Coastal middle school (Savannah, Wilmington Island, Oglethorpe: low income, for sale, house)

[sarge11]

Consideing relocating to savannah (wilmington island) and have heard nothing good about the high schools what info is out there about the middle schools?????

[TakeAhike]

Originally Posted by sarge11

Consideing relocating to savannah (wilmington island) and have heard nothing good about the high schools what info is out there about the middle schools?????

From greatschools.com>>
Parent Reviews of Coastal Middle School - Savannah, Georgia - GA

[sarge11]

Read it, was looking for more info from parents or students there now. Whats the deal with 16 yr old 8th graders?

[TakeAhike]

If you don't pass the state/system tests each year you do not progress, thus there are 16 yr old 8th graders.

I read a thread a while back which included comments about this middle school and the comments posted at Great Schools were similar. There are charter and/or theme schools in Savannah and some students may choose that route after elementary. Chatham Academy/old Savannah High School location is supposed to be a very high-achieving high school, FWIW. I also imagine that many Wilmington Island students are enrolled in private schools after 5th grade/May Howard on Wilmington.

I did an Advanced Search/Savannah forum and found this 2 yr old thread>>>
http://www.city-data.com/forum/savan...-savannah.html

[bellhead]

Ok, after navigating this subject and having been in Savannah now for 2 weeks. Here is what I have found out. I don´t want to sound racist or biased against an economic class but I´m just saying how it is.

The elementary schools in Savannah are fine. Kids from all groups go to school together. From what I heard Savannah used to be k-8 in all areas. Then there was a switch to middle schools and open enrollment. Magnet schools were created. What happened was the above average students who had parents involved moved to the magnets. Parents with money whose kids wanted a normal middle school experience "white flight" looked at the other middle schools being over 50% African American and pulled them out to private schools. This left a bad situation worse with more and more parents pulling their kids out until several of the middle schools now have no diversity. The school board is now trying out moving one school back to the k-8.

Also the Ga tests don't allow Students to move on until they are proficient. This keeps alot of kids out of high school until they are 16 or 17 years old. Putting more pressure on the middle schools.

The high schools are good though Savannah Arts Academy is excellent, Southwest and Windsor Forest is descent along with Jenkins which is the math and science magnet.

Once again the biggest problem is low income kids whose parents just don't give a kcuf. They are not there for the kids, don't care and the kids just see school as something you do instead of a way to succeed.

We were down to two schools Coastal and Derenne honors program.

[boilrmkr]

In case you don't know, the magnet schools almost always have a lottery. There are no requirements for Oglethorpe but there is always a lottery in the spring. There are usually at least 150 kids trying to get into 50 spots. My son didn't get in so we applied to Derenne. That is an honors program and you have to have above average scores on standardized tests , certain grades on a report card , satisfactory behavior on 2 years of report cards and a teacher recommendation. I don't know if Derenne accepts kids after the spring deadline. I know that if a child leaves Oglethorpe during the school year they do not bring in another student. Even if they did there are so many kids on the list waiting to get in ahead of a new student coming into the area.

[sarge11]

so are ur children going to Coastal ? or private?. Is Coastal an unsafe school, From thr figures I have seen it does appear to be a diverse group of kids?

[boilrmkr]

We moved to another state. I have a house for sale in Georgetown! I think Southwest middle is one of the better middle schools.

[bgnzsavnh]

We chose Derenne honors program for our Son this year

GVA is also a choice

The school system is going back to a K-8 program in the new schools and some of the better elementary

[Babydoll31]

I have just moved to the Savannah from VA Beach and today was my kids first day in school. The homework they brought home was on a 5th grade level. Both of my boys are in the 7th. One of my sons takes all advanced classes and works on a 9th grade level, mind you I let them know that when I enrolled him in school. Today he come home with homework he did in the 5th grade and his schedule was filled with regular classes. I think education wise moving here was a big mistake. If they can't accommodate his education what can I do. Thinking about moving back until they graduate high school.