Moving from Katy ISD (TX) Las Virgenes Unified School district or Conejo Valley (Los Angeles, CA)

Parent Cafe
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Hi,

We’re currently moving from the Houston area to Los Angeles. My husband accepted a job in Woodland Hills, CA after being laid off in February from an oil company. Looking online I believe that Las Virgenes Unified School district or Conejo Valley are the best bet in regards to quality schools as well as homes we can afford. :confused: I know it’s a long shot but I wondered if anyone had any personal experience with either of the districts that wouldn’t mind sharing their advice/thoughts on these districts, and any California secondary education advice in general.

My kids will be in 8th and 6th grade so we have one more year before high school. My concerns are academic offering, art and music programs, and special services. One of my sixth graders is ASD, although he needs only a few small accommodations, he really needs those small accommodations…

They’re all good students, well behaved, and shy-“nerdy” and of course, very upset about moving. My daughter takes all “preAP” courses except math and was enrolled in high school level Art 1 as an 8th grader. My twin boys are enrolled enrolled in all PreAP classes next year with band and art as their electives. The schools they attend now are large, suburban and multi-cultural, with lots of parental involvement and a lot of pressure-that I won’t miss.

Thank you in advance for any advice/insight etc.

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One thing you may notice is that while class rank as determined by the high school is of utmost importance for admission to Texas public universities, it is not considered by California public universities*. This presumably reduces the cutthroat class rank gaming that seems to be common in Texas, based on postings here.

*The “top 9%” you may hear about with respect to UC is based on a student’s GPA meeting a threshold GPA set by previous classes, not in competition with the student’s classmates. In addition, these GPAs are recalculated by UC.

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Sending you PM.

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Thank you both. My kids wouldn’t have been in the top 10% much less the 7-8% for UT, because of the way some parents/kids take every AP instead of taking electives for 4 credit points, glad to be out of that pressure cooker. I guess after I’ve finished figuring out the high schools, my next step is the public system in CA-something I never imagined I’d be doing, but at the very least it keeps life interesting.