Need honest opinions about moving to Jacksonville with a family (Miami: rent, condo)

[fsu813]

parks71,

i'm embarrassed for you. really. now that i think of it, you regularly post these flawed, easily disproven, 'opinions'. Easily disproven, as in, it took me about 5 minutes. Here ya go :

- you may want to cover your eyes for this, parks 71. below is a link for Duval County School grades last year, you'll be disappointed to see that the schools are NOT terrible. if this link looks familar, it should.....last time you went on a rant about Duval County Schools i used this link to shut you down then, as well. of course, if you avoid the high crime areas you will avoid the worst schools, so this isn't really a problem.......i know you'll be disappointed....

School grades: http://www.duvalschools.org/reseval/...ch%20Alpha.pdf

I have others links on this subject too, if you like =)

- concerts. ok, well....here we go. yes, ms. spears has performed here. seems like teeny-bopper acts are what you consider "big". to each his own. here's some upcoming concert info, just in October, just big names......

One Republic, Oct 1 (today)
Monica, Oct 2
Earth Wind & Fire, Oct 8
Brad Paisley, Oct 15
Robin Williams, Oct 17
Bryan Adams, Oct 24
Roger Daltrey, Oct 25
AC/DC, Oct 30

just in Jax. now if want to include the "First Coast" in general, which most people do, and most venue calanders do, (ie, the 30 minute drive to St. Augustine) then there are much more. Driving 30 minutes outside of the city for a concert is common in big cities, i'm sure you know. Such as in Atlanta and the Gwinnett County arena, or countless others:

Stone Temple Pilots, Oct 3
Alan Jackson, Oct 4
Lynyrd Skynyrd, Oct 23
Bonnie Raitt, Oct 24

Other recent noteables that have played in Jax, off the top of my head & easy searching......Elton John & Billy Joel kicked off thier nationwide tour here, Smokey Robinson was here last week, Jamie Foxx, Crosby, Stills & Nash , James Taylor, John Legend, Ne-Yo, Kenny Chesney, Blues Traveler, Bird Man, The Decemberists, Maxwell, Bobby Valentino, Anthony Hamilton, Hannah Montana, Juvenile....

this is easy!

[parks71]

You really are an idiot arnt you? I mean why post information that just makes you look DUMB???? Lets look at your list for High schools ok. I got every single high school on your list for 08 then put the grade. Obviously you went to school here as well.

Lets start with all the schools that have F grades, one you probably went to.

Forrest
Jackson
Raines
White

Now lets go on to D schools

Parker
Baldwin
Englewood
First coast
Lee
Peterson
Randolf
Ribalt
Sandlewood

Now how about all the B schools

Mandrin (didnt I already say Mandrin was one of the only good ones?)


Now how about A schools? Oh wait, the only A schools in this WHOLE city are magnet schools. Better make sure you kid is smart enough to get in.

Stanton
Anderson


Boy those are some GREAT SCHOOLS!!!!! Oh since you say our schools are SOOO GREAT why dont you tell people that they cut the budget last year and this year the school days were cut by an hour or so???? Did you tell your friend they are trying to get rid of Band, art and certain sports to save money? Did you hear they are trying to make MORE cuts for next year?

Oh and on all those bands, you do realize this is 2009 right? Most of those bands can barley fill a night club. While I may like a few of them they are not the big bands popular NOW but maybe you dont know what I mean.


You need to stop feeding people false information, everyone knows the public school system in jacksonville is not very good. Stop acting like this place is heaven, it has its problems just like any other city.

[Joe 4520832257]

While I generally disagree with many of parks71's statements, I think some of them are fair.

The public schools are terrible. Duval has about 5 good high schools, 3 of which are magnets. So that's a legitimate concern for anyone moving to Jax with children. Unless you live in certain areas of Mandarin or the Beaches, you will either have to test into a magnet or pay for private.

Now, conversely, I would bristle at the notion that someone should blindly move to Clay or St Johns just because of the schools. Because, like I said, there are some public school options in Jax that are well worth considering. But that's no reason to ignore the legitimate problems that exist.

I'll end with this general statement:

- It's really easy to spot someone bashing a city just for the sake of bashing it.
- It's really easy to spot someone city-boosting just for the sake of city-boosting.

Neither of these things serves ANY purpose. I don't care what anyone tells themselves to rationalize it ... but knee-jerk bashing and boosting is POINTLESS.

[LoveBoating]

While people shouldn't bash Jax, at the same time, they shouldn't make the entertainment here look like Los Angeles or New York! Can't speak for the schools here, so will stay out of that arguement!
Parts of this Thread reminds me of when we moved to the Denver, Colorado metro area in 2002 from So Calif. People kept telling us just how mild the winters were (we arrived in June 2002). We both knew what winter was like being raised in northeastern Indiana and southeastern Michigan. Neither of us had ever experienced snow on Halloween in Ind. or Mich. Wow, did we get a surprise when a snowstorm hit during the week of Halloween in Englewood, CO! It was crazy seeing outside Halloween decor covered in snow! And then, thru the winter, weather reports would "downplay" the amount of snow coming/falling. We got inches-to-feet! Somebody had definitely lied to us about the winter snow there!
What the OP, and others considering a move to Jax (or anywhere) is the truthful/honest opinion of people living there and even people who have moved away. Can't blame the OP and others for wanting truth/honesty about an area.

