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Loida Casares Ruiz

Wife, Mother, Writer, Advertising Manager

Loida Casares Ruiz grew up in Northeast Houston. She graduated from the University of Houston with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Minor in English. She received a Master of Arts in Communication in 2001. She works in advertising by day and is a mother, wife, and writer by night. She has al...

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Magnet Schools in HISD

Loida Casares Ruiz

It’s April and I’m waiting to hear from the school where we applied. We applied for a dual language Pre-K program in HISD for my soon-to-be four year old. I hear back in May, but I’m already getting nervous because I didn’t apply anywhere else.

The thing about Pre-K is that unless you have your child in a private program, like a Montessori school, you can’t get into a public school Pre-K program in HISD. It’s virtually impossible, unless your child is Spanish dominant or you are in a specific income bracket. It’s one of the only social programs that I find unfair.

But that’s the price we pay when we decided to live in the city. Yes, we are inner-city dwellers and we love it.

Because of these rules my daughter didn’t go to Pre-K. She stayed with her sitter, but I also decided she would be okay because she was a self-learner. I used to buy her little workbooks from Walgreens and she used to fill them all out herself. She’d even fill out the certificate at the end.

The only down side about her not attending Pre-K was that it was a little harder for her to adjust to the social skills of going to school with other children when she went to Kindergarten the next year.

My son is a different story. He’s not a self-starter and he really needs the discipline of a school environment. The only problem is the HISD rule for Pre-K.

So imagine my surprise when I found out that some HISD elementary schools actually have paid Pre-K programs available. I don’t see it advertised anywhere and a Google search and a search on the HISD website didn’t bring up anything. I only learned about  the paid Pre-K program at this particular school because my friend’s little girl attends the school.

I took my son in for an assessment that checked to see at what level of English and Spanish he is at. Then I turned in my application with our proof of residence in the HISD area. Now all we can do is wait and see.

Last night I was at a party at a friend’s house and a new mom, who has only lived in Houston for three years, expressed her concern about the school system in Houston. I told her about the Magnet programs and she said that she’d like to talk to me some more about it so that she can learn all about our school district.

I’m a product of this system. I attended public schools my whole life and entered the Magnet program in middle school when I went to Hamilton Vanguard.  Once there I learned all about the other high school programs and I applied to three of them, but chose Waltrip because of the IB program and the traditional high school format.

My husband also attended a Magnet program in elementary school, excelling at Gymnastics.  He lived in the city as a child and in the suburbs as a teenager. He agrees that schools are challenging either place. And since we choose to live in the city we appreciate the programs that HISD has to offer.

So when our daughter became of school age there was no question in our minds where we would send her. Our first choice was the Vanguard program but we also applied to three Magnet schools as back-up. Thank goodness she passed the Vanguard test and she was accepted at the first school of our choice. It was the best decision we could have made for her education. She is thriving in the Vanguard program and learning so much.

If my son doesn’t make it into the dual language Magnet school for Pre-K we’re probably going to have him sit out Pre-K too. But come next January he will be taking the Vanguard entry test.

This means that between now and December we really have to work with him on many of his skills. He’ll be four at the end of April and he already knows how to navigate around Nickjr.com and Playhousedisney.com.  He knows what a museum looks like and he can recognize instruments in a song. He’ll say things like, “That violin sounds angry!”

However, we still have a lot of work to do. Although he is clearly very bright, he does not conform to traditional learning and he doesn’t want to learn his ABCs or how to count. We have our work cut out for us!

The great thing about HISD is that even if he doesn’t get into the Vanguard system there’s the Magnet program. Do I want for him to attend a Fine Arts program? Math, Foreign Language, Technology, Communications, Montessori, Music and Science? These are all subjects offered in the HISD Magnet program. For more information go to www.hisd.org.

So many people move out to the suburbs because they think the schools are better and at the same time so many people are opting to stay into the city and having children. There is hope for those who choose to do that. Yes, some may still choose to send their children to private schools but they can also keep their children in public schools and they can help make those schools better. Just take a look at schools like Oak Forest, Garden Oaks, Helms, Harvard, and Travis. These are all excellent schools with great parent involvement. That’s the key to making public schools better. I really believe this.