deedlebee Posted April 17, 2006 Report Share Posted April 17, 2006 Sometime within the next month or two, I'm hoping to interview with several of the school districts around town. I recently attended a job fair and talked to about 20 different districts. Other than brief conversations, the marketing packet they hand out, and the myriad of websites for each district, I have very little "real" information about the various districts. The state's rating system is not helpful, since it can widely misrepresent a district. Humble ISD was recently ranked unacceptable because the district failed to record their dropout rate correctly. Additionally, the rating system seems to have low academic standards anyway. Specifically, I'm wondering if the Houston crowd would help me out and give me their personal impressions of any school districts they've lived in or done business with. If available, I would like to learn about any impressions you have had with teachers or administration with regard to academic responsibility, teaching philosophies, general impression within the community, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottkursk Posted April 17, 2006 Report Share Posted April 17, 2006 Sometime within the next month or two, I'm hoping to interview with several of the school districts around town. I recently attended a job fair and talked to about 20 different districts. Other than brief conversations, the marketing packet they hand out, and the myriad of websites for each district, I have very little "real" information about the various districts. The state's rating system is not helpful, since it can widely misrepresent a district. Humble ISD was recently ranked unacceptable because the district failed to record their dropout rate correctly. Additionally, the rating system seems to have low academic standards anyway. Specifically, I'm wondering if the Houston crowd would help me out and give me their personal impressions of any school districts they've lived in or done business with. If available, I would like to learn about any impressions you have had with teachers or administration with regard to academic responsibility, teaching philosophies, general impression within the community, etc. All the local ISD's have had the same trouble when it comes to underreproting dropouts. My only experience with local schools, other than attending, was that I used to sub for PISD and HISD. Both of them made me want to switch from education to being a stockbroker. Though in all seriousness, I've been thinking about going to the ATCP of one of the districts and teaching. I've been a broker for 11+ years and I am thinking of a change. I've seen a pretty good growth with the FBISD since I've got clients that are teachers or former teachers. The HISD teachers seem to have really hated their experience, PISD is not far behing. Though I've heard AISD (Alvin) was ok from people and Fort Bend was pretty well liked. There are bound to be some people that are parents here on the board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottkursk Posted April 19, 2006 Report Share Posted April 19, 2006 I had two teachers come into my office today. I pretty much questioned them about the local districts and it reinforced some of what I heard. Their favorite one seemed to be Brazoria County which is to the southwest including places like West Columbia and Lake Jackson. From my time competing in speech contests in high school, West Columbia was pretty good. Deer Park has had problems with robin hood but even with some of the poor schools they are good. Especially compared to PISD and HISD. They both had issues with HISD. Mostly it was the combative nature that the district views teacher/admin relations. One likened it to the post office. Hope that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deedlebee Posted April 19, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 19, 2006 Their favorite one seemed to be Brazoria County ... At the job fair I recently attended, I was impressed with some of the information they gave out. They were one of the few districts that seemed to market academic achievement. You'd think everyone would, but no. Most of the slogans were things like "Respect, Diversity, Honor" .. or some variation. They both had issues with HISD. Mostly it was the combative nature that the district views teacher/admin relations. One likened it to the post office. HISD (Houston, not Humble or Huffman) at the job fair was downright rude. I honestly don't even know why they were there. They wasted my time. They wouldn't accept a resume until you had created a user account on their website and submitted an application. Who wants to work for an impersonal entity? I was apparently talking to some marketing guy, not a teacher or principal, or even an administrative type. They'll be the last people I ever consider. Thanks so much for asking those teachers :> I really do appreciate all the information. It's nice to know that my impressions weren't unique. (If anyone has anything else to add, I'd love to hear it!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargormudshark Posted June 8, 2006 Report Share Posted June 8, 2006 (edited) After just graduating High School, I am fresh off my 14 years of frustration (I didn't fail any grades, I am speaking of Pre-K and up). I went to KISD most of my years except for 2 in which I attended HISD. These two years were hell, every day of school was a literal nightmare. I realize there are many schools that are alot worse, but even the tip of the iceberg was too much. Although, if it wasn't for this harsh period of my life, I may not have dwelled so heavily into guitar playing/music that has been the focus of my life ever since. Also, I totally empathize with deedlebee about online applications for the same reason. reason for edit: punctuation correction Edited June 8, 2006 by Dargormudshark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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