I'm needing some info on Canyon ISD. Looking to possibly relocate up there. Good, bad or indifferent. Looking at either junior high or high school level.

The schools have a very good reputation. Lots of folks moving into CISD for the schools.

That being said, I'm going to take the chance of ****ing off the Randall High alums and say you want to move into the Canyon attendance area, not the Randall. If you're going to be in Amarillo, just go ahead and move into Amarillo high.

What info do you want in particular?

I will strongly second what CanyonAg77 said, although with the caveat that I've been away for a few decades (I graduated from CHS in the late 1970s) ... but to my knowledge the academic climate at CISD has always been viewed favorably ... if we were to move back to Canyon, I wouldn't hesitate to have my daughter attend Canyon schools. Trust me, you could do much, much worse than to have your kid(s) go to CISD ...

Demographic data for the population in the 79015 zip code are very favorable, IMHO ... I think this contributes to the high expectations that the local populace has for CISD ...

High school or higher: 89.3%*
Bachelors or higher: 39.8%*

*above the national average

http://zipskinny.com/index.php?zip=79015

On the down side, we were wearing purple a couple decades before it was trendy, and had to shout some fairly ludicrous cheers, to-wit:

Give me Purple! Give me Purple!
Give me Purple, Purple, Purple!!!
Give me White! Give me White!
Give me White, White, White!!!
PURPLE!
WHITE!!
PURPLE!!!
WHITE!!!!
HEY, EAGLES!
FIGHT EAGLES FIGHT!!!



[This message has been edited by BrazosBendHorn (edited 4/7/2010 8:34a).]

Demographics? What are the schools good at or known for? Difference between Canyon and Randall HS.

Canyon HS is known for it's girls basketball, that's probably the biggest one.

If you want demographics, go to one of the state reporting agencies. They can tell you much better than we can. Both are pretty anglo-heavy, both have pretty good ratings for the high schools and feeder schools, though the Westover (Randall JH) rating is down this year. Both have a core of really good, smart kids.

Canyon ISD takes in all but the extreme southern end of Randall County, the extreme northwest corner, and a lot of south Amarillo. There was only one high school (in Canyon) until growth in southern Amarillo spilled over into CISD and the school population exploded.

Randall High was built about 20 years ago (don't recall exact) and the attendance zones are split between the northern end that's basically suburbs of Amarillo (Randall) and the city of Canyon and the rural areas of the county (Canyon High) in the south.

Both are pretty strong in sports and band, CHS is legendary for girls BB and is very good in boys and girls cross country. Randall is better in sports at present, mainly because CHS just moved up to 4A. As a big 3A they kicked butt, as a small 4A, they have more problems.

Canyon has a rural/farming/ranching past, but it's mostly a bedroom community for Amarillo now. And I believe that having a university in town has a lot to do with the value we place on education.

Canyon is funny, in that while we do have our lower and upper economic classes, it does not seem that we have huge extreme numbers of either and we have very few super-rich or super-poor. We're pretty boringly middle class.

Randall High, on the other hand, takes in some Very Nice Neighborhoods in Amarillo. And it also takes in a lot of sketchy neighborhoods and trailer parks in the area between Amarillo and Canyon. I'll admit that I'm one of the narrow minded folks that think that this contributes to CHS being a better choice than RHS.

I'll also mention that most of the folks at RHS Really Don't Like To Be Reminded that they are part of Canyon schools. They bristle at the use of the name Canyon-Randall, and prefer simply "Randall".

You can pretty much choose to live in either school attendance zone, or even the Amarillo school zones, and commute easily to any job in Amarillo or Canyon. Or Hereford or Happy or Claude or....

I notice you're currently in Temple, which I find amusing as my son is about to move to Temple (his fiancee stats med school this fall)

Do you mind sharing your job or company with us? Do you have a neighborhood picked out or do you want opinions? Realtors, etc.???

Will be interviewing to teach up there soon. That was good insight CanyonAg. Sounds a lot better than what I have here to work with in Temple.

Wife is from Midland. Lived there all her life. Made a bold decision to go to school at Tech being from B/CS, but since being away from WT, I have seen the error of my ways and am chomping at the bit to get back. So the school sounds good, the town sounds good...that leaves the one thing that I can't avoid...a real winter.

Don't know if your son is looking for a place to live, but if all of this works out, we are renting out a house in the historic district in Temple that isn't bad at all.

