What Do You Know About the School Systems Outside of Plano?

K., without reservation I would highly recommend McKinney. I have one that just graduated and has been in McKinney ISD the entire time. This school system is the best! I now have twins in middle school and have been very pleased with the opportunities, teachers, etc.

We live in West Allen and go to Plano Schools. We love our home because we are not in a "typical" area. We have a huge wooded lot with a lot of privacy and LOVE it. We also have a lot of wildlife and love that as well. Our area has a lot more space between neighbors for privacy. Now, in other parts of the neighborhood, there are homes that are closer together and less land.

I am happy with the Plano Schools and if our one and only (14 yr old daughter) did not go to Plano, we'd probably be in the Highland Park ISD. The reason we are not in Highland Park is simply because we love our lot, home, privacy and PISD is good. Daughter has done extremely well and thrives on the system.

That said, Allen ISD is very good. We have had friends move from our neighborhood to Allen just for the ISD. Allen is certainly a place I would consider if I needed to make a move.

Good luck whatever you choose.

Hi K.,

I can tell you that if you decide to move to Allen, you should look into Watters Crossing. It's south of McDermott...kind of across the street from where Twin Creeks starts. It's a FANTASTIC neighborhood with some of the nicest moms I've ever met. The school they go to is Norton Elementary which is one of the best in the entire state of Texas. The downside to Allen is that there is only one high school and it's HUGE. That may not actually be a downside, but it gives me anxiety!
Bearing that in mind, I'd say if you're thinking McKinney, you should try to see if you could get somewhere in Stonebridge Ranch. Much like Twin Creeks, it's very large and divided into smaller subdivisions. There are LOTS of perks to living somewhere in there though and as long as you're on the west side of McKinney, I believe you'll find the schools to be great.
Lastly, I'll say that Fairview has smaller taxes with bigger lots! Every house has to be on at least an acre or something like that. You can find a lot for your money out there, and the Lovejoy School District is fantastic. (Make sure it's Lovejoy and not McKinney. Some of the houses out there go to McKinney schools and those are definitely NOT the ones you want your kids going to.)

I hope that helps. I don't live in any of those areas, but if I'd known about them when we moved here...that's where I'd be!
Good luck neighbor!

We moved to Mckinney for the schools. It has been great for one child but just ok for the other. I really think alot of it depends on your child. The one that I don't feel got the most out of Mckinney would do great in Lovejoy, but the other would not. When we moved here I was told to avoid Plano because it had grown so big so fast and had some kinks to work out due to that. I think Mckinney might be entering that same problem. All in all I don't see enough negative to move away, Mckinney is still an overall good system. Just watch the actual school you are zoned for before house shopping.

Dear K.:

I highly recommend Allen. We moved here from Dallas two years ago specifically for the schools. I would recommend the west side of town. You'll have MANY neighborhoods to choose from in your price range.

We moved here when my daughter was in sixth grade, so we only had a year of grade school, but I was impressed by Green Elementary. If you want a newer school, (Green is ten years old), Evans Elementary just opened last year.

My daughter will be an 8th grader next year at Ereckson Middle School and loves it.

The academics and teachers are excellent, but schools are large. That works for my daughter, because her view is it's more potential friends and more music programs to be involved with!

Feel free to contact me if you have specific questions about neighborhoods or schools up here. I work as a crossing guard and volunteer at the middle school, so I do hear about what's going on in the school district.

L. F., married to my best friend for 23 years, and have a straight A student 13 year old daughter

I don't have much time to give a lengthy response, but I have sent my 2 boys through McKinney ISD from Kindergarten through 11th and graduation. We love the schools we have been in, the superintendent of the schools is awesome, and the district appears to be very picky about who they hire. We had great experiences in school. My boys have loved school, their teachers, the principals, and we have made great friends with the parents of the children they have gone to school with. We are conservative in our family values and have found the same with the schools. Please check McKinney out. We couldn't have picked a better place to raise our children.

