I need help w/ the Port Orange area!!! (Jacksonville, Miami: relocate, budget)

[rluey29]

I am a teacher in Arkansas and my wife will be starting Palmer College of Chiropractic school in October next year. We have no clue about this area! We have 2 children and we're having to sell our home and get everything together before then and don't really know where to start. We have always intended on moving to Florida regardless, but we didn't want near the coast. We really have no choice though. We want to buy a house because we hate renting and it seems to be a buyers market right now but I think that we will rent until she graduates and we can relocate to another city. I'm also worried that I won't find a teaching job because of the freeze.

Where do we start? We need at least a 2 bedroom apartment, hopefully in the $500-600 range so that we can still support our kids, which needs to be near the Palmer campus and it must have good schools and a good daycare because my kids will be 9 and 2. Can anyone give us any advice on this?

I've searched some of the "A" elementary schools and I think that Coronado Beach, Cypress creek, Pine Trail, and Sweetwater look like good ones. Can someone give insight to these and are we missing any that are better?

[BioAdoptMom3]

I live in Port Orange and I am a teacher too. I think you asked a lot of good, specific questions.

Port Orange is a nice community in my opinion with lots of parks and community activities for the kids. And of course there is always the beach nearby. If you are near Palmer College you will not be right on the coast. That is a few miles and over a bridge to the east. We have both a beachside and a mainland side, as does all of the Daytona Beach area.

As far as apartments go you probably will not be able to find one in that price range, especially one with two bedrooms. You are probably looking more in the range of $700-$900 per month. There are some government subsidized apartments which are less. There are at least two complexes that I know of right in P.O., if you think you might qualify. If your wife is in school full time and not working you certainly may.

Now for the bad news. The situation is very, very bleak right now for teachers. We have actually had tons of teachers, over 200, who were in their first three years of teaching, who have been laid off in this county. It is the same in every school district in FL. Some districts may have less who have been laid off, but as far as I know, because of budget cuts, no one from Pensacola to Jacksonville to Daytona to Tampa to Miami is hiring right now. I hate to be the bearer of bad news and of course there is always hope, but I really wouldn't expect to find a teaching position, at least not right away. Most of those who have been laid off will be first on the list to be hired this coming fall should any positions open up. As a matter of fact, our church is looking for a new Pastor and had one all set to go. He was very excited about coming here until they found out about the teaching situation. His wife is a teacher. He withdrew his name from the list.

As far as schools go, first, Pine Trail is way north of P.O., in Ormond Beach so that would be way out of your zone. Coronado is in New Smyrna Beach, too far to the south. Cypress Creek and Sweetwater are in the area, but which school your children attend would depend upon where you live. They are not taking variances if any school is over crowded unless your child is in a special program that only that school provides, like gifted services or unless you are on staff there. Do not be too concerned about the A grade. All that means is that they may have had a few more students who improved over last year on their test scores, as compared to this year. It also usually, not always, but usually means that school serves mostly middle and upper middle income families in the area. That is true of all four of the schools you mentioned. Other schools in the area are Port Orange Elementary (its a great school, small with a nice community feel to it), Sugar Mill Elementary, Horizon Elementary and Spruce Creek Elementary (also a very nice community school which seems to serve a lot of middle class families). If you are very close to Palmer you will probably be zoned for either Spruce Creek, Sweetwater or Sugar Mill. Some of the schools which did not earn A's and this is definately something to think about, offer more services for children than the A schools do. My school was an A school last year and because of our size we didn't even have a full time guidance counselor. Many of the schools with lower grades have a reading coach on campus, a math lab, a computer lab and even a science lab. Most schools who are D or F schools are in that status because they serve mostly lower income children from very poor neighborhoods.

Good luck and I hope you decide to join us here in Port Orange!

Nancy

[rluey29]

Thanks Nancy for all the great information!