Pine View Gifted School (Miami, Sarasota: fit in, foreclosure, credit)

[ISOnewplace]

I am interested in all unadulterated opinions! Good and bad. My DS6 just received a 150 on the WISC IV...need help finding programs. I have heard and read "good" things but I know statistics can be skewed and articles can be biased. I would like to hear personal experiences.

1. How does the school maintain a truly "gifted" curriculum and still deal with FCAT?

2. Are they strict with the admissions? Are the kids truly "gifted" or have parents "retested and influenced" their kids in?

3. Do the teachers and administrators truly understand the needs HIGHLY gifted children? Tell me why?

4. What type of training do the teachers have in working with gifted children?

5. Does the school have a wide variety of enrichment programs? sports?

We would have to move for this school so the advantages would have to be significant and incomparable.

THANK YOU!!!!

[SoFLGal]

Originally Posted by ISOnewplace

I am interested in all unadulterated opinions! Good and bad. My DS6 just received a 150 on the WISC IV...need help finding programs. I have heard and read "good" things but I know statistics can be skewed and articles can be biased. I would like to hear personal experiences.

1. How does the school maintain a truly "gifted" curriculum and still deal with FCAT?

2. Are they strict with the admissions? Are the kids truly "gifted" or have parents "retested and influenced" their kids in?

3. Do the teachers and administrators truly understand the needs HIGHLY gifted children? Tell me why?

4. What type of training do the teachers have in working with gifted children?

5. Does the school have a wide variety of enrichment programs? sports?

We would have to move for this school so the advantages would have to be significant and incomparable.

THANK YOU!!!!

OK, this post is right up my alley. I have a junior at Pine View and a 6th grader. My kindergartener will be attending in 2nd grade.

1. Since every grade is at least one grade ahead of the normal curriculum the FCAT is not problem for the kids. I actually don't hear it even mentioned much at all. The kids score way over what the test requires so it's really not an issue.

2. Here's my thoughts on that. Pine View has an extremely rigorous program. If they are not extremely motivated in school they will fall behind and then those students usually transfer out of the school. So, if a kid did get in that wasn't gifted I think it might be pretty hard to keep up.

3. Absolutely. The whole school is gifted and there are varying degrees/scores that each kid has. They've been a full time gifted school since 1969. There are kids at the school that have scores higher than 150. All three of my kids scored very close to that and Pine View deals with their needs just fine.

Pine View reminds me of a college campus to some extent. It's interesting because 2nd -12th grade is all on one campus and they see each other throughout the day. In a "normal" atmosphere I might have a problem with my 2nd grader being exposed to an 11th or 12th grader. In Pine View it's a whole different ball game. The older kids mentor the little kids and often go into the classrooms to help teach.

In 3rd-5th grade my oldest kid wore a green velvet cape to school (she's the artistic kind). In most schools she would probably have been picked on. In Pine View nobody even said anything. The kids seem to very tolerant of each other.

My junior will have enough credits to graduate at the end of this year. All of her classes are Advanced Placement college level classes.

4. All of the staff must be gifted certified or working toward getting that certification.

5. Pine View has no football team but the kids can play on the team of one of the neighboring high schools. Pine View has tennis, golf, volleyball, basketball and track. The school also has many different clubs-chess, ping pong, drama, Spanish, History, Art, Save Darfur Club, Ham Radio Club, Cooking Club, Honor Society, Speech & Debate.

I have been a Pine View parent for the last 10 years and can't say enough good things about the staff, school and opportunity that my kids have because of the school. To my knowledge there is not another public full time gifted school in the state of Florida. It also ranks top in the state of Florida on various levels and is one of the top schools in the Nation. Pine View is not for every family but it's a perfect fit for mine

[ISOnewplace]

Thank you for the reply. I just loved the "green velvet cape" reference. It sounds like a very good option for us to consider. I know you are a big fan of the school and I think we would agree on most of its positive atrributes.

You mentioned that Pine View is not for every family (which is understandable) but I wondered if you might elaborate as to why some others do not prefer it (if you know). Since no one else has replied yet, I want to be sure to have some balance in my research .

I would imagine some people have a diificult time with age/grade spread as you mentioned.

[loves2read]

was your child tested by school diagnostician or private psychologist

[SharkSRQ]

As a parent with a child that attended PV I have a little advice for you. Stay away!

First of all, the majority of students that attend PV are not “gifted”. It’s statistically impossible for that many children in Sarasota to be truly gifted. It’s a joke. Every kid within an 8 block radius of my home seems to be “gifted”. Along with all their siblings. A few years ago the school dropped the word “gifted” after its name because no one was able to keep a straight face.
The amount of homework given is obscene not to mention counter productive. Unless of course you like the idea of having your life and the life of your child revolve around homework. I’ve known more than few kids there that have burned out in the 4th grade
I understand public school choice is tough in this town, especially middle school. Having said that, if you really care about your child I would suggest sending them to another school.

