Needing the STRAIGHT-UP facts about Boca schools (Boca Raton, Pinecrest: real estate, middle school)

[Disney Goddess]

Hello! My family is moving to Florida, the job is specifically in Boca Raton, although we can possibly broaden our search if necessary. I have done exhaustive research online, read and re-read greatschools.org until I thought I had read all there was implied in between the lines. There is no denying, my children can get a good education in Boca schools.

Here is the real-life situation:

I am uprooting 3 girls. One in 5th who will easily adapt anywhere, one in 8th who I worry about but I'm considering private school for and one in 11th who I am worried like crazy about. She is not "Med-student" material. She is brilliant and artistic and can sing like nobody's business and get on stage and pull on your heart strings with a monologue and tell a story with a single photograph and pick you up when you fall and save your soul with one word. But she won't give you the circumference of a circle. She's a little shy and she may decide to have purple hair one day and safety pins on her jeans the next. We will try Dreyfoos. They'd be crazy not to take her, but hey, you never know.

So my question is....

would she be accepted?

[Swimmom32]

I fI have a 7th grader is at Omni Middle love the school..and My son is in 12th grade at Spanish River HS...We lived in West Boca had our kids attend those schools except for the Middle School, although I have quite a bit of friends who kids go to Loggers and Eagles Landing....The problem with East Boca for schools is the Elem and Middle the High School is excellent and your Daughter will be just fine there but I would re-consider the elem and Middle....West Boca mixed bag in my opinion which if your interested you can PM me....my son attended West Boca High School before we moved to Central Boca and put him at Spanish River...My daughter attended one of the Elem Schools. If you can afford private school for 5th grade and for Middle School then Boca High School would be your best choice...Spanish River and Boca High both have great things about them...You can read til your heart is content, but you have to go the schools and see and talk to people for yourself...what is good for my kids might not be good for yours so to speak...

Good Luck

[Jchiamom]

I thought Dreyfoos was by try outs in the Spring? I could be mistaken....we chose private schools for our four...St Andrew's and Spanish River Christian. We are very happy with both. My oldest is 9th...younger are elementary levels...SRCS has a great middle school and is not crazy $$ like the prep schools...it is a very grounded and welcoming community. I agree with Swim on the public schools...Calusa Elem., Omni, and Boca High would be my first choices.

[garyhitchcock]

Even though the job is in Boca, I would consider Parkland which borders Boca to the south. My wife teaches APUSH at the Parkland HS where her kids just got an 80 percent pass rate on the AP test. We raised two gifted boys here from kindergarten to college as well and never considered private schools. We both feel the same way, expecially me, that corporate America is not made up of people that all attended private schools so you have to learn to get along with everyone. If your boss is not from your socioeconomic background, then tough luck, you have to deal with that. If you don't learn that in middle and high school then you will be in big trouble. People that put their kids in private schools to escape diversity are doing a disservice to their kids. Forbes magazine rated Parkland schools #1 for bang for the real estate buck and that has maintained our real estate value, now going up for third year in a row !!

[mikecu]

GreatSchools - Public and Private School Ratings, Reviews and Parent Community


Omni Middle and Spanish River are great schools.

[Jchiamom]

Originally Posted by garyhitchcock

Even though the job is in Boca, I would consider Parkland which borders Boca to the south. My wife teaches APUSH at the Parkland HS where her kids just got an 80 percent pass rate on the AP test. We raised two gifted boys here from kindergarten to college as well and never considered private schools. We both feel the same way, expecially me, that corporate America is not made up of people that all attended private schools so you have to learn to get along with everyone. If your boss is not from your socioeconomic background, then tough luck, you have to deal with that. If you don't learn that in middle and high school then you will be in big trouble. People that put their kids in private schools to escape diversity are doing a disservice to their kids. Forbes magazine rated Parkland schools #1 for bang for the real estate buck and that has maintained our real estate value, now going up for third year in a row !!

And some people put their children in private schools for sports programs or religion....some private schools are just as diverse if not more than the public schools....St. Andrews In Boca has boarding students from all over the WORLD...can't get more diverse than that

But, congrats on finally getting your quote from the Forbes mag on Parkland correct! Woo hoo it's about time...

[Swimmom32]

mike your correct I have experience with both and they are excellent schools...Once again someone seems to think Parkland is the end all...OP there are alot of options as JC said there is private school, St Andrews is excellent, Pinecrest in boca is excellent but doesn't go to HS that would be in Ft lauderdale...

[pjslad]

I have a kid in Sandpiper (going into 4th) and Eagles (going into 8th) and we're very happy with them and the
accomplishments they've made acedemically over the last 3 years since we moved here. We're up in the air about high schools. I haven't heard much good about Olympic....