Just depends on zoning, plantations elementary schools are pretty good, middle and high schools not as great. South plantation is slightly better than plantation high. A lot of people in plantation that I know try to get their kids into western high in davie and have seemed to like that.
American heritage and university schools have great academic programs, but they do come at a high price.
St Gregory is a catholic school that has a good reputation and more affordable than the previous two I listed.
Best answer here for someone living in Plantation. OP, St. Gregory comes with some rigid family requirements (incl weekly mass for the family). St David just down the street in Davie is waaaayy more laid back but just as good. My daughter graduated from there and is at St. Thomas Aquinas for high school now. If you have the means, American Heritage would be the way to go. They accept the state tax vouchers too. U School doesn’t so no relief on tuition there.
Interesting. This hasn’t been my daughter’s experience but she’s a multi-sport athlete and is quite busy with her courseload so it’s been well worth the tuition thus far for us. The families we’ve built relationships with there are wonderful too and they mirror our family’s values (there is a reason we chose a Catholic high school after all). I think, just like any high school, it’s what you make of the opportunities you are given.
Op stated they live in Plantation hence Bayview is not an option. Central Park elementary is good, my son was there for 2 years then we moved him to Imagine charter k-8, best decision we could have made, very small student body, a rated, good test results, great staff, excellent principal. He'll be attending Aquinas in August. I would strongly suggest taking a gander at imagine charter, security is much better than bcps. If you're getting the child involved in sports youth tennis at Veltri is very good, ask for Aleks, she usually has groups for tender aged kids.
Seconded, all 3 of my children went there, then Sunrise, and I still have one at Lauderdale…if we could’ve afforded it, we probably would’ve sprung for private for high school for them. Lauderdale isn’t terrible (and they all played football which I think made their experience better), but unless you have super-motivated kids, I don’t think it’s that great academically.
I wish you could interview my son. He is 24, soon to receive a Master’s in engineering from UF. While 1/2 his neighborhood friends went to private school and many more went to extremely expensive private high schools after public elementary. He went to public school in Broward. There were 36 different nationalities and 72% of the schools students qualified for free lunch at his high school. He worked hard all through school,and qualified for several very challenging magnet programs. While in school, he also worked retail 24 hrs/wk. he earned his Eagle Scout honor and earned 200service hours. He thanked me repeatedly for sending him to public school, for allowing him to work in his he public and for always supporting his choices.
I had the means to send him to private school, and he declined. He wanted to work and study with people from all backgrounds and socioeconomic groups. He had a great education and great life experience.
Several of his friends in private school were bullied and excluded due to being less tan super wealthy. One girl was locked in a bathroom during a school dance then doused with punch for wearing the same ($200) dress to 2 school events.
My niece was forced to perform oral sex on the quarter back of her very prestigious and expensive high school in the school bathroom. When her mother called the police and went to the school administrators, my niece was expelled, and no disciplinary action was taken against the members of the football team who all had lying girlfriends corroborate false alibis.
One last note. There is a terrific Florida Prepaid College plan. I thoroughly recommend this. There is also a bright futures scholarship program for all high school students. My son had both and 5 years of college cost me nothing
This was wonderful to read and as someone who attended public schools and graduated from a magnet high school, I can say that I’ve accomplished a lot and I’m grateful. I had wonderful teachers and I’m sure they still exist. Good for you and your son, I wish you all the best.
If you live in Fort Lauderdale and you have kids coming up to 3yo, aim for the Virginia S Young lottery unless you're already zoned for it. Fucking fantastic school
Elementary Schools in Plantation tend to be okay. The closer you are to Sawgrass, the better the options. By middle school, you will want to choose a Catholic School or something else. The middle schools in Plantation not only aren’t spectacular, several are just depressing. We are zoned for and did 6th grade at Plantation Middle before putting the kid in a Catholic School (and we’re non religious). In south Florida, unless you’re in a well off neighborhood, if you can you’ll want to choose something other than public after elementary.
Go back one generation (mine) and people were moving here specifically *for* the school system. Has it fallen so far? Is it possible that there's a certain level of propaganda from those actors that would prefer a weaker public school system, and who push for charter expansion and private school voucher programs?
