Westchester schools vs. St John's County school district (Jacksonville, Iona: home search, best school)

[im2sassy]

Hi,
Husband relocating to Jax and we will be relocating from suburbs of Westchester. Currently in the process of figuring out where to send our kids to school. Any former Westchester residents out there living and loving Jax? We are hoping to avoid having to pay for private school as our kids are very young (5 and 3). Have heard good things about the public schools in PVB, specifically PVPV/Rawlings, Julington Creek, and Ocean Palms, but can ANYONE tell me how they compare to the top school districts in Westchester, NY? PLEASE, need to know if private school is a forgone conclusion, or if St. John's county's public schools are NATIONALLY ranked. Where are the PVB/Nease High School kids going to college? Sorry if this offends anyone, but moved to the northern burbs of NYC for the schools, and need to make the right choice in an area we are not familiar with. Any info would really be helpful. Grateful in advance!

[mississippimagnolia]

I can sort of help, sassy...We moved to St.Johns from Fairfax County, Virginia (D.C. area.) Obviously, we were concerned. Fairfax has one of the best school systems in the country. And everything we read about Jacksonville schools was negative.

When we found out we were moving to Jacksonville, we just assumed we would have to put the kids in private schools. (And Jacksonville has some excellent privates!) Duval County Schools just do not have a good reputation. When we did the research, we learned that there are a few good schools in Duval. Unfortunately, they are magnets with no guarantees of admission. And they are not in the best areas. We considered D.A. for our daughter....until we drove to the school. No way was I going to send my daughter to a school in that area no matter how good.

Then we found St. Johns. There are some very, very highly rated schools in St. Johns County. And the district overall is rated very high. We have been absolutely thrilled with the schools! And after Fairfax, my standards are really high.

From what I understand most (all?) of the schools in St. Johns are highly rated. Maybe others can jump in with their specific schools. I have kids at Julington Creek Elementary and Creekside High School. Two of our kids are away at college. We have a senior at Creekside, a sophomore at Creekside, and a third grader at Julington Creek. My kids all got numerous scholarships.

You asked about where the kids go to college....They go all over! There is a map hanging in Creekside's guidance area with little flags showing where the seniors are going. It's amazing how many different places are represented. My daughter is a National Merit Semi-finalist with an insanely high SAT score and a GPA of 4.45. She's been accepted to several of the Ivys. My other kids are more typical. Both got into their first choice state schools. Both are on full academic scholarships.

When we found out we were moving, the first thing I did was narrow our home search down by schools. We only looked at homes in the Nease, Ponte Vedra, Bartram, and Creekside High School districts. We ended up at Creekside but I have no doubt we would have been happy at any of the schools. I will say that one thing I love about Julington Creek Elementary (feeds into Creekside High School for the most part) is that my kids walk or ride their bikes to and from school every day. It's nice to have a school in our community.

Good Luck!

[im2sassy]

Thank you Mississippimagnolia! That was very helpful. Will tour some of the schools you mentioned next week while in town and hopefully will have a more global sense of where we will look for a house. Congrats on your children's academic chops, btw! Thanks again for your help!

[GadgetRick]

I can't speak for St. Johns County schools, however, I can speak to schools (in general) down here. Mainly, they get a bad rap--not always correctly. Yes, there are some bad schools around but there are bad schools everywhere. I'm from NJ and from a decent school district. We were worried about moving down here because everyone told us we'd hate the schools down here--especially in Duval (where we live now). However, what I found is totally the opposite.

FL takes their education much more seriously than many other state (certainly more seriously than NJ). First, the school my sons attend--Abess Park Elementary--is WAY better than the school they were in before we left NJ. Standards are higher--children must be able to read before leaving kindergarten--that wasn't the case in NJ. I've found the teachers to be extremely helpful and they keep us updated on our sons' progress (or lack of if they experience a rough patch).

There are the magnet schools down here. Nothing like that in NJ that I'm aware of. That's a huge thing (IMO) as you can really help your child develop through this program.

They even have a program where you can graduate high school with an associates degree! To me this is an awesome thing. Again, nothing like this in NJ that I'm aware of.

Like anywhere, you still have to know where you're moving and ensure you move to an area which has good schools. There are some rough schools in Duval. But that's not any different than anywhere else in the country (as a whole). Overall, I think the schools down here are much better than others have said they are.

[ChrisNY]

Hey 2Sassy, I sent you an IM. Check your box

[islandtimect]

The PVB and a few other Sj Johns county schools are ranked at the top for the state of Florida, but don't think any of them are nationally ranked. One thing I noticed is that the schools are very large compared to the northeast - elementary schools in PVB have 12 or 13 classrooms in each grade. Over crowding is a problem in the middle school. There is a special program for honor students, and I'm told if your child gets into it, its a wonderful experience. My daughter attends a private elementary school, but we will try to get her into the accelerated program at the public middle and high school.

From talking to parents of high school graduates, not many leave the area to attend nationally ranked colleges. There's some incentive to stay instate with the bright scholars program, but maybe someone knows why this happens. Perhaps guidance counselors here aren't well connected with top ranked colleges.

[ssclulow]

The many bright, high achieving students and their parents that I know in St. Johns County choose to take advantage of the "Bright Futures" full ride scholarship and earn their degree at a Florida university. They then go to a nationally ranked university for graduate school and enter there debt free. Just because a student attends a Florida university does not mean that they applied to a nationally ranked one and was not accepted. Most do apply to satisfy their ego that they could get accepted but when the reality of the debt they will incur sinks in, they become fiscally prudent. These students tell me that when they go on to achieve a graduate degree at a high ranked school, where they attended undergrad school is not important in their future sucess in their professions. "Bright Futures" scholarships are a huge reason our best and brightest students are staying in Florida for their undergraed education. These scholarships are so important and we all must be diligent in making sure that the lottery funds which the scholarships depend on are never reallocated to some other use.

[ChrisNY]

Very nicely put.
I could not agree with you more.
Not to take anything away from other surrounding counties but, the majority of St Johns county is made up of very responsible parents of very responsible kids that are here for the same reason. To get a great education and have some half decent weather while they do it

[fsu813]

"We considered D.A. for our daughter....until we drove to the school. No way was I going to send my daughter to a school in that area no matter how good."

What on earth do think would have happened to her there?

(ha)

Has there ever been an incident at DA?

Good grief people. The irrational fear has reach a boiling point when DA isn't good enough. I agree the the area around there is sort of sketchy.....but your child would hopefully know better not to hang out off school grounds. Few others do, why would she?



Meanwhile, DA continues to churn out some of the best & brightest.....and most creative.

[hlauburn]

Originally Posted by islandtimect

The PVB and a few other Sj Johns county schools are ranked at the top for the state of Florida, but don't think any of them are nationally ranked. One thing I noticed is that the schools are very large compared to the northeast - elementary schools in PVB have 12 or 13 classrooms in each grade. Over crowding is a problem in the middle school. There is a special program for honor students, and I'm told if your child gets into it, its a wonderful experience. My daughter attends a private elementary school, but we will try to get her into the accelerated program at the public middle and high school.

A lot of the schools in SJC are pretty big, but your numbers aren't quite accurate. PVPV has 9-11 classes in each grade and Ocean Palms has even less like 6-8 (only OP is considered "overcrowded" though). While the schools have a lot of students, the maximum class size is only 18 for the lower grades - which is really what matters, IMO. Everyone from the front office staff to the cafeteria staff to the music teacher knows me and my daughter's name, so I never get the feeling she's "just a number".

Just my 2 cents...