Galileo School, Goldsboro, and Sanford Middle School- opinions? (Lake Mary, Seminole: home, neighborhood)

[Susan75]

Galileo School, Goldsboro, and Sanford Middle School

Does anyone have any experience with/opinions of any of these 3 schools?

[Cigarboo]

My son goes to Sanford Middle School. He likes it. There are many electives to chose from, especially for science and technology. However, if my son wanted to take something like band through out middle school, then I would not bother to send him to Sanford, simply because that would take up 6 semesters of electives, which he could do at his zoned school. The school is fairly large(1500+ students) and very diverse which I like. My encounters with teachers/administration has been very positive.

I've had a friend and friends of friends pull their kids out of Galileo. Although it's a charter school set up to be a "gifted" school, there is no testing or any qualification of giftedness that is required. From what I hear, you end up with a bunch of kids, whose parents *think* their kids are gifted. One child I know goes there and the parents were on the fence about keeping him there, partly because of the distance from their home. The child is a little socially awkward, so maybe it's the best place for him, as they've already tried traditional public school here.

Goldsboro, I hear is good, but in a rough neighborhood. It's not too far from Sanford Middle School, but many parents prefer their kids to go to the local zoned elementary school(instead of magnet) just because the kids are younger and the parents do a lot more volunteering in those years. For me, I didn't bother with a magnet school in elementary, but wouldn't hesitate for MS and HS.

I think all the public schools have gifted programs within the school, but it's usually a pull out program(1 day wk).

[Susan75]

Thank you ...this was very helpful info. I had called the Galileo school and was surprised when they said there was no testing. So its a school for the gifted but you don't have to actually be gifted to go there?? Lol...that's interesting. I do like their philosophy of education however, if they do in fact stay true to it. I hate the term "gifted" because it almost always invites negative attitudes/perceptions, but would you say that the Seminole public schools fail advanced learners? If you have a child that learns very quickly and tends to be 1-2 grades levels ahead of his/her peers academically, would you be better off looking at magnet schools or private schools?

[Cigarboo]

I don't think a magnet school is going to meet your needs. The only reason I sent my son to a magnet was for the great electives offerings. I do not believe the classes are anymore academically challenging than their local zone schools. The students that are tested gifted do take their core classes with other gifted students, but that's the same as any other middle school. For "non-gifted," higher achieving students, the pre-IB program at the magnets provide the next best thing as far as advance classes go. Because students/parents who apply to pre-IB tend to be people looking for more academic challenge, the classes end up with a nice group of students who generally are there to learn.

I think the problem with the Galileo school is that there are students that are not actually "gifted" and there are students that are "twice exceptional." There's also a big difference between the garden variety of gifted and the off the chart IQ gifted. As a student body, you have a lot of kids on a large spectrum of giftedness and not all kids are gifted in all areas. My friend who took her child out of Galileo is now home schooling. He's 8 and he's doing his 7th grade brother's Algebra 1 honors work. Apparently, the school was not "advance" enough for them.

[Backdoor]

I don't think that there is any real "problem" with Galileo School. The Seminole County School Board approved the Galileo charter in part because they recognized that the existing countywide elementary school program for gifted learners was lacking - essentially one or a half day per week of targeted classes in other schools. Galileo is not able to "restrict" attendance to gifted students because it receives public educational funding. However, it is readily apparent that the school has a substantial gifted population - some of the highest FCAT scores in the region and the state, etc. For a school that is only now closing out its second year of existence, it is doing a remarkable job. The teaching administration has settled in, most of the teachers are gifted certified or in the process of securing certification, and the PTA is a machine. There is a strong linkage to UCF and the programs will continue to evolve to take advantage of this connection. Perhaps this sounds biased, as our child has attended school @ Galileo since the beginning. We took a chance on this school by pulling him out of another good school. While there are pro's and con's to most things in life, neither we as parents nor our son have any regrets about the decision.

[sean1the1]

I don't know any thing about the Galileo school, But I know much about Sanford and Goldsboro elementary. Both are really good schools, But if your child is not into the programs offered at each school, and you live out of zone there really isn't a reason to send your kids there, unless you did live in zone.

[speech75]

I know enough about Galileo, and most is not good. Bullying is out of control. The gym teacher is the music teacher and has no clue, let's just start with a few.
K students so called gym time is to sit and watch older kids use bow and arrows.
K students are signing twinkle little star in class with no use of instuments
K students are also exposed to all age
students which enables them to hear things they clearly should not be hearing and seeing. And this is only a few bad things, this is not even touching on the teacher's the classroom's or the academic's. I could clearly go on but, it would not matter. The fact is, I will not be sending my child back to this school for 1st grade.

[Jeff McNeal]

So I am a grandfather sitting in line to pick up my grandkids at Galileo as I type. I've read previous posts about Galileo deficiencies and think there are valid concerns, but most should improve (and have improved) as the program matures. Both of my grandkids are gifted, of course, (grand fathers are sometimes bias) but they are also a little whacky, and Galileo deals well with both issues. The most important thing you may want to consider about these schools is that parents must win the placement lotto to get their kids in and then must be willing to make arrangements to get them to and from school every day since there are no buses. They are also expected to 'participate' in school functions and activities much more than would ever be 'hoped' for in normal public schools. In other words, these parents have skin in the game, which results in a strong PTA where the power lies to make any needed improvement to facilities, faculty and curriculum. So if it's true that the apple doesn't fall from the tree, Galileo kids are probably a cut or two above the average public schooler. The majority of the kids in my grandson's class blew the FCAT away. May not be The same in all classes, but it's a pretty good indicator. Both kids did three years at Lake Mary Montessori, which was outstanding and expensive, but I have high hopes for Galileo. Hope this helps.

[okennedy21]

My kids have gone to Galileo since the school opened. It is an AMAZING school. They test the students every quarter to see where the students are academicly. They have county standards and they have galileo standards. If your child is behind, they have study groups to help them catch up. They also place your child where they belong. If you child is in 3rd grade, but reads at a 5th grade level, they will take your child out of that class, and put them with the the 5th grade class for reading. Then they will go back to 3rd grade for the rest of the class. There is absolutely no bullying at the school. The creative classes they offer are incredible! My daughter started 6th grade today and she has TV productions as one of her electives. Galileo just received an award for being one of the best school in the NATION!! Galileo's FLAT scores were the highest in the county, and the kids learn about many things, not just what will be on the FCAT! GREAT SCHOOL!!!! You will find NOTHING better!!!!