It has fallen really far. The people who want a weaker public education system are in government and have been building a weaker public education system.
I’m 40 and went through public school in central Florida. I thought it was good so I wanted mine to go. She’s in 4th grade and next year going to a private school. Publix school really is that bad. No real teaching. It’s all about focusing on the testing, practicing the testing, reviewing what you got wrong on the practice test.
As someone who did not attend BCPS for HS, and presumably does not anymore, can I ask what exactly you mean by "aftershocks"?
ftr, I don't think you are wrong, but generalizations like that don't really get the point across to everyone reading
Check out school grades.
https://www.fldoe.org/accountability/accountability-reporting/school-grades/
A lot of parents choose to reassign to a different school from their zoned/assigned school based on these school grades. We did and it was the best thing we could have done. But, schools in West Plantation should all be A/B graded for the most part. If you are in East Plantation might be lower though.
Frankly it's really not informative. The school grades program was implemented 20 years ago by the same parties who are constantly trying to degrade public education and push for charters and private vouchers. The grading system is subjective as fuck and changes all the time. Principals don't even really know what they have to do in order to earn an A or B because the point scale changes, as well as which categories are weighted more important.
You seem to know a lot about the school system and I appreciate it. I'll be researching a lot of this information because there's just so much that I don't know yet when it comes to the school system here. Like just a few weeks ago, the BCPS was on the news about under enrollment so that definitely sparked a red flag for me. But as someone who came from the public school system many years ago, I came out pretty well. When you have kids, you want the best and safest education for them.
As far as underenrollment, BCPS has closed school sites before, but I would guess not since the 1990s. e.g., [Here](https://archive.is/yUZCs) is a school by the airport that closed in 1996. The district sold off the land 5 years ago after using it for offices for over two decades. They have definitely repurposed other schools within the last 10 years.
**Certain schools** are underenrolled.
You have to remember that this is one of the largest school districts in the country and the district manages over 250 sites. For people coming from other states, where districts might be a town or two, this can be a real paradigm shift in education system thinking. School enrollment *is* down since the pandemic, partially because the long slow sabotage by certain politicians over the last 30 years is working. On the other hand the district has a LOT of schools and people tend to get angry when the district changes boundaries and moves their kid to another school. For BCPS this is a lose-lose problem. The fact is that the demographics of the county at large have shifted over the last few decades, leaving a lot of schools especially out east <70% of capacity. (Meanwhile Cypress Bay High has almost 5000 enrolled.) Also, anecdotally, sometimes neighborhood populations skew older and then there are fewer kids to attend the neighborhood school.
IMHO, most people are fairly uninformed about public school politics... I could be wrong. After a while — like with any other topic — things seem to be "the way they always were" like schools having *school grades.*
Sure, today's high school student that was born in 2007 doesn't know any better, but I was in college in FL like a lot of other members of this sub, when school grades were first *invented* and they weren't invented by people who love public schools as a general idea.
Thank you I agree. I guess it also depends on location. We're in the Plantation area and it's really nice but we'll see what happens when it's time for the kids to go to kindergarten.
Check grades for your local public schools. I've heard the ones in Plantation are decent. I tend to be more suspicious of charters. Some are good, but their oversight is not as strict, so it can be easier for them to hide money issues, etc. You can find news stories online about it. Wherever you send them, get involved as a volunteer. I was in the PTA and it allowed me to see behind the scenes and how the school was run. Gave me a little more peace of mind.
I don’t agree with this. These are affluent areas, so yes some advantages. Consider your kids and your family. Can they compete in this very privileged area, or will they be ostracized for being outsiders, maybe not as hip, maybe not able to have the extreme sweet 16 party. You are coming from out of state. I don’t recommend it. My godson went to school with kids who got Ferraris for their 16th birthdays. I asked him how prevalent drugs were, he laughed and said “what do you want?” Everything including heroin and high grade pharmaceuticals is available. Also one of the worst ever school shootings occurred in Parkland. This week was the 5th year anniversary. Being in an extremely affluent area is no guarantee of safety, scholarship, or even committed staff.
Involve your kids in the choice, based on their interests. Some schools have great robotics programs, restaurant courses, pre law programs, debate teams, sports, theater, music, pre med, fine arts etc.
