Schools - Tampa area

[MortonR]

Originally Posted by jessiesma

has the International Baccalaureat program in the HS. My husband has subbed there and says it's a good school.
I wouldn't even consider Hillsborough Co.because they bus and even you elem. kid could wind up far from home in a not so great place. Also if huby's job is in Pinellas co. you don't want to live in Tampa, ;et alone Wesley Chapel for the commute.

As a Hillsborough schools employee and a parent of a child attending their schools, I would suggest that the comment about bussing it incorrect. Hillsborough does not bus children out of their neighborhood school area.

They do, however, have a magnet program (with a number of nationally recognized IB programs, like King HS) that will provide transportation to magnet school students. This does mean that in some cases they will be bussed long distances to attend the magnet school, however, magnet schools are for specialized areas of study, and you must apply and be accepted to attend one.

RM

[Tampasteve]

You might check out this site. It can give you the State's evaluation of each school.

School Accountability Report

[LukePH]

I have looked into many schools in the area, if you are looking in the St. Pete area I would highly reccomend Shorecrest Prep (K-12)

[jessiesma]

my mistake. How far would you say the average non-magnet student is bused and how are they assigned?

Originally Posted by MortonR

As a Hillsborough schools employee and a parent of a child attending their schools, I would suggest that the comment about bussing it incorrect. Hillsborough does not bus children out of their neighborhood school area.

They do, however, have a magnet program (with a number of nationally recognized IB programs, like King HS) that will provide transportation to magnet school students. This does mean that in some cases they will be bussed long distances to attend the magnet school, however, magnet schools are for specialized areas of study, and you must apply and be accepted to attend one.

RM

[MortonR]

No problem.

Distance depends a lot whether they're in elementary (usually less than 2-3 miles) middle or high school. Because of the increasing capacities as you move up the grade levels, the areas the schools cover and the distances involved vary greatly. For the most part elementary schools have enrollments of 600-800 students and are more or less "neighborhood" schools. Middle schools will bump up to around 1000-1400, and high schools as high as 3000, depending on the area. As you would expect, the larger the school, the larger an area it covers.

If you go to the SDHC Web site and check the "schools" link, you can enter an address to see what schools cover that address. If you go to a particular school's web page on the District's Web site, there is a link to the boundary map for the school.

The District's Web site is here.

RM

[swfigment]

The best school district in hillsborough would be the Plant High School district. This is an outstanding school in all attributes ( academics, sports, fine arts ). This is certainly one of the best schools in florida.

I have experience with a number of schools in the Hillsborough and St Pete districts. My son went through the Brandon/Valrico public school system ( buckhorn, burns, bloomingdale -- 11th grade) he is hoping to attend an ivy league school in 2009. Bloomingdale has offered an outstanding music program and he has enrolled exclusively in AP classes for some time. He plans to complete something like 15-20 AP (college credit) classes by graduation. SAT scores for his group of friends are running above 2200.

In general the Valrico elementary schools and middle schools are all good. I am partial to burns middle school over the others in brandon because of the remarkable music program ( 600+ kids participate, multiple orchestras etc).

If I had to pick a place to live in this area it would be either:

1) South Tampa , expensive but by far the best.
2) Downtown St Pete and use private elementary schools
3) Carrolwood in Tampa
4) Valrico, far away from the action but nice suburb life.

[Budzi]

My family is considering a move to either the east or west coast of Florida. However, both of our children are ADD and having some learning disabilities. They are in a wonderful school here in MD that is geared toward schooling children with learning disabilities and they are thriving. Does anyone know if there is a school of this type anywhere up or down the Florida coasts? Their learning disabilities are not severe, but they do much better in a school environment with small class sizes and teachers who are familiar with different learning styles and learning disabilities. I've tried doing internet searches but haven't come up with anything. We like the Tampa/St. Pete area as well as Sarasota, but like I said earlier I have been unable to track down a private school similar to the one my children are now attending. They are both in middle school, and I am looking for a school that goes through to 12th grade. Thank you!

[cglinsky]

I found a website called greatschools.com or .org
it is a non profit site that reviews school performance based on mutiple criteria

[Spooky08]

Does anyone know of any good affordable private Christian high schools? Preferably in North Tampa, not something like Academy of Lakes in Lutz which is way too expensive. Maybe something more like $8,000 per kid as opposed to $18,000 per kid. My kids currently go to Christ Our Redeemer Lutheran School in Temple Terrace. We are very happy with this school and would love to find something like this for high school. Small class sizes, Christian education, discipline, diversified curriculum, etc. I would love to find a Lutheran high school, but I know that is not likely.