Help!!Who has High School advice.

[lvmy3grls]

I for one, would not send my kids to school in Lake Worth, their reputation lately has not been good, as far as crime in the area. Have you considered Wellington? We have a great high school (Wellington High) and the prices of the homes have come down some, zip code is 33414, check it out. It is a much nicer community than LW (IMHO).

[vconnie]

Originally Posted by lvmy3grls

I for one, would not send my kids to school in Lake Worth, their reputation lately has not been good, as far as crime in the area. Have you considered Wellington? We have a great high school (Wellington High) and the prices of the homes have come down some, zip code is 33414, check it out. It is a much nicer community than LW (IMHO).

Dear Ivy,

Thanks for the input, I have considered Wellington(very pretty area). Do you have children in the High School there? I have checked the school web site and other sites that do the school ratings. I was very surprised to see the graduation rate. I thought in Wellington it would have been higher, especially with "everyone" always saying it is an A district. Do you have any idea what the class sizes are? As time goes on I totally agree with what you and others have said about the Lake Worth school reputation!! The class sizes there are out of control. It seems the zoning for schools with all the new homes that were built is posing a problem also. I would be open to any suggestions you may have on subdivisions in Wellington, just not above the 500,000's. I have heard a lot about the rise in crime in WPB, and the Olympia in Wellington. Whats up with Black Diamond? It was really beautiful when it went up and now it seems people can't wait to get out of there. Hope to hear from you soon and thanks again.

[lvmy3grls]

I would stick to the developments with the old Wellington schools, Olympia and Black Diamond are not in the old schools, they attend palm Beach Central High school which does not have a very good reputation either, and I hear they are building a new school in Olympia, but I think it's just a middle school which will not help you. I only have elementary aged kids, but have friends in that school, there are problems like fighting and some drugs like any school, but the overall feeling and reputation of the school is very good. You can definitely get a house for under $500,00 now, the prices have come down dramatically. We bought in 2005 for $472, and have to move due to my husbands job, and have our home listed for $429 right now, the market is very slow so if you can sell your home in NY, you will have lots of choices. Just be careful where you choose to live around here, there is a small area that is not very good when compared to the other areas. Our neighborhood is great, very safe, there is a park 4 houses away, and no traffic except for neighbors. I am also from Long Island, and we felt at home in virtually no time at all. Wellington is a great town, I hate to leave but have to after school ends this year. Where in LI do you live? We were from Levittown.

[vconnie]

Originally Posted by lvmy3grls

I would stick to the developments with the old Wellington schools, Olympia and Black Diamond are not in the old schools, they attend palm Beach Central High school which does not have a very good reputation either, and I hear they are building a new school in Olympia, but I think it's just a middle school which will not help you. I only have elementary aged kids, but have friends in that school, there are problems like fighting and some drugs like any school, but the overall feeling and reputation of the school is very good. You can definitely get a house for under $500,00 now, the prices have come down dramatically. We bought in 2005 for $472, and have to move due to my husbands job, and have our home listed for $429 right now, the market is very slow so if you can sell your home in NY, you will have lots of choices. Just be careful where you choose to live around here, there is a small area that is not very good when compared to the other areas. Our neighborhood is great, very safe, there is a park 4 houses away, and no traffic except for neighbors. I am also from Long Island, and we felt at home in virtually no time at all. Wellington is a great town, I hate to leave but have to after school ends this year. Where in LI do you live? We were from Levittown.

Ivy,
Thanks again! We live in Wantagh, we did live in Levittown before moving here. Have you heard of Lakefield West? I have a good friend who has a friend who lives in there. I've looked at homes there via the web. They are a bit older but, they seem for the most part to all have a view. What about Sugarpond? Some of those homes look nice, but again I think someone told me not to look there. I can't recall why at the moment. As far as what you say about feeling at home, I agree. We have visited quite a few times in the past three years. Everything we have here, stores, food, resturant, etc. can be found in that area. It is a lot like LI with nicer weather. "Talk" with you soon!