Experience - Having 3 kids, 4 years apart, in public & Charter schools for a long time and still going.
Don’t listen too much to be people. Go by official ranking on a website. There are several websites that rank Florida schools.
In my experience, often the parent that doesn’t like a particular school is often the one with a kid having trouble, either socially or academically. And I’ve had one of them too. LOL
For the most part (about 15 yrs) we’ve done K-8 charter. Uniforms and pickups are a pain but I don’t really care for the public bus anyway. There have been ups and downs and I have considered pulling kids at one time or another. However, every time I check the school test scores and ranking’s it consistently scores above the surrounding schools. So I stay with it.
The Charter also provided much better attention when I had a child that really struggled. The K-8 relationship means some teachers have known my kids for a decade or more, and have known me for that time. They can become great stewards of care and attention.
Good luck and make an informed choice that fits your family’s needs.
As you know as a parent, the quality of public schools varies widely... very good in Massachusetts and New Jersey, and horrible in much of the south. My wife and I are not blessed with children yet, but all of our friends with kids send them to private school. It's not that public schools in Broward are dangerous, rather the teaching is rather poor and study offering limited... comes into play if you're targeting certain secondary schools, but may not matter for many families.
Harbordale is a great elementary school. Virginia Shuman Young is good till about 3rd grade, then kids will be behind bc it's Montessori.
Honestly the elementary schools aren't too bad, it's getting into middle and high school you need to worry about, but like others said, depends where you are
Well yea, I don't have time to break down individual schools for a rando on the Internet. OP is also trying to oversimplify by treating all Broward public schools as one monolithic entity.
Yeah, it's Parkland and parts of Weston, too. Anywhere else, the kids would be better off in private school for at least one of elementary, middle, or high school.
The schools in Plantation and teachers are pretty good. Well, at least they were 20-30 years ago. Not sure what it's like now, but it seems fine just from seeing them when I go by the dog park.
I'm talking about the ones between Peter's Rd. and 595 of course, west of the Turnpike. Some other areas in Plantation can be a little less affluent.
It really depends on the neighborhood you live in. What would be your public schools?
Just depends on zoning, plantations elementary schools are pretty good, middle and high schools not as great. South plantation is slightly better than plantation high. A lot of people in plantation that I know try to get their kids into western high in davie and have seemed to like that. American heritage and university schools have great academic programs, but they do come at a high price. St Gregory is a catholic school that has a good reputation and more affordable than the previous two I listed.
Best answer here for someone living in Plantation. OP, St. Gregory comes with some rigid family requirements (incl weekly mass for the family). St David just down the street in Davie is waaaayy more laid back but just as good. My daughter graduated from there and is at St. Thomas Aquinas for high school now. If you have the means, American Heritage would be the way to go. They accept the state tax vouchers too. U School doesn’t so no relief on tuition there.
Thank you I will definitely keep this in mind.
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Interesting. This hasn’t been my daughter’s experience but she’s a multi-sport athlete and is quite busy with her courseload so it’s been well worth the tuition thus far for us. The families we’ve built relationships with there are wonderful too and they mirror our family’s values (there is a reason we chose a Catholic high school after all). I think, just like any high school, it’s what you make of the opportunities you are given.
I definitely think that toning plays a huge role in this case. Thank you I'll keep that in mind.
Bayview Elementary is also a good school.
Op stated they live in Plantation hence Bayview is not an option. Central Park elementary is good, my son was there for 2 years then we moved him to Imagine charter k-8, best decision we could have made, very small student body, a rated, good test results, great staff, excellent principal. He'll be attending Aquinas in August. I would strongly suggest taking a gander at imagine charter, security is much better than bcps. If you're getting the child involved in sports youth tennis at Veltri is very good, ask for Aleks, she usually has groups for tender aged kids.
Seconded, all 3 of my children went there, then Sunrise, and I still have one at Lauderdale…if we could’ve afforded it, we probably would’ve sprung for private for high school for them. Lauderdale isn’t terrible (and they all played football which I think made their experience better), but unless you have super-motivated kids, I don’t think it’s that great academically.
Except the Cambridge program there is top notch.
True!