[This message has been edited by State of Texas (edited 4/7/2010 9:56p).]

Appreciate it, but they have already bought in a new development near Scott and White. They'll be there from 4 to 8 years, so hopefully they can profit from the resale.

If I understand your post, your wife is from Midland, you're from B-CS, graduated from TTech and you're now in Temple?

If that's correct, I think you're going to find that folks in Canyon/Amarillo are pretty much the same type of good, friendly people that you remember from Midland and Lubbock, though we reserve the right to give you hell over that TTech degree.

Our winters are a little more intense than Lubbock, and a lot more intense than Midland. But than land around here is a lot less sandy than LBB and especially MAF, and there's a lot more wheat ground and grassland around here than either of those other towns. Which means when the wind does blow, you aren't having to deal with the dust as much.

If you like the outdoors, there's Palo Duro Canyon, Caprock Canyons, and you're 4-8 hours away from a lot of great places in New Mexico and Colorado. WTAMU is a decent school if you guys want to add to your degrees/certifications.

Was just checking out the current school board members (http://www.canyonisd.net/cisd/site/default.asp, have no problems with any of them. Our kids had Roger Short's wife as a teacher in elementary, and she was excellent. Linda Hinders is a friend of ours and she and her husband raised three great kids.


It's pretty obvious I'm a big cheerleader for Canyon. I grew up about 70 miles away, but when our kids got to school age, we moved here to get them into Canyon schools. Lots of other folks do the same thing. Our son has since graduated from A&M, and our daughter is one of 5 CHS/RHS graduates currently attending a Service Academy.

So I'd say we did well with Canyon Schools.

Feel fee to ask more questions, or if you want to ask something privately, my email is in my profile.

My brother in law is postmaster of Canyon. They seem to like it.

Uh-oh.....I know him well. His (step) daughter and mine played soccer together.

Randy is a good guy.

Although he roots for the wrong team.

But yeah, they are great people. He and his wife just won our march madness pool.

Canyon is one of the best small towns in West Texas. Pretty little town, and seems to have good schools. West Texas A&M adds something to the town as well.

I am actually from a small town near Lubbock, but if I had to pick a small town in West Texas, Canyon would be at or near the top of the list.

What are some other good area districts around Amarillo that I could commute from the area? I applied with AISD, but am regretting doing that. The district doesn't seem to be in much better shape than I am leaving at in Temple. Test scores and poverty rate look to be about the same. I had a good talk with Dumas, but they seem to be a bit far out, but like I said earlier, I have an interview with CISD this week. Did not know that Blake Bryant used to be at Temple.

West Texas:

Where near Lubbock? I grew up at Hale Center and have relatives scattered all around Lubbock.

State:

We have rain predicted all this week. Do not expect it to be like this all the time. Do you want restaurant suggestions, travel directions, etc? If you have any questions you would rather not put on the forum, my email address is my TexAgs user name at hotmail dot com.

After bragging on Canyon, we've had two weird incidents this week. A road rage death in the Braum's parking lot, and a (minor) stabbing at the Jr. High. Weird. I don't think anything like either of those has happened in the 16 years I've lived here.

Commuting: It just depends on where you want to go. Traffic is not bad, it's just the distance you want to travel. My wife travels 45 miles one way to Pantex. My brother in law used to drive 70 miles one way to Clarendon. If you're used to counting travel in minutes, just convert miles 1:1 to minutes.

I'm assuming you want to live in the town of Canyon.

Happy, 15 miles south. Very small school, but good kids, I believe.

Tulia, 30 miles south. Little bit bigger school, but high minority population, lots of problems.

Claude, 50 miles east. Another very small school. Don't know much about it.

Clarendon, 70 miles east. Small school, but fairly well off community. More of a ranching area.

Bushland, 25 miles west and north. Interesting place. Their district extends into the west side of Amarillo, and there are several new housing developments springing up near the little town. They have only had a high school for a few years, and built it gradually, with only a fish class, then the next year a fish and soph, etc. Before that, they had elementary schools, and the kids attended high school in Amarillo. So the facilities are new, the school population probably a little more affluent since they are coming from brand new neighborhoods. They seem to be enjoying sports success, and I think they are up and coming in a lot of areas.

Highland Park, 40 miles north and east. Another interesting case. Their kids are from areas on the north and east side of Amarillo that are generally not well off and are probably heavier minority than most. But the school district takes in a lot of the big industries (Tyson, Asarco, Xcel, etc) and they have a very nice tax base. As a result, they have Very Nice Facilities, and I believe they pay well.

