Great Grades

3 best private high schools in Texas are right here in Dallas

St. Mark's is at the top of the class.

For students at three private high schools in the Dallas area, it’s really cool to go to school.

Niche.com, a website that provides rankings, reviews, and statistics about schools and communities, puts St. Mark’s School of Texas in Dallas at the head of its class — No. 1 among private high schools across the Lone Star State. Also, Niche.com places St. Marks, an all-boys school, at No. 17 among all private high schools in the U.S.

Niche.com used these factors to come up with its report card for private high schools: overall grade on Niche.com, academics, diversity, teachers, college prep, clubs and activities, health and safety, administration, sports, food, and resources and facilities.

“An education at St. Mark’s doesn’t revolve solely around academics. St. Mark’s aims to educate the whole boy, and for this I wouldn’t want to have gone to high school anywhere else,” an alumnus wrote in a review on Niche.com.

Another St. Mark’s alumnus wrote: “St. Mark’s takes young boys and turns them in to men ready to move into their collegiate years. I would definitely go to St. Mark’s again, given the broad array of extracurricular activities, intense and rewarding academics, and incredible support for students.”

Holding down the No. 2 spot on Niche.com’s list of the best private high schools in Texas is Dallas' The Hockaday School, followed by Addison’s Greenhill School at No. 3. Hockaday is a boarding school for girls, and Greenhill is a coed campus.

St. John's School in Houston and St. Stephen's Episcopal School in Austin round out the top five on this prestigious list.

lists rankings

Convention Center News

Dallas City Council drops $142 million for convention center re-do

Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center has opened as a warming center in Dallas.

Courtesy photo

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The Dallas Convention Center got a big infusion of cash for its imminent makeover. According to a release, the Dallas City Council awarded more than $187 million in contracts for construction projects in the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Dallas (KBHCCD) Master Plan.

The contracts are as follows:

$141.5 million contract to Perkins&Will and Populous for architectural, engineering, and design services for the Convention Center Expansion West of Lamar (Component 1)
$42 million in city contributions and $31 million in federal funding, including $20 million from the Reconnecting Communities grant program awarded through a partnership with the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG). This funding will be used to construct the foundations for three deck caps, as well as the capping and foundation of the Lamar crossing, near the KBHCCD.
$3.7 million to Metropolitan Infrastructure, PLLC, a Dallas-based M/WBE firm to oversee the renovation of Pioneer Plaza and Cemetery.

Convention and Event Services is leading a team of architects, engineers, and other contractors to design a Convention Center district from Eddie Bernice Johnson Union Station to Old City Park that will connect surrounding communities, meet convention attendees’ evolving needs.

"The City Council has made a transformational investment to realize the vision for a reimagined Convention Center district,” said Interim City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert. “The local and global expertise of our project partners will be instrumental in creating a facility that not only meets current and future convention demands but connects the surrounding residential community and serves downtown workers, benefitting Dallas economic growth and social vibrancy for generations."

With more than 40 conventions booked in the facility scheduled to open in 2029, the new KBHCCD expansion plans include
800,000 square feet of Exhibit Hall space 170,000 square feet of Ballroom space, including a 100,000-square-foot largest ballroom 100,000 square feet of Meeting Rooms and 2,000 parking spaces.