good schools in Gulfport area????? (Biloxi, Long Beach: to rent, house, best schools)

[leena49]

We are having to relocate to the Biloxi/Gulfport area in Dec. i have been doing a bit of research and came across this forum. HOW WONDERFUL, it is nice to get information from people who actually live in the area.
My main concern are the schools. I have a daughter who will is in the 9th grade and it is EXTREMELY important to us that she is in a great/safe school. I have heard soooo many conflicting statements. I was looking at St. Martins or Gulfport but I read that Gulfport had gang problems. Is this true? I was also looking into Ocean Springs as I was told O .S and St. Martin had the best high School but then I was told to look into Pass Christian , Woolmarket, Long Beach, Bay of St. Louis, Waveland. Now I am totally confused. We are going to rent a house and so that is not my top priority but the high school is. If any one has any suggestions I would grealty apprecaite any and all comments. I will be going to Gulfport in Nov. to take a look around but I only have 4 days and so I really need to narrow down the areas to look at. My spouse will be working in Gulfport but he does not mind a commute........We just want our daughter to be in a good school.

Leena

[brickpatio]

Schooldigger.com ranks all the schools in the state by test scores. Pass Christian is ranked 2nd in the state out of 246 high schools. St. Martin 6th, East Central 9th, Vancleave 21st, Ocean Springs 24th, and Long Beach is 32nd. In the elementary school rankings, Bayou View in Gulfport is 2nd in the state out of 432 elementary schools and North Woolmarket is 4th. D'Iberville is 8th and Anniston Avenue of Gulport is 10th. There are several others on the Coast in the top 20, including in Pass Christian and Hancock districts.

[leena49]

I have been researching school info for Gulfport and the surrounding areas. I see the "stats" and test scores. I am wondering if any of you guys have any knowledge of what goes on in the hallways and such? ei: gang activity, fights ect.... Any inof would be greatly appreciated.

[brickpatio]

I personally don't know the answer to your question about the inside scoop on the schools on the Coast. I did check greatschools.net, where people can post comments about each school. It was hard to discern major differences in schools because most comments were positive. Here are a few of my perceptions, for what they are worth: Gulfport is very large and probably has both some of the wealthiest and also poorest students in the area. It was complimented for being one of the more diverse schools on the Coast. The comments about this school kept saying it's one of the best schools in the southeast, with all kinds of programs, college prep, etc. However, based on your comments about safety, something tells me you should consider a smaller school. One comment on another school said that people should not listen to everyone at the Navy base who tells newcombers that the only district worth considering is Ocean Springs. Ocean Springs has some of the nicer suburban subdivisions and seems to be considered a nice, middle class and upscale suburban school. I did not get the impression that there are "gangs" in this school, just based on the community itself and the comments. But it's a big school. By comparison Long Beach and Pass Christian are smaller and it seems extremely unlikely they would have any sort of gang issues. Pass Christian seems to get rave reviews and they seem to believe they are the best in the state etc. Biloxi is a very large school and very diverse. It got pretty good reviews, but with more socioeconomic diversity than some other schools and due to its size, this one doesn't seem to fit the "safe", intimate feel that you are going for. From what I can see Pass Christian, Long Beach, and Ocean Springs seem like the best fit...but that's very much my humble opinion. Someone who lives on the Coast needs to weigh in.

[leena49]

thank you for the reply it is very helpful