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Brevard County Space Coast: Palm Bay, Melbourne, Titusville area
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Old 07-31-2015, 08:20 AM
 
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Hi, my family is relocating to Palm Bay from Virginia. We will be living with family until we can get some things straight. We have 4 kids, 2 in school. 1 rising 4th grader and 1 going into K. The "assigned" district school for them is Columbia, but we are exploring the charter schools as well. We really like Educational Horizons, but they have a wait list. Royal Palm has an opening for our oldest, but seems to have some mixed reviews based on greatschools and google. I would like to get some real insight from locals on here. Any help is appreciated!
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Old 07-31-2015, 09:50 AM
 
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Since you will be living near Columbia El. You won't be far from Odyssey Charter school which is down by the Baysude Publix. It has a pretty high rep for a charter school.
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Old 07-31-2015, 11:24 AM
 
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Originally Posted by Rabflmom View Post
Since you will be living near Columbia El. You won't be far from Odyssey Charter school which is down by the Baysude Publix. It has a pretty high rep for a charter school.
Thank you. I looked into that school as well. Could you maybe elaborate a little more about their rep? Do you have experience with Odyssey or know anyone who does? Thanks again.
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Old 07-31-2015, 12:02 PM
 
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Originally Posted by SportsFan8 View Post
Thank you. I looked into that school as well. Could you maybe elaborate a little more about their rep? Do you have experience with Odyssey or know anyone who does? Thanks again.
My cousin's grandkids go there. They seem to do OK and are happy campers. Personally, I am not a big fan of Charter schools. I was a teacher in the public schools so I am one who still thinks educators should be in charge instead of someone with a business degree. JMHO. Track record here in town several charters have closed because of money management.
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Old 07-31-2015, 12:59 PM
 
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Originally Posted by Rabflmom View Post
My cousin's grandkids go there. They seem to do OK and are happy campers. Personally, I am not a big fan of Charter schools. I was a teacher in the public schools so I am one who still thinks educators should be in charge instead of someone with a business degree. JMHO. Track record here in town several charters have closed because of money management.
Ok. Thanks for the insight. Do you have any input on Columbia? See in Virginia there's not an abundance of public charter schools. I believe there's 8 throughout the whole state. So when we first starting looking at Florida we noticed all the charter schools and we were intrigued. We just want to explore all our options.
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Old 08-01-2015, 05:26 PM
 
Location: Merritt Island, Fl
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I am curious how charter schools differ in Brevard than what we have in NY? I have several charter schools as clients. They are all situated in below average economic areas. They also have the look, feel and general positive results of many very expensive private schools. If the city schools are failing to make the grade, I applaud charter schools for what they accomplish in such tough communities. To me, it's not just the grades, but what you do after you graduate HS. That, to me that is where NY Charter schools tend to excel. Is the track record different in Brevard, both grades and % that move on to some form of college?
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Old 08-01-2015, 08:32 PM
 
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Originally Posted by Nypafl4u View Post
I am curious how charter schools differ in Brevard than what we have in NY? I have several charter schools as clients. They are all situated in below average economic areas. They also have the look, feel and general positive results of many very expensive private schools. If the city schools are failing to make the grade, I applaud charter schools for what they accomplish in such tough communities. To me, it's not just the grades, but what you do after you graduate HS. That, to me that is where NY Charter schools tend to excel. Is the track record different in Brevard, both grades and % that move on to some form of college?

Here they are just regular schools funded by the county but managed by private companies in regular neighborhoods. The building is provided by the private companies. I think they basically were a way for the county to save some money when the county was building 1-2 schools every year to keep up with the growth. Some of the charters have done well but some had failing grades and were closed or were mismanaged.

I just found an article from the paper and I think I have to take back the good reps for Odyssey. I did not realize they got their first grade in 2014 and that it was an F. If My kids were in elem. still, I would probably steer away from the charters and still choose a public school or one of the Catholic or Episcopalian schools in town. I am not one who loves the grade system to judge how a school is doing by teaching for the test like they do down here, but schools with an F mean something is not working.

As for Coumbia they got a C so not the best either. Brevard does have school of choice but sometimes it is hard to get into the best schools that way. It is closed for this school year, though since school starts in 11 days.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/newre...ply&p=40656171
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Old 08-01-2015, 10:05 PM
 
Location: Niceville, FL
13,258 posts, read 22,828,258 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nypafl4u View Post
I am curious how charter schools differ in Brevard than what we have in NY? I have several charter schools as clients. They are all situated in below average economic areas. They also have the look, feel and general positive results of many very expensive private schools. If the city schools are failing to make the grade, I applaud charter schools for what they accomplish in such tough communities. To me, it's not just the grades, but what you do after you graduate HS. That, to me that is where NY Charter schools tend to excel. Is the track record different in Brevard, both grades and % that move on to some form of college?
Very mixed results in Florida- some successes, some bad failures including a since-closed school that let a couple kids drown on a beach excursion, and by me, a number of them are in the process of getting non-renewed for fiscal mismanagement, and this being Florida some weirdness like the charter school near Tampa that the Scientologists tried to take over.
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Old 08-02-2015, 03:20 AM
 
Location: Merritt Island, Fl
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Wow, I did not realize that is how it was down here with these charter schools. Very different image. The big debate up north is more political and job security wise for the public school system. What seems to get lost in all this are the kids. If a school get failing grades, consistently, something needs to change, regardless of who funds it.
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Old 08-02-2015, 03:42 AM
 
Location: Merritt Island, Fl
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While down here on our vacation, we planned to visit several schools in Merritt Island and Cocoa Beach/Cape Canaveral. I wanted to meet with the principals and other personnel to try and gauge the enviornment and "feel" of the different schools since we are now seriously considering the move in about a year. My eight year old is our only school aged child now and his education and comfort are my concerns. Do you think I can get in this week (knowing school is out) to meet anyone? What would be the proper procedure and who to call? I was just going to drive over and knock on the door, but I figured there might be a better way. (Of course we do plan to visit again when school is in session as well).

We knew going in to this week, that it would not get just the beach and pool. Any suggestions would be helpful.
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