River Road, 30 miles north. The worst of both worlds. Takes in some poorer neighborhoods in north Amarillo, yet doesn't have the tax base of Highland Park, so they are struggling financially.

Amarillo ISD:

Amarillo High is the richest area of town, so it's pretty much The Big Dog. Most affluent students.

Tascosa used to be the number two school in town, but it seems they've had some problems lately.

Caprock might catch my eye. Though its population is more minority heavy and not as affluent, it seems that they have a good administration in place, and are doing a lot with what they have. And there is a lot of new housing going in near Tradewind airport and further east that is bringing growth to the area.

Palo Duro. Worst of the AISD schools, in the worst part of town. That being said, kids do succeed coming from there. They were in our kid's soccer district and we had little trouble with their kids.

[This message has been edited by CanyonAg77 (edited 4/12/2010 10:38p).]

I'd add Panhandle to your list Canyon. They've always been pretty stout academically.

Clarendon has some really good teachers. I'm not really impressed with the administration there. I do not care for the AD/head FB coach. He's a jack ass of the highest order. They have a very good baseball coach and basketball just made the regional finals for the first time in 15+ years. Their technology, history & english departments have always been strong. Math's always been weaker (it was abysmal when I was in school). My parents left Clarendon in 2006, but had been there since '91. I grew up in Clarendon. I'd say it's definitely more affluent than Memphis, but it's by no means a wealthy community.

Claude's a good little town. My mom worked there some from 2001-06. They lost their superintendent a few years ago and I don't know much since then. I played golf with his daughters when we were in school.

For State, my best friend from HS lives in Clarendon and commutes to Canyon to teach every day. She's been doing that since 2006. She doesn't mind the drive and makes much better money doing that. The cost of living is particularly low since her mom runs a daycare and keeps her kid.

Re Highland Park: a friend of mine taught/coached there until last spring. She had a mostly good experience with the kids and a terrible time with the administration. There was some serious turnover during her time there and it made it pretty wretched for her. She was also dealing with some family issues (parent had cancer and then died) that may have compounded her problems with the admin.

[This message has been edited by Lekner XII (edited 4/16/2010 10:23a).]

Lekner-

My BIL did the Canyon/Clarendon commute for the last 5 years. He WAS the high school math department. I think he actually did a pretty good job.

He transferred to Highland Park this year and seems to like the school and the administration. They also pay better than Clarendon.

I think the bottom line is that Canyon has a pretty good rep, so they have little trouble getting teachers and don't pay as well as some.

But there are a ton of schools within an hour's drive of Canyon, and teachers have quite a few options.

I think anyone wanting to live in Canyon could just get a map, draw a 70 mile radius circle, and start calling schools.

Said circle would take in a lot of schools I haven't yet mentioned, all with pluses and minuses: Hereford, Plainview, Dimmit, Nazareth, Boys Ranch, Wildorado, Vega, Kress, Hart, Silverton.....

Yeah, I've had no contact with the math department since my brother graduated from HS in '01. It was flat terrible at all grade levels at that point.

Hey Leckner

Glad to see you are still around. Going to Clarendon in the morning. Stavenhagens are selling all of their cattle. Maybe I can finish stocking for the summer. 4 inches of rain yesterday/today---blw

Lekner-

Don't worry, I knew you weren't attacking my BIL.

Oh yeah, definitely go to Canyon over randall, that way your kid can get stabbed in middle school!

if you are looking to teach, beware that canyon isd pays less than aisd. My wife is a teacher in AISD, and I went to Randall. I wanted to look in the CISD area, but my wife was not impressed when she interviewed, they paid less, and the academics aren't near as strong as the better AISD schools

This is an old thread but I miss Ama Tex so I am reviving it. This information is probably too late for you but I don't think you can go wrong with Canyon or Randall. I went to Randall and my wife started at Canyon and switched to Randall. Both good places with quality people and quality teachers. A buddy of mine from A&M went to Canyon and having studied with him at A&M, I can say you can get a could education at both places.

Man how I miss Amarillo and Canyon. DFW area is cool, but nothing can touch Amarillo/Canyon. Great weather, AWESOME people. Why did I leave again???

Apparently, getting on with Canyon ISD was a bit harder than I thought it would be. Spending another year in Temple.