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Old 04-17-2010, 06:36 AM
 
7 posts, read 9,709 times
Reputation: 10

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I currently live in the subs. of dallas tx. A company from florida wants to hire me for a promotion. i'm doing research so i can make an educated decision.

i'm looking for a safe place to raise my children. Good schools are a must. i'm accustomed to a very family frendly area here in texas, we're admittedly spoiled in that regard. i've never been to south florida, so i don't know what to expect.

the company is giving me a choice of these places to live:[/font]

Orlando
Fort Lauderdale
West Palm Beach
any resources would be great too.

thanks
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Old 04-17-2010, 07:21 AM
 
191 posts, read 630,901 times
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West Palm Beach is very on the coast and since you have a job lined up that would be a great choice for all aspects of what your looking for.
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Old 04-17-2010, 10:21 PM
 
Location: Ormond Beach
21 posts, read 49,760 times
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honestly i woudnt recomend any ot those...to raise a family

wpb is very expensive, older crowd, blue blood..but very pretty

orlando is huge..and i know theres lotsss of preplanned communities that will gate u off from the rest of the world....now if u go a bit further north..mt dora is a very quaint area..with hills..or u can go east and live out on Merritt Island (north section is more land..countryish..and south section is more of the huge mansions....stay away from central section)

ft lauderdale...well i grew up there..its great if ur single..and love the night life....its very diverse in every way possible..

i would check out west ft lauderdale..like davie area..more countryish and spread out..more kid friendly..
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Old 04-18-2010, 08:50 AM
 
2,994 posts, read 5,754,520 times
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Like the above poster said, id check out the outlying suburbs of these cities for a bit more peace , quiet, and nature ... otherwise it will be a mass of concrete, stressed out people , unrest , and noise if you go the mega-urban route. I wouldnt let living close to the coast be a big factor as you wont be going there every day, but, id say be within a 1.5 hour drive to the beaches if you can because it will enhance your family time and create good memories.
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Old 04-18-2010, 09:31 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
1,304 posts, read 3,027,151 times
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You have listed that excellent schools as being one of your top priorities, but much of Florida is experiencing serious funding shortages in the public schools. This is manifesting itself as a major dilemma for administrators attempting to find the means of delivering a quality education for their students, and yet, employ significant cost restraints. These restraints have forced many schools to reduce teaching staff, restrict the extracurricular activities, and to eliminate course options at their schools. The major means of "assessing" school quality statewide has been the FCAT's, but these tests are exclusive to Florida, and have no relationship to tests given elsewhere. This test does not measure how your child is achieving to a global or national standard, just how your child is generally achieving in relation to other Florida students. In your pursuit of a home that meets your criteria of "excellent schools", you might want to delve into the local availability of quality private schools.
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Old 04-18-2010, 05:19 PM
 
17,290 posts, read 29,335,241 times
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If you take the job in West Palm Beach, check out Jupiter, Florida, which is a family suburb of West Palm (tons of families, actually)...about 20 minutes from downtown West Palm Beach. Its schools are rated "10" out of "10" on greatschools.net, and there is very little crime. You can't beat the location, with some of the nicest beaches in South Florida. You can find housing from condos to townhomes, acreage properties, to gated developments and new urbanist homes.

Also, despite what some people think, Palm Beach County has several nationally ranked and recognized public schools, including SunCoast, and Dreyfoos School of the Arts, and a couple others in the Boca Raton area. Indeed, the "family" oriented towns (where professionals live) tend to have very good public schools.
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Old 04-19-2010, 07:18 AM
 
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Thanks for the help. Many people haven't been very kind about the schools. That is a concern. How reliable is greatschools.net? Any other school resources? This position i'm after is good, but doesn't matter if I can't put my kid in a good school. I'm going there for an interivew in a couple weeks and decided to stretch it a few days to look around. I want to target a few areas before I go so I can make the most of my time. These posts are helpful, keep them coming. thnks.
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Old 04-19-2010, 07:24 AM
 
17,290 posts, read 29,335,241 times
Reputation: 8691
Quote:
Originally Posted by texas cajun View Post
Thanks for the help. Many people haven't been very kind about the schools. That is a concern. How reliable is greatschools.net? Any other school resources? This position i'm after is good, but doesn't matter if I can't put my kid in a good school. I'm going there for an interivew in a couple weeks and decided to stretch it a few days to look around. I want to target a few areas before I go so I can make the most of my time. These posts are helpful, keep them coming. thnks.
That's interesting. As a whole and in general, the Florida public school system ranks above Texas public schools in at least one reference found online, so going in, realize that if you can find good schools in Texas, you can find them in Floria.

I don't know the criteria greatschools uses per se, but it's at least one indicator that the reputation that Jupiter has for good schools is at least accurate.

Greatschools and sites like it are also good because individual parents can leave reviews of their experiences. Here's another similar site;

Jupiter Schools - Jupiter Florida (FL) School Information - Public & Private
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Old 04-19-2010, 08:59 AM
 
2,930 posts, read 7,043,695 times
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What is your monthly budget for rent/mortgage? Are you from Plano? Schools here tend to be more integrated than the affluent suburbs of DFW
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Old 04-20-2010, 06:24 AM
 
7 posts, read 9,709 times
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We are in Frisco. The area is not very integrated probably 85% white(i'm guessing). that's ok, my marriage is integrated Our budget will depend on; private/public schools, cost of homeowners and the salary i can negotiate. for estimating purposes, i'd say about 1500-2000/mo.
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