill in the blank kid. I see lots of kids struggling to live their parents dreams. It is simply put, inappropriate. Magnet schools are in general superb; nearest a private school one can get for no out of pocket tuition. Garland has an excellent program. Congratulations to your angel and to you for helping her find the wings that fit best.

We chose not to attend GISD Magnet schools. Go to the meeting to see if you are comfortable with the school. Most of the magnet schools are in economically depressed areas. Students that live in the school's neighborhood also attend the school. Check into the scores needed to attend the school you may be surprised. My daughters have several friends that attend magnet schools and I haven't found the curriculum to be different from the honors classes. We decided that the schedule and separation from neighborhood friends outweighed any "benefit" from the magnet offering. The honors program at GISD is great. I attended private schools myself and wanted the same for my children, but I have been very pleased with the education my daughters are receiving in the GISD honors classes. My advice is to be informed about what qualifies your child to attend, how much more time is needed each day for your child to attend this school (is your child going to ride a bus?), what other students are attending the school, are the same benefits offered in your neighborhood school's honor classes. Look at the test scores between the magnet school and your neighborhood school. Good luck, it is a very personal choice and I thought you might want to hear from a family that decided not to attend.

Is this one of the GISD schools, like Vial? If so, it is a GISD school and follows the same district rules as other schools. I am not familiar with that school, but my oldest son went to Walnut Glen Academy while my middle son (2 yrs younger)went to a regular school. There were good and bad sides. By far what was taught and how it was taught was better at the Academy - more interesting, engaging, etc. The kids wanted to participate. However, it was a little hard on the ego. At the regular school, he was generally considered to be the "smartest" kid in school - at the academy everyone was smart so there was definately an adjustment. He went on to graduate magna cum laude from college, then obtained his masters and is now very successful in his field. He would not trade his academy experience for anything. (My middle son, seeing the fun his brother was having, worked hard and went into the academy program in middle school and has done well also) My suggestion would be to check out their website, see what's going on at their school, tour the campus and then make the best decision for your child. Good luck!

Hi R.,

As a teacher, I am all for magnet schools. They are usually better academically because magnet schools can still expel students for bad behavior, so the teachers can spend more time teaching and less time disciplining. I don't know about this particular school, but in general a magnet school is the next best thing to private school.

Best of luck!
M.

I assume you are talking about Vial. My oldest son attended the gifted/talented magnets at Kimberlin and Austin Academies, and they were good fits for him. We opted for a "regular" high school, rather than pursuing the IB program at Garland High, so he is now a freshman at Sachse.

My youngest son is attending The Classical Center at Brandenburg Middle School, which is the Classical magnet middle school. He absolutely loves it. He can take things like gymnastics, piano and Latin that aren't offered at regular schools. If your child attends vial, they are automatically accepted into Brandenburg, provided their test scores remain eligible. Brandenburg was just named a national Blue Ribbon School, and their test scores are equivalent, if not higher than Austin Academy's - they are the 2 middle schools with the highest test scores. In elementary school, he attended Watson, which is a math/science magnet.

In all the time my kids have attended magnet schools, there have never been any problem with the neighborhood kids. The principals all run a tight ship, and every child knows they must follow the rules. Yes, the neighborhoods are economically depressed, but that doesn't mean the kids there are bad kids. I think it is great that GISD gives them the opportunity to attend their great magnet schools.

The GISD magnet schools are hidden gems within the metroplex, and I am so glad my children have had the opportunity to attend.