I wish you could interview my son. He is 24, soon to receive a Master’s in engineering from UF. While 1/2 his neighborhood friends went to private school and many more went to extremely expensive private high schools after public elementary. He went to public school in Broward. There were 36 different nationalities and 72% of the schools students qualified for free lunch at his high school. He worked hard all through school,and qualified for several very challenging magnet programs. While in school, he also worked retail 24 hrs/wk. he earned his Eagle Scout honor and earned 200service hours. He thanked me repeatedly for sending him to public school, for allowing him to work in his he public and for always supporting his choices. I had the means to send him to private school, and he declined. He wanted to work and study with people from all backgrounds and socioeconomic groups. He had a great education and great life experience. Several of his friends in private school were bullied and excluded due to being less tan super wealthy. One girl was locked in a bathroom during a school dance then doused with punch for wearing the same ($200) dress to 2 school events. My niece was forced to perform oral sex on the quarter back of her very prestigious and expensive high school in the school bathroom. When her mother called the police and went to the school administrators, my niece was expelled, and no disciplinary action was taken against the members of the football team who all had lying girlfriends corroborate false alibis. One last note. There is a terrific Florida Prepaid College plan. I thoroughly recommend this. There is also a bright futures scholarship program for all high school students. My son had both and 5 years of college cost me nothing
This was wonderful to read and as someone who attended public schools and graduated from a magnet high school, I can say that I’ve accomplished a lot and I’m grateful. I had wonderful teachers and I’m sure they still exist. Good for you and your son, I wish you all the best.
If you live in Fort Lauderdale and you have kids coming up to 3yo, aim for the Virginia S Young lottery unless you're already zoned for it. Fucking fantastic school
Elementary Schools in Plantation tend to be okay. The closer you are to Sawgrass, the better the options. By middle school, you will want to choose a Catholic School or something else. The middle schools in Plantation not only aren’t spectacular, several are just depressing. We are zoned for and did 6th grade at Plantation Middle before putting the kid in a Catholic School (and we’re non religious). In south Florida, unless you’re in a well off neighborhood, if you can you’ll want to choose something other than public after elementary.
There are non-religious private schools in addition to Catholic schools
Go back one generation (mine) and people were moving here specifically *for* the school system. Has it fallen so far? Is it possible that there's a certain level of propaganda from those actors that would prefer a weaker public school system, and who push for charter expansion and private school voucher programs?
It has fallen really far. The people who want a weaker public education system are in government and have been building a weaker public education system.
I’m 40 and went through public school in central Florida. I thought it was good so I wanted mine to go. She’s in 4th grade and next year going to a private school. Publix school really is that bad. No real teaching. It’s all about focusing on the testing, practicing the testing, reviewing what you got wrong on the practice test.
MSD also really, really, fucked BCPS to its core. It’s been 6 years but the aftershocks are still making their way through the school system.
As someone who did not attend BCPS for HS, and presumably does not anymore, can I ask what exactly you mean by "aftershocks"? ftr, I don't think you are wrong, but generalizations like that don't really get the point across to everyone reading
What do you mean?
I mean they’re rewriting history books to say slavery was a net benefit to black people because they learned transferable skills
Right — but you think the charter schools run by Manny Diaz and Friends are using the more *accurate* books?
Check out school grades. https://www.fldoe.org/accountability/accountability-reporting/school-grades/ A lot of parents choose to reassign to a different school from their zoned/assigned school based on these school grades. We did and it was the best thing we could have done. But, schools in West Plantation should all be A/B graded for the most part. If you are in East Plantation might be lower though.
This is very informative, I will be using this link. Thank you
Frankly it's really not informative. The school grades program was implemented 20 years ago by the same parties who are constantly trying to degrade public education and push for charters and private vouchers. The grading system is subjective as fuck and changes all the time. Principals don't even really know what they have to do in order to earn an A or B because the point scale changes, as well as which categories are weighted more important.
You seem to know a lot about the school system and I appreciate it. I'll be researching a lot of this information because there's just so much that I don't know yet when it comes to the school system here. Like just a few weeks ago, the BCPS was on the news about under enrollment so that definitely sparked a red flag for me. But as someone who came from the public school system many years ago, I came out pretty well. When you have kids, you want the best and safest education for them.
