Relocating towards the end of October, and I'm planning to land in Pflugerville, Leander, RR, or Cedar Park. Self-employed so I don't have to worry about commute. Have two children of color that are high schoolers and want them in a school with good diversity and college prep. Specifically curious about Hendrickson HS/ Weiss HS, Leander HS, McNeil HS, and Cedar Park HS. Does anyone have any sense of which of these schools are strongest in terms of diversity, academics, and sense of community?

Also curious about safest/ best neighborhoods to look in?

Thanks for any opinions/ thoughts!

Take it to the Waco board! Jk just a friendly jab as my official role in board moderator

Not sure how you get much safer than a suburb of a very safe city, all those should be very nice

I'd look to minimize my commute

I'm in Avery Ranch (Mostly Vista Ridge HS is the public, Saint Savio and Hill country christian are the good private ones). Diversity is pretty good, mostly white and asian. Theres a little hispanic and black sprinkled in.

Ive been looking all over north of austin for a couple months, so far RR seems the best option with Cedar Park coming in 2nd.

Pflugerville is by far the most diverse of the areas you listed but is probably the "weakest" of the schools.

Leander isd is excellent

Round Rock is also probably a little more diverse than CP. Good schools

Can only speak for Cedar Ridge, youngest two graduated there, and is almost evenly split three ways. Good school when my kids were there.

The further north and west you go, the least diverse. Hendrickson area is definitely most diverse and there are some nice neighborhoods in the area. They did get demoted to 5A this season for some reason. I've gotta say though, Pflugerville has some nice eats. We've found better food there and more diverse than RR or CP.

Near Hendrickson is Cedar Ridge HS which is in RRISD if you want that district.

My kid goes to Round Rock HS. Pretty diverse. Couple of low income middle schools feed into it while being bolstered by the Walsh neighborhood area. I would look in the Walsh area if you want a more upscale neighborhood. I don't live in Walsh but do live in a nice neighborhood (Stone Canyon) that feeds into near borderline low income middle school.

McNeil HS is a decent school but I think in recent years, it is on the decline as far as academics, band and athletics which is interesting given their closeness to Westwood HS.

i have two kids at mcneil. like most large schools it has its issues inside the walls, but it is one of the most diverse schools that still gives a great scholastic environment. football team sucks always so you never have to worry about those pesky playoff games during the holiday season.

my kids are active in engineering, varsity sports, cheer, band, etc. happy to connect if you would like.

welcome to the area, we love it.

As a district, Pflugerville is the weakest, but Hendrickson and Weiss are pretty good academically.

Westwood parent here. They call our HS Westwood U for a reason. We have 78 National Merit semifinalists, the most in the state. We have kids from all over the world at our school and people fighting to get their kids in. We suck at sports because we don't have enough kids interested in them, but our orchestra and bands are awesome. We have lots of Asian kids on the football team, and one guy who came here from Taiwan who walked into Coach Wood's office on his first day here. He spoke little English and pulled out his phone and showed Coach a video of a football game. He said he wanted to play that. Now the kid is on the team. My kid does color guard, track and cross country.

We're full. Please try Waco.

I second Hendrickson and Weiss. Both newer schools and good academically. It is the high schools closer to I35 that pull District down. Black Hawk, and Falcon Pointe good areas for housing. If needed right next to toll road which gets you to downtown quick but the tolls add up for that convenience. We have 1 daughter currently in Hendrickson.

You can compare districts and individual campuses here

https://txschools.gov/

I live in Falcon Pointe, walking distance to Hendrickson. We love the neighborhood here. My oldest kid is elementary age, so cant comment on schools quite yet, but it's a great place to live. We have been in Pf for 10 years, but FP for 6.

FALE said:

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I'm in Avery Ranch (Mostly Vista Ridge HS is the public, Saint Savio and Hill country christian are the good private ones). Diversity is pretty good, mostly white and asian. Theres a little hispanic and black sprinkled in.

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that doesn't sound diverse at all.

AggieOO said:

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FALE said:

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I'm in Avery Ranch (Mostly Vista Ridge HS is the public, Saint Savio and Hill country christian are the good private ones). Diversity is pretty good, mostly white and asian. Theres a little hispanic and black sprinkled in.

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that doesn't sound diverse at all.

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The middle school in that neighborhood is only 29% white. The majority is Asian (mostly Indian).

The two elementary schools that primarily feed it is 60% and 69% Asian (again, mostly indian)

(This is for the Round Rock side of Avery)

patsy sommer ES used to have a separate PTA for the indian parents.

my kids went there. I had no idea, but that doesnt surprise me.