[ISOnewplace]

Loves2read:

He was tested by a private psychologist (a full spectrum WISC IV) but we are submitting the evaluation to the school district so he is officially identified as gifted in the event we choose the public school route. He is currently in private school(K) so we did the test independently rather than wait for the Miami Dade Public School System. We are currently in Miami. We are actually thinking about moving back to Northern Virgina (primarily for the schools) but then I heard about the Pine View school and thought it was worth investigating. Do you have any advice or insight regarding programs in South Florida or Pine View? Thank you

[ISOnewplace]

Hi Shark,

Thank you for your reply. I thought the cut off to attend was 130? Is that true? How do they manage to get around that? I was looking at the schools national reports and noticed that they were on the "public elite" list in 2005 and had won the Blue Ribbon in the past but nothing recently. I wasn't aware that they had once used, and then dropped, "gifted" in the name. Do you think the school has changed since then?

If you don't mind me asking, what is your child's IQ and where is he/she now?-- (I am assuming and hoping much happier)

[SoFLGal]

Originally Posted by ISOnewplace

Thank you for the reply. I just loved the "green velvet cape" reference. It sounds like a very good option for us to consider. I know you are a big fan of the school and I think we would agree on most of its positive atrributes.

You mentioned that Pine View is not for every family (which is understandable) but I wondered if you might elaborate as to why some others do not prefer it (if you know). Since no one else has replied yet, I want to be sure to have some balance in my research .

I would imagine some people have a diificult time with age/grade spread as you mentioned.

Sorry for the long response time. I'm over in Miami at a foreclosure conference.

OK, I'll address each issue and give my opinion. Things that you may hear are: All the "rich kids" go there. Everyone is a bunch of snobs. All the kids parents just pay to have their children tested privately and the kids really aren't gifted. I would have to say that some of that may be true. There are many children that go there that have parents that are doctors, lawyers, etc. We are my no means in the league (money wise) of some of the families. I wondered how that might work out for my kids. They fit in perfectly and are treated no different.

I would imagine that there are some kids that have "paid" to get into PV. I gave my opinion on that earlier. I think it's BS to think that many/most of the kids aren't considerably advanced. These kids take the same tests as kids in other schools: FCAT, SAT, ACT, PSAT, etc and consistently score in the top range. There's no fudging those numbers. Of course, this is just my opinion.

The only explanation I can give on the "8 block radius comment" is that many people move here specifically to attend PV. I know a ton of kids that were not able to attend PV because they didn't meet the requirements. PV is still know as Pine View School for the Gifted and that is it's official name.

What Sharks said about the homework is true. There is a lot of homework. This is a gifted school and if your not willing to work hard, you're not going to stay in there. My kids do all kinds of after school activities: art shows, soccer, gymnastics. Time management is very important. Many of the parents that I talk to that have kids that have graduated from PV said that PV was much harder than the college classes they are taking. I've known several families that transfered out of PV because the kid didn't like it or couldn't keep up with the work. That's OK, PV's not for every family. Again, I can't say enough good things about it.

PV continues to win all kinds of awards. They have a newsletter that goes home once a month and they list them in there. I just went over to the website and it said on the front page: Pine View won best academic performance in FL from Business Week in Feb of this year.

I believe they have an orientation sometime at the beginning of the year. You should come and check it out and see if it looks like it might be a good fit.

[SharkSRQ]

Originally Posted by ISOnewplace

Hi Shark,

Thank you for your reply. I thought the cut off to attend was 130? Is that true? How do they manage to get around that? I was looking at the schools national reports and noticed that they were on the "public elite" list in 2005 and had won the Blue Ribbon in the past but nothing recently. I wasn't aware that they had once used, and then dropped, "gifted" in the name. Do you think the school has changed since then?

If you don't mind me asking, what is your child's IQ and where is he/she now?-- (I am assuming and hoping much happier)

They get around it by being privately tested. Pesonally, if a parent wants to go around thinking their kid is gifted, I could care less.

The worst part about that school is the workload. It absolutely makes no sense. Why put your child through all that?

My child tested at 134 I think. She's a bright kid who gets good grades without a ton of effort. Do I really think she's gifted? I'm not so sure.

Parents these days get so worked up about their kids being "bored" in other programs. When I went to school the bright kids, the average kids and the not so bright kids were all lumped together. I think it's a better experience than having your youth taken from you. Which is exactly what PV does in many cases.

Your kids going to end up in the same place.

[Peter the Brit]

I lived in Rivendell and had 2 kids both eligible for PV and they chose not to take the places as they wanted to mix with ALL TYPES OF KIDS Both are now college grads, one doing a Masters and in Naval Intelligence, the other teaching, and feel they made the right decison. They had an ALL ROUND BALANCED education and came out good kids.
I saw in the seven years I lived in Rivendell many (not all though) screwed up kids who could not cope with the pressure. Many of the kids there do not want to be there but their parents want them tehre so they can ay their kids are at PV. IMHO