Lake Mary Public Versus Private Schooling (Orlando, Sanford: house, neighborhoods, buying)

[GLN]

Hi,
My husband and I are in the early stages of relocating our young family (little boy aged two and another baby on the way) to the Lake Mary area from the UK. Being from the UK, although we do have private schools, the concept is fairly alien to me, as most of our children are educated in public/state schools. One of the reaons for selecting Seminole County is that the public schools seem to be better than average for Florida.
My preference is that my children would go to public shcool but I do not want to have a situation where most of the other children in their neighbourhood go to private school. We are presently looking at the Lake Mary area and a location that would ultimately place us in the catchment area for Lake Mary High School as this seems to be one of the better ones in the area. In particular we both liked Alaqua Lakes.
I would be very keen to hear from other parents in the Lake Mary/Heathrow area as to what the public schools are like and what proportion of children actually attend public versus private school. If anyone from Alaqua Lakes picks up this thread and can tell me whether most of the children in the community (from elementary to high school age) attend public or private school, this would be very useful.
Thank you in advance.

[Cigarboo]

I'm curious to know the answer to your question as well, not just at Alaqua Lakes but in Seminole County in general. I hope someone has some idea as to the percentage of kids that go to private versus public school.

From my searches on this board, it seems Heathrow in particular has upwards of 90% of the neighborhood kids going to private school. I don't know if that's true, but it was definitely something I considered when searching for a home. I would think more parents in Alaqua or the Lake Mary HS zone would consider the public schools to be acceptable. Certainly there is a lot of wealth in Alaqua so perhaps private school enrollment is high despite having an acceptable public school. If I were to guess, I would think that more kids in Alaqua go to private from K-8 and then many will opt for public from grades 9-12.

We're going to end up in Winter Springs because of some of the same points that you brought up. My children will be going to public school and I wanted to live in an area where there's a greater chance that a bulk of the children will also be going to the local public school. All three schools(Keeth/Indian Trails/WSHS) are within a mile of each other and are pretty decent, so my hope is that enough kids in the neighborhood will be attending the neighborhood public school so my kids won't feel like the odd man out.

I wish I was able to find the actual percentages of public vs private school enrollments for each neighborhood/area, so I could have made a more informed choice. Sorry I'm not more helpful, but I hope someone will come on and give some figures to go by. Good luck to you.

[GLN]

Hi Cigarboo,
Thanks for taking the time to reply. Any insight I can gain is helpful.
Good luck with the move to Winter Springs

[beckycat]

Both of my kids have attended Lake Mary schools. I have been very satisfied with the schools. Honestly, there is no need to send your kids to private schools. My kids went to Greenwood Lakes Middle and Lake Mary High. My daughter has graduated and my son is in 9th grade. We have a program called the PIN. You can look up your children's grades and attendance anytime on there. You can then contact the teachers by e-mail. I really like it to keep on top of your kids education. They offer honors classes and AP classes at LM High. You can also do dual enrollment with the college which my daughter did. My son is s a football player and they offer other activites. Check out the website and it will give you an idea. The best part is that we only live a mile from the school. Yes there are "bad" things that go on at any school including LM, but your child just have to make the right choices. It's been rated a 9 out of a 10. Read what parents and students have to say about it: Lake Mary High School - Lake Mary, Florida - FL - School overview

[Bessette]

Hi! I lived in Heathrow for 5 yrs and just moved to Alaqua Lakes a year ago. Majority of the kids in BOTH neighborhoods go to public school. 90% going private is not an accurate number. I would think 40% is a better percentage. And it might be less w/our current economy. In the mornings, the bus stops are loaded with kids for public school bus routes. Both neighborhoods are zoned for Heathrow Elementary (excellent school) and Markham Woods Middle. Alaqua Lakes is zoned for the better h.s. which is Lake Mary H.S and Heathrow is currently zoned for Seminole H.S. Hope that helps and best of luck on your house search. You're buying at a great time!

[GLN]

Thanks Beckycat and Bessette for the replies. The info is much appreciated. Out of interest Bessette, did you make the move from Heathrow to Alaqua to get into the LMHS catchment area?
Also we are recently back from an exploratory visit to Central Florida which was when we visited the Alaqua Lakes community. We did wonder where famillies spend most of their recreation time e.g. mother and child groups/restaurants/shopping etc. As mentioned we really liked the Lake Mary/Heathrow area but there didn't seem to be a town center as such. Is most of the recreation time spent within the gated community itself?
Some of the other communities e.g. Dr Phillips seem to have more amenities coming up when you do internet searches. My preference is to be a bit away from Orlando itself but I also want to feel that there is a sense of community/things for us to get involved in as newcomers to the area. I would appreciate your thoughts.

[beckycat]

Originally Posted by GLN

Thanks Beckycat and Bessette for the replies. The info is much appreciated. Out of interest Bessette, did you make the move from Heathrow to Alaqua to get into the LMHS catchment area?
Also we are recently back from an exploratory visit to Central Florida which was when we visited the Alaqua Lakes community. We did wonder where famillies spend most of their recreation time e.g. mother and child groups/restaurants/shopping etc. As mentioned we really liked the Lake Mary/Heathrow area but there didn't seem to be a town center as such. Is most of the recreation time spent within the gated community itself?
Some of the other communities e.g. Dr Phillips seem to have more amenities coming up when you do internet searches. My preference is to be a bit away from Orlando itself but I also want to feel that there is a sense of community/things for us to get involved in as newcomers to the area. I would appreciate your thoughts.

Alaqua has their own clubhouse and pool. I believe they have family things going on.There are plenty things to do with community in the surrounding areas. Check it out here: Lake Mary Life Magazine | Print and Online Advertising | Lake Mary, Heathrow, Sanford, Longwood, Oviedo, Winter Springs In Lake Mary you have the downtown area where they hold a farmer's market, movie night and more. You have a ball park, skate park and splash park. Sports and cheerleading are very popular here. In neighboring downtown Sanford, there are tons of things going on. City of Sanford > Events
You also have neighboring Altamonte with all of the activites:
Uptown Altamonte - Events
http://www.city-data.com/forum/orlan...ord-video.html

[ericaed]

my husband and i are from Toronto. we are thinking of purchasing a home in Alaqua Lakes. we have been there a few times..(half of his buisness is there). Eventually it will be an option for us to live there, which is exciting because we won't have to deal with winter anymore!! however, i have been reading that if you have a child with special needs that it is not necessarily the best place to be. Does anyone have any concrete info on this topic? Our first daughter has dev. delays and will need special schooling.

[nativefla]

I live in the Lake Mary High School district, but my kids go to Trinity Prep. I grew up with an assistant principal at LMHS and one conversation with him convinced me we are doing the right thing.

[Parrotrosie]

Originally Posted by nativefla

I live in the Lake Mary High School district, but my kids go to Trinity Prep. I grew up with an assistant principal at LMHS and one conversation with him convinced me we are doing the right thing.

Not everyone has 20k per year to send their kid to a private school like Trinity Prep tho...nor do they have the academic wherewithal to even make the entry into such a school.

So, what are the options then?

And, let me also add, that while I don't believe that Florida education is perhaps to as high a standard as the northern schools, I also do not believe they are putting forth illiterate children either. So, you may say the public school is not as good, but guess what,....your 20k is not getting what a northern prep school would get you either, so your private school is sub-par also, relatively speaking. (from what I can gather from these discussions here)