[lvmy3grls]

We lived on Orchid Road, and I grew up on High Lane on the South Side of Levittown, small world huh? The only thing with Lakefield is I think they have HOA fees which can get high, and parts of Lakefield are gated and I don't know if you want that or not, that's a personal preference. We live in a development across the street from parts of Sugar Pond, it's cute, but very big. One of the things I love about our development is it's not gated, no hoa fees, and there are about 100 houses and only one way into the development, therefore I felt it was safer and no thru traffic. Basically, the only people in this development are ones that live here. What is your budget? There are a few houses here for sale along with mine, do you want a pool or not? The only thing is, most homes are on 1/4 or less lot, while ours is the only 1/2 acre in this neighborhood, so we have plenty of privacy. That is the other thing about Lakefield, I think some of their properties are slightly smaller. But, it's a pretty neighborhood. Are you coming to visit? Please feel free to email me with any other questions at jgouzos@bellsouth.net.

[121804]

www.schoolmatters.com

very beneficial website

[vconnie]

Originally Posted by 121804

www.schoolmatters.com

very beneficial website

Thank you for the website. I did go and "look". Maybe I just am not reading this correctly, don't know. I have gone on other sites for the schools I have questions about, they all seem to say something a little different about the same schools. I have noticed this mostly in WPB county, the real estate sites say one thing, the individual school sites another and this one slightly different also. Coming from out of state it is all so confusing! School criteria is so different from state to state, in my case NY to Fl. I guess that is a lot of the reason I was looking for some "personal" experience with the schools I mentioned: Park Vista High in Lake Worth, Wellington High in Wellington, Eau Gallie High in Melbourne and even Satellite Beach High in Satellite Beach. While Wellington seems to be a "fine" high school in a pretty affluent neighborhood, I am finding that the Eau Gallie and Satellite Bch. High Schools look good too. I have to stop and wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that Brevard Cty. is the Space Coast. I would be open to some feedback on the comparasion of the two areas, schools, and life in general in both areas. I thank all in advance who reply!

[MUSICTEACHER]

I grew up in Massapequa (until age 13) where my parents chose to live because of the excellent schools, then went to HS in Satellite Beach (more excellent schools/demographics) and have raised my children in Jupiter. So, you see, I've been very blessed to have lived my entire life in safe, beautiful, low-crime areas, right by the beach. I can tell you that Jupiter High School is excellent, as is most of Jupiter. Lake Worth is a nasty place - very high in crime, and run-down. Overall, PBC schools are not so fantastic, in part due to the School Board Superintendent, but Jupiter is different than the rest. We are in the far northern end of PBC, and my children have done very well. My son has ADHD, and did very well at Beacon Cove (in the gifted program). At Jupiter Middle, he did fine, despite a bumbling principal & guidance counselor. We are far removed here from much of the negatives in PBCounty. My advice is to avoid Lake Worth, even if you can't afford Jupiter. Martin County schools would be better than Lake Worth. LW is a scary place.

[Marthamc33]

Hi. If you have not yet worked through your question... perhaps some of this information will be helpful to you.

Brevard Public Schools (PBS) main web site: www.brevard.k.12.fl.us
This site has lots of information such as school comparisons & such.
The School Board's main phone number here is #321-633-1000.

On the main page of the BPS site, on the left-hand side there is a link called "What School Do I Attend?". This link gives you an opportunity to plug in potential addresses to see what school is designated for that address. Very recently (this past week) there has been a buzz that they will be changing some school boundaries to rework student numbers (head counts) for financial and demographic reasons, so you might want to keep that in mind as you are checking into things.

A fairly decent site for demographic/school scores info: www.SchoolMatters.com. I believe the BPS site also has this information.

