Moving to Port St. Lucie from Long Island, NY (Fort Pierce: sales, vacation home)

[janineredding]

Can anyone give me any advice on anything about Port St. Lucie Florida. I am considering moving there with my kids and I am a little nervous about the schools and weather. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks

[pslOldTimer]

After you read this message, go back to the index page for Florida and look for the menu item "Search this forum". Click on the link and enter "Port St. Lucie" in the text box. There have been so many discussions about PSL, and at great length, you should try that first, then post your questions, if any remain.

[momix5]

Hi janineredding, What part of LI? I am considering Port Saint Lucie also! I have heard nothing but good things about Port Saint Lucie, my friend says her mother in law has a vacation home there and it is beautiful. Good Luck!

[janineredding]

Thanks for responding. I live in Commack..how about you? I have a friend that lives there too, and he says its great, but I'm still nervous. When are you thinking of moving?

[AlwaysNYer]

Make sure you check out the schools. When I first considered moving down to FL we looked at PSL and decided against it because they had busing. My kids would have been put on a bus at 6am and traveled to the other side of the interstate because of the citys busing plan. I don't know about you but if I'm paying higher taxes to be in a good school district, I don't think it's fair to bus my kids to "other" less desirable schools. Beware!

[momix5]

Hi Janine, I live in Patchogue. I did hear something about the busing to other schools, but I think it is because it is county run not like what we have with separate districts. I need to research that also. I grew up in Smithtown schools, which part of Commack do you live ? Good Luck!

[pslOldTimer]

All public school systems in Florida are county-wide; there are no city school districts.

Years ago, St. Lucie County had segregated schools, like most of the South. Integration came late to the county, not occurring until 1969, and not occurring until a Federal law suit was brought against the schools system. The courts mandated integrated schools and mandated cross-busing to be sure the school populations were balanced. At that time, most of the minority students lived in the Northwest corner of Fort Pierce.

Port St. Lucie was just barely more than a dream, at that point. In 1970, there were about 300 people living within the city limits, and about 5,000 people living in the unincorporated area called River Park in the NE corner of the city. 99% of these people were retired. Some of the sales people for General Development Corp had children who went to local schools. All the schools were in Fort Pierce except for White City elementary; there were no schools in PSL.

In 1969 Fort Pierce Central HS was constructed and was the first integrated school in the county. Black students had previously attended Lincoln Park High School and white students attended Dan McCarty High School. Both of those schools were converted to integrated middle schools when the new high school opened. That first year of mixed races in the high school was difficult; there were occasional riots and almost daily fights.

We moved to PSL in 1972 when our children were 2-1/2 and 1 year old. There were approximately 24 families in town who had school age children or younger; we all knew each other and supported each other. However, by 1975 there were many more young families, and the county constructed the first school in Port St. Lucie, PSL elementary. My daughter was then 5 years old and was in the very first class of first graders to attend PSL emementary. Eight years later, when my son graduated from elementary school, there were still no middle schools in Port St. Lucie. Six years after that, there were a couple of middle schools and Port St. Lucie HS was constructed. My son was a senior at Fort Pierce Central that year and elected to stay there and graduate with his friends rather than switch to the new school for one year; my daughter was already in college at that point.

Throughout this entire period, the schools were still operating under the Federal court order, supervised by a Federal judge, and were still cross-busing students. Depending on the neighborhood, some PSL students attended PSL schools whi9le some others were bussed to Fort Pierce; most black students were bussed to predominantly white areas to maintain the balance.

Gradually, however, things were changing. The biggest change was in Port St. Lucie. From the beginning, it has been a completely integrated city, with no racial or ethnic areas or neighborhoods. As the city grew by leaps and bounds, from 300 people 35 years ago to more than 160,000 today, it also included significant numbers of minorities who established a natural balance within the city.

At one time, prior to integration, Black people "had" to live in the Northwest section of Fort Pierce regardless of their economic status. As PSL grew, many of that area's middle class Black residents moved to Port St. Lucie, further affecting the balance within the county.

At the same time, the climate in the nation was also changing regarding forced cross-bussing. Attitudes wer changing as a result of years of experimentation. Black parents, in particular, were often protesting that their children were suffering the worse as they were almost always bussed. Courts began revising their orders.

Magnet schools were also being used successfully to combat imbalance. St. Lucie County became an innovating leader in the use of Magnet schools; they were a model for countless school systems in other areas. The first Magnet school was, ironically, Lincoln Park -- the old Black high school. It became Lincoln Park Academy and was structured as a high discipline, high academic school. There has always been a waiting list for students of all races to attend Lincoln Park. Today, there are several magnet schools in a number of different curriculums.

Along the way, St. Lucie County was finally granted Unitary status -- meaning that it was no longer directly supervised by the Federal Judge (who had long since retired, but had retained his authority over the county). This, the development of Magnet schools and the shifting demographics within the county allowed the county to revise their schools into three primary zones within the county. The net result was a nearly 100% chance that the student would attend a school within his zone, and a good chance that would be a neighborhood school. Today, bussing for the single purpose of integration is almost gone. Most students still ride busses, however, because most students live further than a mile from their neighborhood school. One must remember that PSL is a HUGE city -- the second largest land area of any city in the state.

Today, there are 40 schools in the county and 5 more are about to be constructed. This is a complicated subject; more details are available in the school system's web site, http://www.stlucie.k12.fl.us/

[momix5]

thank you for an astounding wealth of information! It is really funny 5 people I graduated from High School work somewhere in the Psl School system.
I hear it is a wonderful place.

[dumbdiety]

Busing is a problem right now, but it's being fixed. New schools seem to be opening every few months here (I can think of three off the top of my head being built right now). Be careful with your area though. Ft. Pierce proper is pretty bad, but Hutchinson Island is gorgeous (but expensive). Port St. Lucie is better, but unless you live in a new development, be prepared for some old houses that haven't been kept up. Not that they are all bad, but be careful.

[PreserviceNurseMomof3]

Hello,

Our home is FSBO due to my spouse's job relocation. If you are still interested in a move to Port St. Lucie send me private message and I can provide you with more information and pictures of the house.

In the meantime here is a link to the school district were you can get more info on the schools and school zones http://www.stlucie.k12.fl.us/parentsPortal.aspx?id=iFrame|includes/StudentAssign/studentAssign.aspx

Good Luck.

Originally Posted by janineredding

Can anyone give me any advice on anything about Port St. Lucie Florida. I am considering moving there with my kids and I am a little nervous about the schools and weather. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks