We are relocating to Dallas and are interested in living in Coppell or Plano can anyone comment on these areas for pre-school age children. We also need suggestions of pre-schools in these areas.
Thank you
Before we moved to Grand Prairie, my husband and I lived in Lochwood Estates... it's an area in Lakewood. You can find it on mapsco at Eatson and Northwest Hwy. It's that general vicinity and we loved it. Lots of families. Not much late night partying. The value of houses are really going up in that neighborhood. Our street was Colmar. We loved it.
Plano is nice and os is Coppell. Really depends on how close you want to be to your work. Traffic can be ugly in both of these cities.
Plano is a combination of new and old - it is spread out somewhat with pockets of "good" and "bad". There is new construction, but a big portion of the houses are older (not old - I mean like 10-20 years).
Coppell is predominantly new construction - houses are 1-5 years old.
Why does this matter?? Well, usually, in most cities, the best childcare, schooling, etc. pops up with new construction. New construction, too, usually means younger families with younger children. So my advice is to pick an area of new ocnstruction (even if you don't buy a new house) - this is aplenty in Coppell, takes some searching in Plano.
Not sure job-wise where work will be located, but the traffic situation in Dallas can be a nightmare and it is definitely worth your while to investigate this angle. And if traffic not a big deal, you might consider Frisco - it's a relatively "new" city just north of Plano that has mainly new construction, great shopping, etc.
To arm you with more information, I'd also check out the school districts - look at statistics, etc. These two cities are in different school districts. A good website to look at is www.localschooldirectory.com. From here, you can pick a city, then particular schools, etc - and it has links to the school district websites.
Good luck with your search, and welcome to Dallas!
I live in Coppell and there are a number of great preschools. It just depends on what you are looking for - a Montesorri environment, tradtional, etc. There is even a Spanish immersion preschool that will teach English speaking children in Spanish. Please provide more detail in order for me to help. Tahnks.
If you don't mind TONS and GOBS of traffic and suburbia nightmares -- Plano is the place for you... north dallas has just completely exploded and Plano is no exception... we drove through there and it's just a NIGHTMARE. You could not PAY me to live in north dallas! :)
Coppell..it's grown a lot since I lived just south of it but it's a nice town with great ins/outs to get to most anywhere you want to go...since they're working on hwy 121..it'll be much easier to get to/from anywhere in the metroplex but you're in between dallas and fort worth which in my opinion is SO much better than being stuck up north where it's a nightmare. :)
One of my best friends lives in Coppell and has a son who is 2 1/2 years old. He has attended the "Peanut Gallery" on Sandy Lake Rd. since he was a baby and has thrived there. She has never had anything but positive comments about the caregivers, the facility and the curriculum.
I live in Plano and moved here specifically for the school system. PISD has a tuition based pre-school program that is EXCELLENT. My son has been at Beaty Early Childhood School for two years now and I have loved every minute. That's a big deal for me since I've been in the childcare field for seven years and have seen some horrible things and am EXTREMELY picky. I'm also an occupational therapy grad student and have done fieldwork in PISD and seen it from "behind the scenes." I still recommend it. As with any district, the teachers make the school, so there are schools in Plano I would not recommend (Centennial, Jackson, Weatherford, Mitchell, or Hightower) All the early childhood schools are great (there's three of them and the one you attend is based on where you live in the district)
Also, TLC Child Development center is a big hit around here. They are reasonably priced and have web access so you can watch your little one all day. Of course, this is more of a daycare than a preschool.
Hope this helps!