This is my experience to date: I have a 15-year-old with ADHD who last year graduated with straight A’s from a Brevard County charter school. He went into his first year of high school this year 2007-2008 (9th) at Viera High School (located 20 minutes north of Melbourne, where we live). We are on a borderline area for Viera's demographics, and he is agreeing to be transferred to Eau Gallie, which I personally feel may have a more creative atmosphere and may be more socially well-rounded. He is taking AP (advanced) courses and feels that the teachers at Viera are too young and inexperienced with ADHD, and so he is having not only the expected adjustments with the new environment of high school, but also dealing with a fairly newly created high school (Viera currently has no 12th grade, for example). The new high school is needed for that growing area of northern Brevard County, however logic and intuition tells me they don't yet have their "sea legs". So, in my son's situation, we think that a more established school will also provide more information and experience with the ADHD student, rather than my son becoming a test case.

The first school we looked at was West Shore High School, which has a lot of advanced courses and is geared heavily toward college. The idea of the school is great, but the environment seems very strict, and that was the biggest turn-off-- the pressure on the student to perform. We attended an Open House there and learned that unless a family member already goes there (in which case subsequent family members are enrolled at the top of the list), all other applicants are put into a lottery and mailed a number with the promise of being contacted if there is an opening.

My son’s second choice was Melbourne High School (well established). We tried to register him there but we were refused because we are one side of the road away from that school's border. This school has been around for ages, when you talk to natives here (ages 50+), they usually have fond memories.

I’m not familiar at all with Palm Bay.

* * * * *

Re hierarchy: The BPS has an “Exceptional Education Department”. There is a designated “Staffing Specialist Coordinator” for each area/district of Brevard County. Then, each of the high schools here has 1) an Exceptional Education contact—who is the first person you need to speak to once you choose a school, and 2) a Staffing Specialist, who I think works between the student/parents and teachers. These people are separate from the assigned Guidance Counselors for each student. I’m not certain how this all works to give you information, as I’m not there yet.

I’ve made calls to the School Board office (#321-633-1000), and it is my personal assessment that you might make that first contact directly with Exceptional Education contact at the school you’re interested in. One thing I’d definitely do is ask questions about their expertise with ADHD students, and tell them where your child is at academically—you could even ask questions about testing and setting up an IEP (that’s what they’re called here “Individual Education Plan”) that will help meet the needs of your child throughout high school. If those needs are made clear and are in writing (all teachers and staff get a copy), this helps cut out a lot of misunderstandings and if a teacher so happens to “forget”, you have leverage as a parent and your child has leverage as a student to get their needs met so that they succeed in school. For example, if extra time is needed to take notes, testing, projects. The thing you want to avoid or “red flag” are indications of needing Special Education classes if those are not necessary. If an IEP is established, then your child will also be able to be bussed no matter where the school is in relation to your residence. I don’t know what the equivalent of an IEP is where you are, or if it’s transferable. If you want to set one up, though, you will need a diagnosis of ADHD from a qualified person

I have been a resident in Brevard County for 7 years and have seen my son from the 2rd to 8th grades here. Although I’m sure you are well aware of this with your own experiences, I have personally found it necessary to be my son’s advocate when necessary and until the foundation of understanding is established between him, the teachers, and the school staff, and he can handle things on his own. The best approach I’ve found is to discuss things every step of the way with him, consider his input/feedback, and take it to the next needed step—keeping approaches with school staff and teachers on as informational and logical a level as possible. This has been a great tool for helping to build self-esteem and self-empowerment in my son, and I feel it also helps to teach problem-solving for the future, when/if he goes to college. Also important is knowing your child’s weaknesses—if for example they use ADHD as a crutch for something they need to work through on their own; or their reaction level to misperceptions; social awkwardness—things like that. Being honest about what you know or don’t know and asking for their help and feedback—gains the respect of teachers and staff.


Well, I’ve gone on enough here. I hope this is of help. If you would like to ask questions or if I can be of further help, by all means contact me at Marthamc33edu@yahoo.com

All the best to you and your family and your relocation... M

[Marthamc33]

Hi, again. Sorry about the font jazz. Don't know what happened there. M
P.S.-- Never mind. I corrrected it. First time posting. :-)