Does anyone know how the school system runs in bonita springs??? (Cape Coral: home, moving to)

[pink80]

I AM MOVING TO BONITA TOMORROW! MY DAUGHTER IS GOING INTO 4TH GRADE-JUST WONDERING IF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM IS LIKE THE LOTTERY LIKE IN OTHER AREAS OF FLORIDA-WHERE THEY PICK WHOEVER IS AVAILABLE OR IS IT LIKE THE NEAREST ELEMENTARY TO YOUR HOME-YOUR SCHOOL DISTRICT?? JUST CURIOUS BECAUSE THE LOTTERY DEAL IS A HASSLE AND BOTHERS MOI..

ANY INFO WOULD BE HELPFUL

THANXXX EVERYONE!!!!!

[Mrs.Bewitched]

If you go onto the Lee County school district, that website will explain it better than I can. I live in Lee for 2 months, however my child will still be going to Collier county schools as I am a teacher there. However, I have been researching the Lee County process because the year 2009-2010, my oldest will be starting high school and he'll go to a Lee County high school. Here's what I know, and hopefully someone else can correct me if I'm wrong.

It's called School choice. Where you live is located in a zone, and you will have two "subzones" to choose from. When you fill out the application, you will put your top 3 choices down on that list, from any schools in your two subzones. Supposodly, they try to give you the schools on your list, going in order.

[Obxnc7]

I also am moving that way, and have done a bit of research on the schools. In Lee County, it is School Choice as the other poster noted. While I was in Fort Myers, I really didn't hear too many positive things about Lee County schools. It sounds like there are a few good schools out there, but some pretty rough schools out there as well. (Just going by hear say on the street.) This is considered late registration in Lee County, as they started picking schools for children who were already registered back in March...I think. That means your chances of getting into a good school is slim right now...at least that is what I was told. Doesn't matter what school you live closest to...from what I hear, you can live close to one school and be bused 10-20 miles away to another. I did have someone tell me though, if you live within a mile of a school, they will let your child in that particular school, but that didn't come from the county office, just someone I spoke to in passing. I guess you could check that when registering. I did hear that the charter schools are pretty good. You have to apply directly to the school to get into one of those, and I don't know if there are wait lists or not. When talking to people, they had a lot of good to say about some private schools in the area. There were two or three that came highly recommended from locals that I came in contact with. I hear as far as public schools go, Cape Coral has some of the better ones....but I have no hard evidence...just what I've heard.