Why are Safety Harbor schools rated so low?? (Tampa, Palm Harbor: elementary school, live)

[GirlsLuvScience]

My family and I are looking to move to the Tampa Bay area from the northeast. We have two boys, 8 and 10. Schools are very important to us, especially since the youngest has dyslexia. That being said, we are both willing to put in the work to make sure our kids do well regardless of where they go to school. We don't need "the best" school, but we want it to be a solid experience for our kids with good options. I have read many forums and reviews by parents in Safety Harbor saying they love the schools, but yet on many rating sites Safety Harbor is rated as average or just above average. Any thoughts on this? We are also considering Palm Harbor, but the downtown area and family friendly nature of Safety Harbor appeals to us. We want to be close to the beaches and coast, hence our search on that side of the bay.

[John Alecci]

These ratings change year to year, and much depends on test scores. My wife is a teacher and all of her co teachers have been together for years in her elementary school. Their rating has ranged from 5-8 over the last 3 years. All of the same teachers are there, and the student to teacher ratios have been consistent. So keep in mind a school that is a 6 this year, could be an 8 next year. In general Palm Harbor, Safety Harbor, and Westchase have very good schools.

[bobisinthehouse]

Safety Harbor and Palm Harbor have great schools.

[sunigal99]

Safety Harbor has such a great small town vibe, I feel like it's a great place to raise a family. Being as hands on and involved as you are as a parent, your children will be successful regardless of statistics.

[jeffc12]

We moved to Palm Harbor a little over a year ago with schools being a priority and chose between the same 2 towns...haven't regretted it a bit - the schools have been great - in addition if you are on the west side of 19 you are quite a bit closer to the beach and downtown Palm Harbor (albeit very small) is still pretty cool - not as neat as Safety Harbor but nice! You pay for it in the housing costs but for us it has been worth it.

[Pragmaticus]

Originally Posted by John Alecci

These ratings change year to year, and much depends on test scores. My wife is a teacher and all of her co teachers have been together for years in her elementary school. Their rating has ranged from 5-8 over the last 3 years. All of the same teachers are there, and the student to teacher ratios have been consistent. So keep in mind a school that is a 6 this year, could be an 8 next year. In general Palm Harbor, Safety Harbor, and Westchase have very good schools.

Very interesting!

I wish someone actually does a research on it. If all the teachers are the same, teaching the same thing and assuming that they would give similar effort every year (?), then what could be impacting their score may be parental input. I always say some zip codes such as where I live makes a school look great because all the parents are working together with teachers, difficult to tease out the impact of different variables. Always, interesting to hear this kind of information. Thanks

[GirlsLuvScience]

Thank so much for the feedback. We are moving from the Boston area, and our schools are excellent (though super high pressure and competitive which is not always a good thing...)