Moving to Brevard County in a few months (Palm Bay, Melbourne: apartment, to rent)

[john bagley]

Hello,

I will be moving my family to Brevard County from NY (Westchester County) by the end of the year. There are lots of posts about areas and schools which are very informative and helpful. We have a child who will be going into the 3rd grade and a toddler. I have reviewed school grades and school reviews. The plan is to rent for a year and see how the housing market is after a new political administration takes over in 17'. Rent is very reasonable, but we do have a dog so that causes restrictions on choice.

There seem to be many above average elementary schools all around Brevard County:

Suntree, Roosevelt, Tropical, Surfside, Gemini, Manatee and Quest to name a few.

There are also a few above average high schools, not including Edgewood and Westshore (which I believe are by application):

Viera, Satellite, Melbourne and Cocoa Beach are the ones that have good "grades and ratings".

As for middle school choices, that seems to be where my wife and I are having a hard time finding the right location. I like that Cocoa Beach is a junior and senior high. That is the type of district in NY where we will be coming from. Now DeLaura seems to be a feeder for Viera and Satellite and JFK seems to be the feeder for Viera and Rockledge. Rockledge, from what I have read on this forum is not a sought out area to live, Viera is the area that have all the current rave reviews and will continue to see growth and Satellite seems to be the established area with not much room to expand. I personally like that. I have read about the constant re-zoning as Viera grows. I have also read that new elementary schools will be built, but I haven't seen any news on a new middle school. JFK and DeLaura seems to be the main melting pot middle schools with 5 or 6 feeder elementary schools each. The reviews and ratings on JFK are not as good as the reviews and ratings for DeLaura. I am not an "educator blamer", I believe if the school has support from it's students families then the school will succeed.

So basically, I want to be in the elementary, middle and high school zone where there is the most support from it's families. Not a school or schools where children are dropped off and their parents think their job is done. Now I understand no school is perfect, but there are schools that have high expectations from not only it's tax paying parents, but from it's administration and teachers who want to get the best from it's students.

I am not talking about PTA support also. The PTA does not help a child with their homework if you know what I mean. People see NY suburb school districts succeed and believe it is because the teachers are paid the most. Yes, the salaries attract teachers, but it is the family support that help children succeed. The family and residential atmosphere have and impact on the school atmosphere and vice versa. Happy kids equal happy teachers and happy teachers equal happy kids. Successful schools are able to weed out the few teachers who do not perform well. The same is not true for students who do not perform well.

Any feedback would be much appreciated. If I have missed any schools above, please tell me.

Also, thoughts on living beachside versus living inland would also be great. We work from home so commuting is not an issue.

[chopchop0]

Best areas are going to to be viera/suntree on the mainland or cocoa/satellite/indian harbor beach and indialantic beachside.

Beyond that, west Melbourne isn't bad. Avoid palm bay.

As you suspected, the two best schools are lottery and both top ten in the state per U.S.news, Edgewood and west shore. Cocoa beach and melb high have IB programs though

Personally, I'd take beachside, less traffic, plus you're near why people move to FL in the first place

[jghorton]

The higher-end socio-economic areas invariably have the highest expectations and parental involvement. By high-school, it's better to be in a school where peer pressure helps set the stage (ie; "Where are you going to college?" rather than, "Are you going to college?"

Depending on your economic situation, the beach side and Vierra schools meet that bill. At the Junior high level, Delaura has always been stronger academically than Hoover; while Surfside has always had a pretty strong Elementary reputation

[CyberConch]

Originally Posted by chopchop0

Avoid palm bay.

Somewhat off-topic, sorry, but any ideas why Palm Bay seems to have more problems, judging by recent news stories?

[jghorton]

Originally Posted by CyberConch

Somewhat off-topic, sorry, but any ideas why Palm Bay seems to have more problems, judging by recent news stories?

Palm Bay has always been overbuilt, under-facilitated and congested. This suppresses property values and contributes to problems - Not sure about recent news stories, but, these have been ongoing PB issues for 25-years.

[john bagley]

Thanks for the input. Everything helps. Since school starts next week our window to decide is closing. We are leaning towards renting in Quest and Suntree boundaries. The wildcard area is Cocoa Beach. Looking forward to golf, the beach, no snow, nicer pace, no income tax and lots of vitamin D.

[MarlowHeights]

Originally Posted by john bagley

Thanks for the input. Everything helps. Since school starts next week our window to decide is closing. We are leaning towards renting in Quest and Suntree boundaries. The wildcard area is Cocoa Beach. Looking forward to golf, the beach, no snow, nicer pace, no income tax and lots of vitamin D.

My family and I just arrived in Melbourne weekend before last and we are renting an apartment in Suntree, specifically to have our 11-year old attend Suntree Elementary. At some point after our house in Maryland sells (fingers crossed!), we'll look for a house, and we are going to focus on remaining here in Viera/Suntree, or perhaps beachside, because of the schools. We are interested in being lucky enough to have our son selected to attend Westshore or Edgewood. Once he gets in, he should be set because he's been a straight A student in the Maryland schools he previously attended. We lived here before in Palm Bay back in 2004-2005, and there is no way I'd put our chlldren back in those public schools, or live down that way again. Schools are much better up here in Viera/Suntree, along with the neighborhoods from what I've seen and experienced. Good luck!

[flwaterfowl]

We have just moved into Viera from the beachside. We received a map of Viera which has listed some future development plans and proposed facilities, and I saw a proposed middle school plan in the map. We did a lot of research before we decided to move, it is a master planned community and we've been told that there are some plans for building more schools. You can find out the detailed information from Viera Discovery Center, it is located right next to the Walmart. I really hope that they bring a costco to Viera as well

[HenrikAbe]

If you regularly participate within your child's school, they will do fine. NY suburb schools are ahead of anything Brevard County, Fl can offer you: it's going to be a culture shock!!!

[chopchop0]

Originally Posted by HenrikAbe

If you regularly participate within your child's school, they will do fine. NY suburb schools are ahead of anything Brevard County, Fl can offer you: it's going to be a culture shock!!!

Patently false