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Our family may be moving to the Charleston area, so I've been lurking on this forum for the last few weeks doing some surfing through the archives as he is being considered for a job transfer with his company. Right now we are leaning towards living in the Mt Pleasant or Daniel Island areas, and are exploring the quality of the schools in those communities. However we are also considering whether private school would be the best choice for our daughter who will be in Kindergarten. I'm most interested in Ashley Hall, but would also do some research into Porter Gaud as well.
Based on this forum it appears that there is not bus service to either of these schools? We would be moving from the DC area and many of the top privates have at least some level of bus service to different parts of the region.
Does anyone have familiarity with where most families live and if there is a strong carpool network at either of these schools? Are families fairly geographically dispersed or do they tend to be concentrated i a few given parts of town? We don't yet know where I'll be working, and whether I'll be full or part-time so we can't for now simply assume that I'll be available to drive her both ways.
Thanks. I'm reaching out to both schools. I suppose the unspoken part of my question was regarding whether families feel like outliers if they don't live in certain parts of town.
Here in the DC area, most of the top tier privates are in Northwest DC or a particular suburb in Maryland, so kids who live in other parts of town can feel a bit remote. I didn't know if that was the case there, and if it impacted attitudes, friendships, behaviors among parents, and so on.
My sense is that overall Charleston is probably a friendlier environment than DC, but still was curious what people's experiences were.
Neither offers transportation to/from Daniel Island. There are a few kids on the island that attend the schools..just my opinion, but I would tend to think that those kids don't "socialize" on the island as much as the other kids who live here, participate in the sports teams here, etc. It's such a special place (DI) that part of the beauty in it is having your kids ride their bikes to the playgrounds with the kids after school, bike to "the tree" or Subway. Our children were always in private schools, until we moved to DI. I really wanted them to love it "here" and encompass all that the island has to offer. It's NOT to say that the Ashley Hall students don't enjoy the island, but I assume their time is spent socially more at school or with school friends who are dispersed and live on either DI, Mt Pleasant, Charleston, etc.
We were debating if we would ever put our kids in private schools or keep them in the MP school district. Does it really matter in the long-run? Should we maybe start them off first in public and then switch to private?
I just know MP gets high remarks for their schools but maybe there's something private schooling can provide that public cannot?
I went to private schools all my school life, my kids are public school educated. I have three kids - 25, 23 and 16. My youngest is a junior at Wando High School. I think that the educational opportunities at the schools in Mt. Pleasant are as good as anything you could get in the private schools in the area. I do know someone who has a significant position with the College of Charleston and he is very familiar with the schools in the area and he is impressed with Wando but talks about how great Porter Gaud is
I have talked to parents with kids in great private schools and their kids have struggled with motivation and discipline -- the private school environment didn't help.
I think that I would be very comfortable putting my child in any of the public schools, at any level in Mt.Pleasant.
I went to private schools all my school life, my kids are public school educated. I have three kids - 25, 23 and 16. My youngest is a junior at Wando High School. I think that the educational opportunities at the schools in Mt. Pleasant are as good as anything you could get in the private schools in the area. I do know someone who has a significant position with the College of Charleston and he is very familiar with the schools in the area and he is impressed with Wando but talks about how great Porter Gaud is
I have talked to parents with kids in great private schools and their kids have struggled with motivation and discipline -- the private school environment didn't help.
I think that I would be very comfortable putting my child in any of the public schools, at any level in Mt.Pleasant.
Talking about Porter-Gaud and Ashley Hall, the schools have students from all over the Charleston area. Some live downtown, others live in James Island and Mt. Pleasant, some in West Ashley. There's not as many students from the inland suburbs, because it is a longer commute.
Mt. Pleasant has a decent number from both schools. There aren't as many from Daniel Island.
Is the education better than the Mt. P public schools? Perhaps slightly, but not really worth the money. We're talking thousands per month for an additional 5% increase in quality. Now if you want the prestige of the name and feel it will carry more weight at a ivy league school then the investment might be worth it.
But if quality of education matters, IMO you're much better off saving your money and going with the public school option in Mt. P.
We are choosing between Porter Gaud and Charleston Day for my son. The best advice is tour both schools and it will basically come down to a gut decision. Porter-Gaud's student ratio is 11:1, Charleston Day is 7:1, and Ashley Hall is 9:1. Tuition is about the same for all three. You will make friends with the parents quickly and will have no problem getting a car pool system with someone. I have already been approached by parents for both schools.
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