Miami area Schools (Fort Lauderdale, Miami Beach, Plantation: neighborhood, to buy, school district)

[CiXeL]

if you are coming from the west coast. pay close attention to the people. they are not what they seem and very likely have a set of ethics entirely different from your own.

[NorthsideJacksonville]

Originally Posted by mommytwice

I have two daughters, one of which is a university freshman, the other is in 4th grade. I tried public for the oldest for three years, changed her to private and saw an incredible difference. Imagine this, most people in Miami speak little to no English--is that who you want teaching proper grammar, spelling and punctuation to your child? My daughter told me that many times she could not understand the teachers in public school because of the thick accent. I was lucky that I made the switch to private in time for my oldest to get the proper education and get accepted to alla of her choice universities with full scholarships. My youngest has only attended private school. If you must move to Miami, and I seriously doubt you have really done your homework if you still think of it as an option, there is only 1 option==PRIVATE SCHOOL. that is of course unless you don't care if they end up being completely illiterate and unable to communicate in English. After all, in Miami, you really do not need the English. In fact, speaking English is a liability as my kids have found out.

Then I suggest you get out of Miami, because Miami is basically an International city. You're one of those bougie folk that wants to shield her kids from the real world. This isn't Mayberry.

[CiXeL]

international city. is that a nice way to say third world country?
LA/SF/SD in california and NY,NY are international cities. you have a nice mix of all sorts of languages, races, religions. miami is a latin monoculture. asians in miami are like an endangered species and the stuff that passes for chinese food is atrocious.
whatever you do if you want to see the real miami, come here in the summer when all the snowbirds are gone. if you come when all the snowbirds are here you might be fooled into thinking its a half decent place with all the friendly midwesterners but come march noones speaking english and you find youre the only white folk around.

[vpcats]

Originally Posted by CiXeL

international city. is that a nice way to say third world country?
LA/SF/SD in california and NY,NY are international cities. you have a nice mix of all sorts of languages, races, religions. miami is a latin monoculture. asians in miami are like an endangered species and the stuff that passes for chinese food is atrocious.
whatever you do if you want to see the real miami, come here in the summer when all the snowbirds are gone. if you come when all the snowbirds are here you might be fooled into thinking its a half decent place with all the friendly midwesterners but come march noones speaking english and you find youre the only white folk around.

You know, I'm amazed that these well groomed, spoken, sophisticated, cultured snowbirds keep coming to our hostile, dangerous, crime-ridden cities in South Florida. They really should be going someplace else where they can live their part-time bubble lives in peace, quiet, and serenity.

[CiXeL]

i have a friend from socal who originally grew up in DC and moved back there when the economy took a dump. he came down here to florida a few months back to see miami and the keys and say hello. they rented a cottage in the keys. they seemed entirely content with staying at the cottage and enjoying the warm weather and reading. luckily they had a breeze because few of the ac units worked in the place. im fascinated by the fact people will SETTLE for less and not mind. i guess east coast people generally are used to crap customer service and dont care?

[magiccat]

"I would say 1 out of every 8 of my teachers wasn't either hating life or completely worthless." weren’t, not wasn't!!! It seems that you didn't pay attention to your worthless teachers either.

I am a teacher in Miami. Miami schools have improved and many of the teachers "hating life" have been weeded out. It all depends on the area also. Schools in Kendal are mostly A schools. You really need to visit the schools to see for yourself. You can tell just by walking into a school on a school day. There are schools where the kids just do not care and even assault the teachers. Then there are schools where that doesn’t happen. At my school, I have noticed that teachers really take their jobs seriously. We are obviously not in it for the money. Personally, I enjoy helping kids love learning. I get a high from it.

PM me the areas you are interested in and I will try to give you some feedback on the schools there.

[magiccat]

Originally Posted by bale002

How can anyone think that the "official" sources of information on Miami schools are anything but propaganda?

The truth about Miami schools is reflected, among other things, in a program "officials" are promoting to attract potential English, math and science teachers, including those without academic "qualifications" but with real life experience, which is probably a good thing, but they offer a salary of something like $35,000.

Now, I could see it if the place of work were within walking distance of one's place of residence. But on top of offering a salary that barely makes a dint in the real cost of living, these "officials" reserve the right to send candidates to any district that they want to. So even a possible idealistic retiree wouldn't do it. Who would voluntarily torture himself in Miami traffic and possibly risk his life for the mere pittance of $35,000 a year?

It is clear they are joking and that this program is a propaganda tool.

Private school or home schooling is the only serious option.

Very true. I drive an hour both ways everyday.
Don't home school unless you really know what you are doing. If you do, make sure your child has a chance to interact with other children on a daily basis.

[CiXeL]

this is kinda unrelated but i dont see much of a point to the social aspect of school. i see more of a tendency to foster a 'lord of the flies' type atmosphere than help social skills. remember what they say about idle hands. ive known plenty of people who had next to no social skills and yet were pulling down six figures. in fact a good deal of them live here in miami. im sure its because since they dont associate with the outside world here they dont mind it so much. another good thing about home schooling is the fact that it doesnt result in a monoculture of students all thinking the same ways. the public school systems in this country are terrible (even in the california beach cities where i grew up). the only people who really came out of school with a decent education went to private schools. to this day i am envious of education afforded by private schools and wish i had the experience myself.

[Vicman]

Originally Posted by jewill999

I plan on moving to the Miami area and we are looking at Pinecrest or Palmetto Bay. I have seen that the schools in these areas are ranked very high nationally and have consistently received extremely high grades by the State of Florida. I was hoping to send my child to the public schools there but from the responses in this forum it seems that the information I have is completely wrong. The cost of a private school in the Miami area is also very expensive.....somewhere around the 10k-20k range per year. So, I guess the only way you can be sure of your decision is to visit the schools in person before you purchase a house because maybe you will have to fork over more money for the cost of a private school.

Palmetto HS, I heard, is good.

If you are zoned to Palmetto, you should be good to go.

[MIA305]

I went to school in Miami and loved it. I went to private school from the time I was 3 until 1st Grade. It gave me a boost since the "preschools" are nothing but daycare centers. Now, I work at a private school and a public elementary school. My mother works at a middle school. We have concluded together that if your children are focused and responsible then they will do very well in public schools. If you have students who need an extra push or may get distracted by the wrong crowd, then private school is a better choice for your children. The key is to do the research and look for a good school. Even if the school is out of your area, it is likely to have magnet programs or other methods for students outside of the area to be enrolled.