moving from ga to ft lauderdale/miami area (Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood: private schools, university)

[gagirl35]

we will be moving to the ft lauderdale area soon , we will only be there for a couple of yrs. What areas do you recommend for schools for a 14 and 6 yr old? If not in Ft lauderdale what about Hollywood Fl?

[compelled to reply]

I do not reccomend Hollywood for a family with children, nor do I recommend Fort Lauderdale proper. Hollywood is just right below Ft. Lauderdale.

Do you have a job rounded up? If so, where will you be working? And what would your price range be? This can give me an idea of what areas to recommend, as there are a few.

I would say if you are working in Hollywood, check out the Cooper City area. About 20 minutes west.

If you are working in Fort Lauderdale, check out the Davie area, or if you want something more upscale, check out Weston, although that would take you further west (longer commute, 30-45 minute range vs 15-30).

If you are working towards the north end of Fort Lauderdale or towards Pompano, look into Coral Springs, Boca Raton, or Parkland.

If you are working somewhere out west, then you are very lucky and have an easy commute.

Schools in Florida and Georgia are about the same, no matter what anyone says. In fact, edge on Florida.

[MelanieDawn]

for public schools, you can compare statistics for Miami-Dade here (http://www2.dadeschools.net/index.htm - broken link) and for Broward here . For private schools in Broward and in Miami-Dade

Newsweek publishes a annual list of the top 100 public high schools in the entire country. Consistantly the following schools make the list: Coral Reef; Palmetto Senior, MAST, New World School of the Arts & Design & Architect, all in Miami.

[gagirl35]

Thank you for the response actually my husband is active duty military and he will be an ROTC instructor for FIU i dont know which campus as of yet. we are trying to gather ideas this is an assigment for him, so we kind of dont have a choice so we are trying to find family friendly areas. do you have any recommendations.

Originally Posted by compelled to reply

I do not reccomend Hollywood for a family with children, nor do I recommend Fort Lauderdale proper. Hollywood is just right below Ft. Lauderdale.

Do you have a job rounded up? If so, where will you be working? And what would your price range be? This can give me an idea of what areas to recommend, as there are a few.

I would say if you are working in Hollywood, check out the Cooper City area. About 20 minutes west.

If you are working in Fort Lauderdale, check out the Davie area, or if you want something more upscale, check out Weston, although that would take you further west (longer commute, 30-45 minute range vs 15-30).

If you are working towards the north end of Fort Lauderdale or towards Pompano, look into Coral Springs, Boca Raton, or Parkland.

If you are working somewhere out west, then you are very lucky and have an easy commute.

Schools in Florida and Georgia are about the same, no matter what anyone says. In fact, edge on Florida.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by gagirl35

Thank you for the response actually my husband is active duty military and he will be an ROTC instructor for FIU i dont know which campus as of yet. we are trying to gather ideas this is an assigment for him, so we kind of dont have a choice so we are trying to find family friendly areas. do you have any recommendations.

If you are working at FIU University Park, than your best bet is probably along the I-75 corridor in SW Broward, which basically includes Cooper City, WEST Pembroke Pines, WEST Miramar, Weston and Davie. If you have the money Southwest Ranches is kind of neat too, with a rare country atmosphere but close to your amenities. The commute is a drag, but it's not too bad as far as the traffic, but you have to pay tolls on the turnpike extension.

If it's FIU downtown, than same thing for locations, but you have a trafficky I-95 commute. I think they also have a campus in Davie as well, which would be quite convenient.

[gagirl35]

great i will keep this in mind we will have more info later in the wk.

[heydade]

Yes....go North if you are going to be working near FIU. A quick hop and skip on the Turnpike leads you to West Pembroke Pines....very congested at times, but a nice area to live....Class I fire department and excellent police department and schools are top notch. Stay away from West Miramar...there are tons of punks and gangs starting to take over the western part of Miramar making it look very similar to east Miramar. They have had bank robbiers GALORE in Miramar lately including one right off Dykes and Miramar Parkway. I work for the City..I should know.

[nohope]

don't do it .....you will regret it

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by nohope

don't do it .....you will regret it

No offense,but it sounds like you are in a terrible personal situation, but your trying to release is by trying to blame your place of location, like every single person who moves here will be in your personal situation. I do feel sympathy for you and, no offense taken, but this is what I have gathered from your exaggerated, to downright misleading posts. I think you have made some good observations, but when someone writes a post that generalized, just taking into account two areas, it seems kind of misleading.

Although when you make comments about the traffic and the housing, I really wonder if you are actually from the DC area or lived in NYC...

[Wild Style]

Originally Posted by gagirl35

we will be moving to the ft lauderdale area soon , we will only be there for a couple of yrs. What areas do you recommend for schools for a 14 and 6 yr old? If not in Ft lauderdale what about Hollywood Fl?

check out plantation, coral springs, weston. I am partial to Plantation among all of these areas. Do a search on this forum, someone posted a site that has the grades for all the schools. Unless someone is a teacher or has studied the various schools and their respective grades, I wouldn't take them to seriously. Best of luck.