Schools : NJ vs SC (Summerville, Fort Mill: home, neighborhoods, school districts)

[nic529]

Hey everyone out there! Hubby and I are thinking of relocating to SC or NC. I'd love to hear how some of you compare SC schools to NJ Schools. My daughter is a Freshman in HS - straight A's - she got a 99 in Algebra (who does that!) LOL and my son is in Kindergarten. I don't know if there is a drastic difference - but I'd love to here from others who have made this move on anything I may want to know. I know there is corporal punishment still in effect down there so I'd like any feedback on that too.

Thanks so much!
Happy Holidays!

[GJM]

We moved from NJ to SC in March, my son was in lst. grade, now 2nd.

I will say school is very different here. The school in SC was much more ahead in reading and math. We had to have my son tutored in reading to get him were he should be.

SC is very big on testing, in our old school they didn't start testing until 3rd. grade. Not that it is a bad thing but most of his day is spent on reading, writing and math.

NJ had a more diverse day, he had art, music twice a week, computers, gym and Spanish once a week. They would do projects in the classroom and the rooms would be decorated with a theme. Not here, they do Art only in art! Even in lst. grade in NJ they would touch on Science and History, here they haven't.

We came from a good school in NJ, I will say I miss the school alot. My son seems to like school here and hasn't had any problems. He has a wonderful teacher this year and great kids in his class.

[waccamatt]

You can find good schools in either state. In South Carolina the rural schoools tend to be very poor, but the urban and suburban schools are generally good. I think some schools still have corporal punishment, but only with parental permission.

[nic529]

Thanks for the info! I appreciate it! Happy New Year!

[baylovers]

It is very difficult to give a blanket comparison between schools but I have been pleased with the schools in our district. Our kids attended parochial school on Long Island, NY and the schools here have been impressive so far.

Just to show that comparisons are tough, GJM is having a totally different experience than we are having with our youngest who is in 3rd grade now. She has art, music & Spanish at least once a week and are encouraged to incorporate them in the other classes. My only complaint is how crowded the school is although they have managed to keep the classes to under 20 students. Next year they are opening an intermediate school which will alleviate much of the problem for now. But the area is growing so rapidly... we'll see what happens!

[nic529]

Thank you for all your input. I appreciate everything I can get right now. We are just getting started and hopefully we'll be able to visit sometime near Easter. I'm looking at both Ft Mill/Indianland areas, and Summerville. The only thing I can think of that I haven't liked is that corporal punishment still exists in SC. We are looking for a place that is close to Dealerships (Hubby is Asst Parts Mgr for Chevy) with good schools and neighborhoods. Depending on the market, and whether or not we can sell our home up here, we'd like to be down there in the summer.

[mcetta]

Moved here from Essex County in 1995. Here's the link for school report cards 2006 School Report Cards

[jenn02674]

Corporal Punishment is not allowed in the Fort Mill school district. My son is in kindergarten and he has Spanish, Music, PE, and Media/Guidance rotated every four days. Second Semester Spanish is replaced by art. As far as I know, any "real" testing doesn't start until 3rd grade.

In SC everything is so dependent on the school district and even then between individual schools so it is really hard to make any blanket statements.

There are several school districts in SC that are top notch though. I've heard that the schools weren't so good in NJ.

[GJM]

There are good and bad schools in NJ - the schools in NJ are by town, not by county. The town I moved from had 3 elementary schools, 1 middle school, and 1 high school. Some had more and some had less. So it pretty much went by what town you lived in if the school was good or not. And my town was pretty small compared to some.

We left a town with a good school, and moved to SC in area were we wanted our son to go to school, and it is a good school. It is just different then NJ.

My son's school I does not use corporal punishment, I have never had to sign a note saying it was OK or not.

[imperieux]

My own daughter attends Dorchester 2 Schools in Summerville and I've never had to sign any paper allowing corporal punishment, nor have I ever heard of it's practice here.

Here's what I found on the SC policies for handling misconduct and maybe it will be helpful:

School districts individually design policies to identify and handle student misbehavior, although the state Department of Education provides general guidelines. At the school level, procedures are put in place to ensure discipline matters are dealt with uniformly.

The Department of Education said student misconduct is divided into three categories with coordinating sanctions.

Most discipline matters are considered disorderly conduct, which is handled by the classroom teacher and can include tardiness or cheating. Possible punishments include verbal reprimands, in-school suspension or taking away privileges.

The second category is disruptive conduct that endangers the health and safety of others. School administrators get involved in these situations, which can include fighting, stealing, minor vandalism and threatening others. Consequences often are suspension, alternative education programs or referral to an outside agency.

The most serious category is criminal conduct, which often involves police and requires students to be removed from school. These behaviors pose a direct and serious threat to others and carry the penalty of expulsion.

Schools expel students for the remainder of the school year, and students up for expulsion must have a hearing and an opportunity to appeal that decision.



My question is, why do we still have a state law that allows corporal punishment, even if the school districts themselves have banned it's practice?

Would anyone have the answer to that?