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There is a private school on Pawleys Island called Low Country Prep. It’s not Catholic, but I know there are students and teachers who drive from Georgetown. I’m not familiar with private schools south of Pawleys since I live in Murrells Inlet.
Good morning Mac, Merry Christmas! We are long-time removed from school worries, so I wouldn't call this advice, just some ramblings. Hopefully, other more informed opinions will come along. Personally, I would not automatically discount Georgetown schools. The demographics tend to skew any average measurements, but many of the long-time residents (aka natives) who could easily afford to do otherwise send their kids to these public schools, and Georgetown HS turns out its share of well-educated, highly motivated graduates. As with most public schools, it's a matter of parental involvement and student desire. The private Georgetown School may be worth investigating. I don't know much about it, and it tends to fly under the radar, but it occasionally gets press, all of it good. Grades 6-12, I think.
Outside of Georgetown, I know a few G'town residents who send their kids to the Waccamaw public schools in Pawleys Island, which tend to be well thought of. I'm not sure how easy it is to do this, and don't know what strings need to be pulled, but it happens. As previously mentioned, Lowcountry Prep in PI is highly rated with low student/teacher ratios and expensive. Our contact with this school is primarily when the kids go door-to-door selling candy bars, etc to support one of their activities. I've never quite understood how parents can afford to pay $$ thousands and still send their kids out to do fundraising, but I digress... There's also a new PI Montessori charter school that parents have been clambering to get their kids in, but I'm not up to speed on it. I believe the closest catholic school is St Michael in Murrells Inlet.
Your son-in-law didn't ask for any other advice, but it's free. For years, as PI has continued to get more and more grotesquely over-built and overcrowded, we have kicked around moving to G'Town. It's by far our preferred area, but we are old and have different wants/needs than young families. One downside for young families is the distance to any public beach on the ocean. For us, the biggest drawback is limited shopping options. There's the Walmart. Beyond that, there's the Walmart. The other grocery stores are tired, unattractive and offer limited specialty items. There is a small Belk's which has struggled to hang on for years. With Inlet Square in Murrells Inlet on life support, any real shopping requires a trip to MB. Your nearest big-box hardware store is Home Depot in MI. It's not a bad trip to PI/MI/MB unless you're doing it several times a week when you just need one item. G'town has it's share of very nice specialty stores, but sometimes that's not enough. Still, we love G'town and would not discourage any good folks from moving there. In fact, we'll be envious. Good luck to your family as they consider it. Let me know how it turns out.
I also understand the Georgetown attractiveness. Every time I’m there, I love the feel. However, I drive my son three nights a week from PI to almost N Myrtle Beach for an after school activity. It’s not a horrible drive, but I’d prefer not to do it from further south than PI.
The Montessori charter school has seen a bit of change in recent years with the board and director and rather recently (maybe even now I’m not sure) had slots open for students to transfer.
I know very happy teachers, parents, and kids at some Georgetown Elem schools. I’m not familiar with the middle and high schools.
I live in MI, have my son in school on PI, shop at Aldis near Surfside and work in Conway. We go to Georgetown on Saturdays for son’s activities. There are rare days I run home to let the dogs out. The worst part of the driving here is not the distance for me but the unbelievable number of wrecks. That would be the downside to me of needing to go from Georgetown to Myrtle Beach.
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