[fsu813]

Joe, i completely agree with you. notice i didn't state thet the public schools are great, i said that they weren't terrible, as parks71 did. 99% of what i type is either in reponse to a direct question or correcting someone's mistakes (as in this case).

a few point for parks71,

seems like you love to use straw men arguments to try and persuade people (perhaps yourself). exaggeration is not your friend, either.

- your list is not accurate. off the top of my head i know that you left off at least one 'A' high school. let's see if you can guess which one? if you left off that one, what else do you care to fudge?

- furthermore, notice i never said schools were "great", just not "terrible" as you stated (this would be a classic example of a straw man argument). funny how you chose to highlight the worst part of the schools (highschools). you didn't single any branch of schools out in your past critiques, rather you repreatedly stated "schools" in general. say one thing, then change the argument to suit your stance? (another straw man example).

since you were orginally talking about all the "schools" in general, how about you list them? perhaps b/c they are much better than the highschools, which you chose to highlight....thus wouldn't fit into your argument? actually there is no need to list them all (ha) that is what the link is for!

but i digress - the vast majority of time, a student's educational die has already been cast once they reach high school. as everyone would agree the most important schools are elementary, then middle, then high, as a student develops his/her reading skills, math skills, & study skills by the time he/she enters high school..... also, everyone would agree that the highschools have a lot of room for improvment, which they are in the middle of (see the link below). From my knowledge, highschool is what you make of it. Some of those poorly rated schools have fanatsic courses, including IB. If a student chooses to, they can do extremely well. As seen by the number of scholarships from Lee, Englewood, & Sandalewood to colleges, for example, all poorly rated schools. btw, here's some more up to date information for you:
http://www.americantowns.com/fl/jacksonville/news/duval-county-students-show-gains-in-fcat-reading-math-and-science-191028

The summary..."May, 2009 - Of the 22 possible categories, Duval County declined slightly in only three areas, improving in 15 and staying the same in four, with the greatest improvements in the areas of mathematics and science."

- that being said, getting into a magnet school is not very hard. if a parent wants thier child to go to one and the child is smart enough, it's not difficult. Hint to my first question: there are more than 3 magnet highschools

- which act couldn't fill up a night club, exactly? please point them out.....(this outta be good)...
just to be accurate, 19 of the 29 acts i listed are 'contemporary', as in, they have put out a popular song or album recently. the others are just popular from thier golden years.

- i could go back & forth all day, i enjoy it. also, i didn't know direct name calling was allowed. if is, then my posts could quickly become much more interesting =)

[cricketfan]

Originally Posted by Joe 4520832257

While I generally disagree with many of parks71's statements, I think some of them are fair..

You're right. The problem is when he says something that is fair, it either gets ignored because everything else that he says is garbage or someone decides that a jerk should not get credit for any statement, credible or not. For example, to make an idiotic statement like "who says it's cheaper to live here", or "Mandarin is more than 40 minutes from any beach" shows that this person is only interested in bashing and so when he tackles the public school system in Duval he still ends up with zero to no credibility even though what he says has some merit.

Anyone who has been on the Jax forum for any length of time should know who Parks71 is. If you don't, read his other posts, here as well as on other CD boards. Maybe then you will know it is a waste of time trying to dialogue with a guy who hates, not just Jax but all of Florida.

[parks71]

Cricket, go to salaries.com and use the cost of living calculator. Then put in jacksonville where you live and jacksonville where you work. Then put it to compare Denver where you live and denver where you work. According to this calculator which takes into account increase in pay, state tax, housing tax and a whole bunch more, the cost of living is 800ish cheaper here. That is peanuts so that statement is fair unless you have a better way to calculate it. If you go to colorado springs, its 5000+ thousand cheaper to live there than jackosonville and its also cheaper to live in fort collins.


Fletcher was left off the list because fletcher is not in the city of jacksonville but it is in the city of jacksonville beach. Just like Nease high which also happens to be a good high school but again, is not in the city of jacksonville.

[fsu813]

I wasn't refering to either of those, but those are 2 more good schools that should be on there.

Keep guessing.....hint.....'A' school, magnet, this shouldn't be hard....

[parks71]

It really doesnt matter, 13 out of 14 schoools that arnt magnet schools have a D or F rating. I am just proving a point, your petty details are pointless, you lose, the truth has been shown, you just cant handle the truth!!!! I'm done arguing over this stuff, I think the original poster now have a real idea what the schools are in your supposivly flawless paradise.

[fsu813]

(ha).

no, actaully.....you are incorrect. btw, Paxon was the 'A' school that you missed, though you brought up a couople others that you missed as well. Thanks.