I am an elem school teacher and a graduate of MISD. My daughter is 4.
Everything people are saying about MISD when the kiddos get to middle school os correct. They are all bused. I am an MISD graduate. MISD is good overall but there are A LOT of problems that happen due to the zoning issues in MISD when they get into MS. Plus, they are CONSTANTLY re-zoning neighborhoods in MISD.
Allen ISD is WONDERFUL, BUT....
They are a 5A school system with only 1 high school. Your child can easily get lost into the shuffle when they reach HS (10th grade) as there are over 1400 students in the HS!
I HIGHLY reccomend moving to the West side of Mckinney, so you can get the BEST of both worlds: Mckinney address, but Frisco ISD, with lower taxes.
Frisco ISD is awesome. They are on the cutting edge of technology, curriculum, etc. They maintain SMALL schools at ALL levels. (ELEM/MS/HS) They are a 4A district and want to remain that way. They dont rezone on you unless they open up a brand new school. The tax rate is lower than MISD or Allen ISD. (2.34 -vs- 2.79 and 2.89 as of last year)
The West side of MCkinney would be my recommendation for your family. (West of Custer Road.)

K.,
The schools were part of the reason we moved to McKinney 10 years ago. We had good experiences through grade school, except for the first year when my oldest son had to ride a bus several miles away to another elem school rather than walk 3 blocks to the school by us. During middle school, there were many problems on the bus. In high school there are fights at least weekly, and drugs are openly sold. Plus, I had to take both my sons out of band because of abusive directors. If you go the teachers or principle you are treated like you are the problem. As someone else mentioned, you may not get to attend the schools closest to you.
I don't mean to make it all sound bad, there are some good things and some good teachers. But my friends in Prosper, Allen, and Lovejoy schools don't seem to have so many problems. The only problem I see with Lovejoy is "affluenza" even more than McKinney.
The other reason we moved was to find a safe neighborhood. That has changed also, but still better than where we lived in Richardson.

I live in the Lovejoy school district and I had many issues with the district and my kindergartener. Our teacher would not require the kids to do their work. She had the attitude that Kindergarten was not mandatory in Texas and thus if a child did not choose to do their work it was also mandatory. So my daughter who had been in a very structured presschool figured out she could just play and she did. Then the teacher suggested that we put her in Special Ed, because she just wasn't catching on. That was the last day we were in Lovejoy schools. We homeschooled and went back to our preschool for the remainder of her Kindergarten year and then for first grade we went to Life Schools in McKinney. It is an amazing charter school. My daughter entered first grade in the fall, with me fully expecting problems and possibly the need to move her back to Kindergarten. She finished the year with straight A's in First Grade. She had an amazing year and her twin brother and sister will start Kindergarten there in the fall. We will be moving soon and it is very nice to know that as long as we stay in a Collin County school district we are definately able to maintain enrollment there. You shouldn't have a problem with getting a child in there in Kindergarten either. If you decide to check out Charter schools make sure you do so early in the fall, because their dates for enrollment are steadfast. Also just to let you be sure our only cost at Life is a $20 enrollment fee, there is no tuition.

Something to keep in mind if you are thinking McKinney. They start busing their students in middle school. So just b/c you may live blocks away from a school, your child may be bused accross town. Also, the zoning changes A LOT in McKinney, so you may buy a house zoned for a local middle school, but a few years later you child may end up having a long bus ride (or you driving) a couple of years later. We are looking to leave McKinney for just that reason (so is our neighbor).

I have looked into the school districts in the area and Lovejoy (Fairview w/parts of Allen), and Allen are my favorites. Lovejoy has consistently been rated the highest in the area for a long time. They have relatively small classes and high academic standards. They just recently got their own high school (used to go to Allen), so that's a plus also. Allen is a great ISD also. Fairview is too far eas for us, so Allen is where we are looking right now.