Reprinted from the Houston Chronicle, Neighborhood Survey/News
April 28 - May 4, 2011
Story by Michael Wright, Chronicle Correspondent

Why do many parents move to Friendswood? Most will agree it's the academic atmosphere

When Beth and Andy Stanfield married and started looking for a place to raise a family, they didn’t look far.

The couple, who met at the University of Houston, wanted to stay close to the city and they wanted a friendly area. But most of all they wanted a good school system for the family they planned.

So, they talked to people, looked up statistics and came to what they believed was an obvious conclusion: Friendswood.

Friendswood is what someone might call an old-growth city. Surrounded by rapidly exploding suburbs with tract palaces and clearcut subdivisions, the city has long since reached its limits, and is a tree-lined island in an ocean of new construction.

“It’s hometown,” Beth Stanfield said. “It feels like home.” Stanfield, who runs a real estate business with her husband and has two children in the district, said 85 percent to 90 percent of her clients are people moving into Friendswood because they want their kids to go to school there, or they are moving out because their children have graduated. The numbers and rating confirm the Stanfield’s faith in the Friendswood Independent School District.

The district, with one high school, one junior high, two intermediate schools and two elementary schools, is rated exemplary by the Texas Education Agency, as are each of its campuses, a rare feat for any school district.

And it’s not just the district’s TAKS scores that rate highly.

Children at Risk, a nonprofit group that ranks Texas schools based on 14 different criteria, including SAT and ACT scores and graduation rates, ranked Friendswood High School the 71st best high school in the state out of more than 1,100.

Tony Fitzpatrick, who moved to Friendswood six years ago for the schools, said he’s not surprised. Fitzpatrick, who has two children at Friendswood High School and one who has graduated, said the expectations the teachers have of the students “are through the roof,” and that creates an academically competitive environment.

“It’s unbelievable,” he said. “There’s a lot of push academically in the town. When you go to school, you’re well-prepared.”

Friendswood has some built-in advantages.

Forty percent of its residents have bachelor’s degrees, and its median household income is $117,000 a year, both strong indicators that parents will put a strong emphasis on education. It’s proximity to the Johnson Space Center adds to that focus on education.

Bob Sanborn, the chief executive officer of Children at Risk, told the Texas Tribune that high-performing schools that aren’t in affluent suburbs are often magnet schools whose teachers have a “missionary zeal.”

Fitzpatrick said that in addition to being an affluent community, Friendswood has such teachers.

“A lot of people who are raised here, come back here,” he said. “A lot of those people are in the schools teaching. They went here and they love the schools.”

Beth Stanfield agreed.“It’s a smaller community and it’s very hometownish,” she said. “Everybody in the community is so supportive. Whenever there is anyone in need, the community comes out and supports them.”

Fitzpatrick said the district isn’t perfect. He said the typical small-town politics are too often in play.

“Money is big in this town,” he said. “I think kids should earn things on their own merit, not by what their parents earn.”

But in the end, he said, the community support for education is what makes the district great.

“The parents back the teachers here,” he said. “They back the schools.”