a feel for living in Wellington.. (Orlando, Davie: appointed, sales, insurance)

[mayorhaggar]

I grew up in Sugar Pond Manor. Probably most houses were built in the 80's and some in the 90's, though there are some newer ones here and there, including a bunch of bizarre giant mansion-style houses they've built on Paddock in probably the last 5 years. Most houses are pretty modest and the area does look a little threadbare just because the houses are aging a bit. They're definitely not the cookie-cutter houses you see in the brand new developments like Olympia or whatever.

Panther Run has been there for around maybe 10 or 15 years, yes, ancient by Florida standards, I know. And wow, there's 7 elementary schools there now? When we first moved there I think there was just Wellington Elementary, I remember New Horizons going up then Panther Run at some point. I wouldn't worry about how old the school building is, it's not like Florida can tear down and rebuild schools every 10 years! I'd worry more about their education quality and whether they work hard to keep the buildings clean and in shape. When I went to Wellington High School parts of it were really decrepit and gross, which wasn't fun.

[CravenClan]

I definatley agree....looks are decieving sometimes, i have seen schools here that i thought looked old, and then learned they were the favored schools! It is not so much about appearance, but about what they are doing and getting out of school.

Also I am trying to figure out do i go for the best elementary school, because i will be there for a while, considering i have my youngest who doesn't start for another year! really none of the schools are BADLY rated, i am just "hearing" about the favored, but my point is things change..the MS & HS could be the "lesser", and by the time my kids get there, it could be the favored...dynamics change all the time, just hoping i pick the right one if we decide to go that way.

[THX 1138]

If your moving to PB County and want the very best in education from the public school system here, you will have to really think hard because things are not so great and there is a boatload of problems.

They just enacted a hiring freeze, layoffs are expected and teachers are not getting much wage increases (well join the club). I suspected many will take flight elsewhere, you know the saying "you get what you paid for".

Palm Beach County school layoffs likely

Layoffs likely, Palm Beach County schools financial officer says - Sun Sentinel

[llong]

Yikes...that's not good for us....we have interviews scheduled for March( my husbands a teacher and I am a speech language pathologist)...I wonder if they will cancel them if there's a highering freeze

[Bobstar]

If you are an SLP, you will do much better outside of the school system. You can easily command $45/hr. No shortgae of these jobs either.

[CravenClan]

Bobstar....What do you like about Wellington? What does your family like? If you are married, what about your wife? Do your kids play sports? anything you can say to help me along??

I want to be near y husband, but when all you read are a lot of negatives and bad schools or gangs and ghettos...kinda scary. We will be out for spring break, after a few days there, i will know if it is for us or not...i guess if the school system is ok now, and gets bad, i could always do private??

[THX 1138]

If you got money to do private schools, there are plenty around here.

Wellington Christian

http://www.wellingtonchristian.com/assets/Uploads/Tuition-Schedule-2011-2.pdf (broken link)

The Kings Academy

$8K to $13K/year per student

Financial Information (http://www.tka.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=29&It emid=125 - broken link)

Then to the south in Delray and Boca you can send your kids to the ivy league of schools, American Heritage or the even more Creme de la Creme....St. Andrews....$18K-40K/year

Palm Beach Gardens you have Weiss School, Benjamin School and etc..

Good luck....

[CravenClan]

Private school would be as a last resort, ya know if things got really bad..

I remember when we were still in CA, it must have been about 2-3 years ago, and they did a hiring freeze, and gave out pink slips. MOST of the teachers were asked back, and then the same the following year. However they do not do Art, Tech, or Music there, and PE was only 2x per week...

If I am looking at High rated Public schools, in Wellington, I guess I am asking myself, "how could I go wrong?", maybe it could be an issue down the road, I am not sure....and what is a top rated school NOW, may not be in 5 years, things are always changing.

I think my trip this spring break will give me a good idea of who is living there, what the people are like and i can go from there...It is always best to sit outsdie the school, and see who id dropping off or picking up, visit local parks, go to the grocery store, Target, and eat out...then You will know...

[mayorhaggar]

Once you see what Wellington is like you'll see that it's pretty upper middle class. If that is what you're into then you'll probably like it. I don't know where you're getting this "crime and gangs and ghettos" thing from...you won't find any of that in Wellington. When I was going to Wellington High School there were some rough kids but the vast majority of them were from Royal Palm Beach, which is a lower income area. They built Royal Palm High a few years after I graduated and I would imagine the riff-raff is gone.

And the economy has been bad for about 3 years now and the schools are still standing in PBC. I would be concerned about cuts but I can't imagine things could get worse. Parents need to stand up for school funding and teachers but most people seem resigned to voting GOP and supporting politicians who go after school funding first instead of seeing education as a long-term investment in our kids.

[CravenClan]

I agree, unfortuneatley I think people today really don't use their VOICES or anything else...and sadly as much as people (politicians and our president) say education is so important, that is the first think they want to start taking from, go figure.. I guess if the government would stop "giving" everything away to people who are not leaglly here, maybe they'd have some extra money, if i were to hold my breath on that, i'd be dead, and that's a wholeother post....

I am excited to go there, so we will see, am being optimistic...especially to sunnier HOTTER weather, let alone to actually sit down to dinner everynight with our family.....