Mira Mesa/Poway Schools (San Diego, August: neighborhoods, school district, living)

[Mysweetdreamsbaby]

We are moving to San Diego in August and my 5 year old will be starting kindergarten so we are interested in schools. We plan to move to either Mira Mesa, PQ, Rancho Bernardo or Poway. I know that the Poway school district is supposed to be great. What about Mira Mesa Schools? How are they?

Also, are they all year round? And is Kindergarten half day or full day? What about in Poway? Any other thoughts about schools? Thanks!

[mewzikguy]

Poway is its own school district, and good Mira Mesa is part of San Diego Unified, and has some good schools: Sandburg, Hage, Ericsson, Hickman, Miramar Ranch (actually in Scripps Ranch). Can't go wrong living around/ sending your kids to those schools I've taught at all of them at some point in my career. Actually, any of those areas you are considering would be fine to live in/ send your kids to school in. Some schools are traditional, a few are yr. round, you could call the secretaries, they'll fill ya in.

[LookingtoLeave]

They actually have year round schools in SD?

[j760]

Originally Posted by LookingtoLeave

They actually have year round schools in SD?

Absolutely, I remember when my junior high transitioned to year round. This was years ago now, but they are still around.

Have to agree with MZG regarding Miramar Ranch, I used to work there myself and it's a great school in a good area. Parking is horrible though, other than that it's well run with a good principal and good teachers.

[CrissCT]

Originally Posted by LookingtoLeave

They actually have year round schools in SD?

Yes - I know some people that live in Mira Mesa and their children have year round school. None of the schools in the Poway district do.

[CrissCT]

Originally Posted by Mysweetdreamsbaby

We are moving to San Diego in August and my 5 year old will be starting kindergarten so we are interested in schools. We plan to move to either Mira Mesa, PQ, Rancho Bernardo or Poway. I know that the Poway school district is supposed to be great. What about Mira Mesa Schools? How are they?

Also, are they all year round? And is Kindergarten half day or full day? What about in Poway? Any other thoughts about schools? Thanks!

Kindergarten is generally 1/2 day, but some of the schools in Poway offer a single kindergarten class within the school that slowly works up to almost a full day throughout the year. There are also afterschool programs that you can pay for that allow kindergarteners to stay for a full day (but only 1/2 of the day is school).

[jghall00]

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[mini_cute]

Poway is known to have better schools than Mira Mesa.

Scripps Ranch schools are very good. From what I am hearing, they are better than Poway and Mira Mesa.

[Mysweetdreamsbaby]

This is SO helpful! Thank you so much for responding!

[Mira-Mesa-Resident]

The quality of schools in Mira Mesa depends on the quality of the teachers, students and their parents/guardians. A school may have great teachers but bad students and a school may have great students with bad teachers. No matter what the make-up of the community is, the teacher has the duty to do a great job of teaching the young minds. I've volunteered at a private school where the students consisted of some outcasts and problem students that were kicked out of the public schools. The private school remained higher ranked despite the problem students because of the quality of the curriculum and the care that each teacher had given to the struggling students. If the student was struggling in class, the teachers and administration actually talked about how they can make the student succeed such as after-school tutoring or a special program. In the San Diego Unified school where the community is diverse, you will see good and bad/lazy teachers. In a middle/lower middle class neighborhood, if a student is struggling, a few teachers may not generally care about the student. In an upper/upper middle class neighborhood, the teachers usually do care about all the students in order to maintain the high reputation of the school.

The former principal of Mira Mesa High School always mentioned the following during the Orientation for the incoming freshman. When you are in high school, you need to look around you. You will see good students and bad students. And the way to lead a good and a promising future is to hang out with the good students. The success of your high school experience will depend on the friends you hang out with in high school. This former principal emphasized to never hang out with the bad students - students who smoke, drink, do drugs, commit crime, get in trouble, etc. I hope the new MMHS principal has that same philosophy and will preach that same philosophy to the MMHS students today. Here are the students of MMHS at YouTube - miramesahighschool's Channel. The way students can get out of trouble is by joining programs that can develop their talents. Joining competitions makes the students busy and excel so they do not have time to get in trouble. Parents also need to keep up with what their teens are up to and who they are hanging out with.

PQ, Rancho Bernardo or Poway are upper middle class neighborhoods and Mira Mesa is a middle/lower middle class neighborhood. Therefore, you will need to decide where you want to live.