Dunedin Schools - please post

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by bfull

My wife plans on being involved as well, she is a Pediatric physical therapist that works in a school district now, so she will a very keen sense of what is happening in the school.

Excellent! That in a nutshell is why so few schools "succeed" according to many parents. They expect the teachers/school administration to teach and raise their children, with little involvement from themselves.

[cariad]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

Umm, you're comparing downtown Dunedin to what exactly in Palm Harbor?

I'm not comparing downtown Dunedin to palm harbor, but there is more to Dunedin than just downtown, and you are the one comparing quality of life.
I would live in certain areas of Dunedin, safety harbor, oldsmar, countryside, tarpon springs, eastlake, just as easily as palm harbor, but there is no difference in the quality of life, all of North Pinellas offers good quality of life, it's just personal preference..

Everyone who likes where they live likes to cheerlead, but we do those who are asking and have no idea of the areas no favors by insisting for example that Dunedin has a "so much higher quality of life."

[go3rays]

Well Im in 8th grade and I go to Dunedin Middle... I hear that Dunedin Elementary is pretty good but I dont reccomend Dunedin Middle (when your kids are in middle) as there is alot of fights, the principle is retarted and in my opinion is a crappy school. Though the band program is great (im in it) and some teachers are nice

[Sunscape]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

Excellent! That in a nutshell is why so few schools "succeed" according to many parents. They expect the teachers/school administration to teach and raise their children, with little involvement from themselves.

Excellent point!!

Both places are good, like Cariad states.

I personally love Ozona, but that's only to live, as I have finished with my kids education ....

[bfull]

My kids are in Garrison-Jones and my wife and I both think that it is a better school than the one they were in when we lived Westchester County, NY. My son is in 3rd and my daughter in 1st, so we plan to stay in this school area for the next 4 years. We are renting now and looking to buy and we are limiting ourselves to homes in Garrison-Jones and Palm Harbor middle school area - Spanish Pines, Spanish Trails and that general vicinity.

[Sumermarie]

We live in the East Lake area of Palm Harbor and love it. While it is more cookie cutter in this area we love the walk-ability factor of our current location, the great schools for our kids and the people have been nothing but polite since we moved here.

With that in mind, Dunedin is right down the street and unless you want to live right in the middle of downtown, you're going to have to drive there anyway. So for school, I would live in Palm Harbor, when researching moves I used the following website (and this one) to help me determine where to go.

GreatSchools - Public and Private School Ratings, Reviews and Parent Community (This is fabulous as it has an outside grading system plus a parental rating with reviews)

With your children enjoying sports there is a HUGE sports complex off Keystone Rd. and other complexes right down the street in Oldsmar, so that might also be a deciding factor for you. We also enjoy that the nature preserve is about 5 miles from our current locations, which is great for hiking, nature centers etc...

Not to mention in Tarpon you have the Leepa Rattner Museum of Art, which is also right here.

Dunedin has always seemed a little dated to me and I love history but quality of life always seem to veer towards the retirement crowd whereas Palm Harbor has always felt more like a family community.

This is my perspective of course, I'm sure others will think differently but I think you'd benefit more by going with the good school zone, especially coming from NY where they have a much more successful school system.

Also, a kind of funny side note, my BF is from Buffalo, NY and when we first moved into the area we noticed 6 different NY license plates in our neighborhood, that might be a telling sign of the areas appeal.

Another option for you would be Safety Harbor, great school system and a wonderfully art friendly town. (It's a little south of Dunedin/Palm Harbor)