The demographics of that area (all along the Northern Parmer lane corridor), have completely changed the past 10 years.

As said earlier, Pflugerville is easily the most diverse out of the suburbs you listed. Hendrickson is well regarded in academics, athletics, and the other extra curricular. I can only speak a little to Weiss as I have a nephew there who is a Senior. It's still a relatively new school, but it is coming on quick. Made a good run in the football playoffs last year after only winning 1 game the year before.

My neighborhood feeds to Parkcrest Middle School and Hendrickson High. We have of a healthy mix whites, hispanics, blacks, asians, and others in our neighborhood. I'm born and raised in Austin and have lived here the past 10 years. My family and I are very happy here. I'm looking to buy my third house here if I can find another good deal. Let me know if you want to learn more about the area. Good luck.

My sister teaches high school at Pflugerville and I can't imagine a better teacher

We're in Highland Park... Usually Parkcrest is our voting locale... That being said... HP is a lot of rental properties... So there is a good amount of diversity there....

Edit... We only have dogs... No kids.

Probably worth noting that Austin just isn't particularly diverse no matter where you live. I was surprised moving here from Houston.

We ended up buying in CP and have been very happy with it, no kids yet but the schools are great, housing prices are pretty reasonable for Austin, and there's surprisingly good food options.

I think like with most places the closer you get to the urban core the more diverse it gets. It also depends on the type of diversity you are looking for, for us it's less about racial diversity and more about socioeconomic diversity. Austin High for example is 54% minority and 24% socioeconomically disadvantaged. That being said we will probably stay in a religious school which will mean less diversity

Can anyone recommend a good realtor (Aggie preferred) for the area? My family of 5 will be relocating From Helotes (SA burbs) for a new job at 35 and Jeffrey Way, just north of Old Settlers road and East of 35. My oldest is a freshman at Brandeis (Northside ISD 6A) and she is heavily involved in band. The other 2 are almost 3 years old and 6 months so accessibility to good elementary schools and daycares are essential.

I think we have narrowed our search down to the areas that feed into Hendrickson in Pflugerville and Vandegrift or Vista Ridge in the Cedar Park area.

I appreciate the assistance and my email is provided in my profile.

Danielle Babin +1 (512) 619-1456

Not an Aggie, but an awesome realtor.

Also not an aggie, but I would recommend using Paul Kroschewsky with Max Avenue

paul.kroschewsky@maxavenue.com

Paul Kroschewsky - Max Avenue

Aggiejue said:

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Can anyone recommend a good realtor (Aggie preferred) for the area? My family of 5 will be relocating From Helotes (SA burbs) for a new job at 35 and Jeffrey Way, just north of Old Settlers road and East of 35. My oldest is a freshman at Brandeis (Northside ISD 6A) and she is heavily involved in band. The other 2 are almost 3 years old and 6 months so accessibility to good elementary schools and daycares are essential.

I think we have narrowed our search down to the areas that feed into Hendrickson in Pflugerville and Vandegrift or Vista Ridge in the Cedar Park area.

I appreciate the assistance and my email is provided in my profile.

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Hendrickson or Vista would be closer to your work. If you are most interested in the schools, all are fine, but Vandegrift is well above the other 2 in the ratings and perception. There is currently very limited housing inventory in the Four Points (Vandegrift) area, and they sell fast. Try Sam Wachnin at Moreland Properties

https://www.moreland.com/agents/13234-sam-wachnin

paging AFARMER95

we live near avery ranch and feed to mcneil, as noted above. my wife is a realtor in this part of town.

moran.atx@gmail.com. Joy Moran

Not sure why folks say skip Round Rock to Pville. RRISD is one of the best districts, as a whole, in Texas. I am not a fan of Stoney Point HS, but Mcneil, RR, Cedar Ridge are all very good HSs.

Aggiejue said:

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Can anyone recommend a good realtor (Aggie preferred) for the area? My family of 5 will be relocating From Helotes (SA burbs) for a new job at 35 and Jeffrey Way, just north of Old Settlers road and East of 35. My oldest is a freshman at Brandeis (Northside ISD 6A) and she is heavily involved in band. The other 2 are almost 3 years old and 6 months so accessibility to good elementary schools and daycares are essential.

I think we have narrowed our search down to the areas that feed into Hendrickson in Pflugerville and Vandegrift or Vista Ridge in the Cedar Park area.

I appreciate the assistance and my email is provided in my profile.

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No help on the realtor side, but if your daughter is in band...look at the last several state finals. LISD has an excellent program and academics.