Moving into a school district we don't like... (Miami, Pinecrest: transfer, neighborhood)

[gizana]

Hi there everyone,

This is my first post, and there seems to be lots of good info on this board. I'd like to ask if anyone who lives in Miami-Dade county knows what I need to do to transfer public elementary schools. We are moving to a nice area, and the elementary school assigned to our address is an A school. I went and checked it out, and was not too impressed. I saw a kid getting majorly picked on in the cafeteria, and there was virtually no adult supervision.

There were other reasons, which I won't bother getting into, however, I wanted to ask, is it possible to go to another school that is just north of that district? If so, what do I need to do to make it happen?

Thanks in advance for any responses!

[crisp444]

It is possible to get your child transferred to another school within the Miami-Dade County School District, but you have to petition for it and fill out a form. I've heard that you need to give some kind of reason for it, such as "it is easier for my child to get to this school, as I pass it on the way to work." May I ask to which schools you are referring, both the one which your child is supposed to attend and the one where you want him/her to attend?

[gizana]

Crisp444 thanks for your reply. I'll look into the petition form. I wonder if the will consider my safety concerns as a "good" reason for a transfer.

I definitely didn't come on the board to make any schools look bad, as this is just my opinion, as well as my individual experience. but, the school is Perrine Elementary, but I think I'd much rather the kids go to Coral Reef Elementary. They're both A schools, but I've visited both, and I did not see the issues at Coral Reef that I did at Perrine.

I also saw positive things at Perrine, but just some things that concerned me and did not "sit well" with me.

Again, I don't want to bash Perrine at all. They are a magnet school dedicated to the performing arts. I have heard some good things.

Thanks for your reply! If anyone else has some additional information about transferring, I'd really appreciate hearing it. Thank you!

[crisp444]

This is going to be tough for you because many families move to East Perrine / Palmetto Bay to get their kids into a school pyramid that is known as one of the best in South Florida. Perrine Elementary --> Southwood Middle --> Palmetto High (the schools your child will attend) are all very well-respected schools.

I would think that the only major difference between Perrine and Coral Reef would be that Coral Reef has a higher percentage of white/Hispanic students and a lower percentage of black students. Also, a much lower percentage of its students participate in the free and reduced price lunch program. The small area zoned for Perrine Elementary has encompasses much more economic diversity than the small area zoned for Coral Reef. The families that send their kids to Perrine are lower middle class, middle class and upper middle class while the families that send their kids to Coral Reef tend to be upper middle class or wealthy.

Coral Reef is in a more expensive area (you probably know the the further north and east you go in Palmetto Bay/Pinecrest, the richer it gets) and thus may be slightly more desirable to some people. However, I would not be concerned about Perrine because it has had a good reputation for a while.

I really don't want to discourage you, but I have no idea what good excuse you will use to be able to send your child to Coral Reef... both schools are so close to each other and are in nice areas... you might have to know someone working for the school district that can pull some strings for you.

[PBCboy]

Regarding safety, take a peek at this review I discovered online:

"Safety at this school is terrible, my son has gotten beaten up twice at lunch time and the school has failed to notify me or take any actions. For the second incident I had to take my son to the hospital. The principal does not return calls or does anything to assure me that my child is in a safe enviroment. I am in the process of taking him out of this school and he is only in first grade.".

[crisp444]

I'm sure similar stories exist at EVERY school. Bullying is a part of growing up and although one parent's experience CAN be reflective of a school environment, it could just as well be an outlier. Overall, Perrine Elementary School has a good reputation and good reviews on sites like greatschools.net. I'm sure that if that parent's experience was commonplace, I wouldn't have heard so many good things about that school.

[MelanieDawn]

Good afternoon Gizana,

I will have to second everything that Crisp has already said, including the comments about the reputations of the schools involved.

I thought this might help, though, as it outlines some of the allowable reasons for transfers out of the neighborhood school: http://www.dadeschools.net/board/rules/Chapt5/5a-1.08.pdf (broken link)

You can also look through the various "specialized programs" Specialized Programs as a way of enrolling your child in a different school

Good luck!

[gizana]

Thanks so much. You all are incredibly helpful, and have access to such great information. I appreciate all the positive comments about Perrine Elementary, and I'll give it some more thought. I'm sure it will be difficult for me to think of a truly legit reason for the transfer anyway.

Thank you again.