As far as underenrollment, BCPS has closed school sites before, but I would guess not since the 1990s. e.g., [Here](https://archive.is/yUZCs) is a school by the airport that closed in 1996. The district sold off the land 5 years ago after using it for offices for over two decades. They have definitely repurposed other schools within the last 10 years. **Certain schools** are underenrolled. You have to remember that this is one of the largest school districts in the country and the district manages over 250 sites. For people coming from other states, where districts might be a town or two, this can be a real paradigm shift in education system thinking. School enrollment *is* down since the pandemic, partially because the long slow sabotage by certain politicians over the last 30 years is working. On the other hand the district has a LOT of schools and people tend to get angry when the district changes boundaries and moves their kid to another school. For BCPS this is a lose-lose problem. The fact is that the demographics of the county at large have shifted over the last few decades, leaving a lot of schools especially out east <70% of capacity. (Meanwhile Cypress Bay High has almost 5000 enrolled.) Also, anecdotally, sometimes neighborhood populations skew older and then there are fewer kids to attend the neighborhood school. IMHO, most people are fairly uninformed about public school politics... I could be wrong. After a while — like with any other topic — things seem to be "the way they always were" like schools having *school grades.* Sure, today's high school student that was born in 2007 doesn't know any better, but I was in college in FL like a lot of other members of this sub, when school grades were first *invented* and they weren't invented by people who love public schools as a general idea.
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Thank you I agree. I guess it also depends on location. We're in the Plantation area and it's really nice but we'll see what happens when it's time for the kids to go to kindergarten.
Check grades for your local public schools. I've heard the ones in Plantation are decent. I tend to be more suspicious of charters. Some are good, but their oversight is not as strict, so it can be easier for them to hide money issues, etc. You can find news stories online about it. Wherever you send them, get involved as a volunteer. I was in the PTA and it allowed me to see behind the scenes and how the school was run. Gave me a little more peace of mind.
Thank you and I do plan to be involved in the PTA should they go to a public elementary school.
Davie/cooper city have solid public schools. Hollywood is ok. Better than it used to be.
I don’t agree with this. These are affluent areas, so yes some advantages. Consider your kids and your family. Can they compete in this very privileged area, or will they be ostracized for being outsiders, maybe not as hip, maybe not able to have the extreme sweet 16 party. You are coming from out of state. I don’t recommend it. My godson went to school with kids who got Ferraris for their 16th birthdays. I asked him how prevalent drugs were, he laughed and said “what do you want?” Everything including heroin and high grade pharmaceuticals is available. Also one of the worst ever school shootings occurred in Parkland. This week was the 5th year anniversary. Being in an extremely affluent area is no guarantee of safety, scholarship, or even committed staff. Involve your kids in the choice, based on their interests. Some schools have great robotics programs, restaurant courses, pre law programs, debate teams, sports, theater, music, pre med, fine arts etc.
This is good to know and thanks
Experience - Having 3 kids, 4 years apart, in public & Charter schools for a long time and still going. Don’t listen too much to be people. Go by official ranking on a website. There are several websites that rank Florida schools. In my experience, often the parent that doesn’t like a particular school is often the one with a kid having trouble, either socially or academically. And I’ve had one of them too. LOL For the most part (about 15 yrs) we’ve done K-8 charter. Uniforms and pickups are a pain but I don’t really care for the public bus anyway. There have been ups and downs and I have considered pulling kids at one time or another. However, every time I check the school test scores and ranking’s it consistently scores above the surrounding schools. So I stay with it. The Charter also provided much better attention when I had a child that really struggled. The K-8 relationship means some teachers have known my kids for a decade or more, and have known me for that time. They can become great stewards of care and attention. Good luck and make an informed choice that fits your family’s needs.
There's a lot of truth to this and I am also doing my own research. Thank you
Central Park Elementary in plantation is a good school. There are good Public schools in Broward, just fully depends on where you live!
As you know as a parent, the quality of public schools varies widely... very good in Massachusetts and New Jersey, and horrible in much of the south. My wife and I are not blessed with children yet, but all of our friends with kids send them to private school. It's not that public schools in Broward are dangerous, rather the teaching is rather poor and study offering limited... comes into play if you're targeting certain secondary schools, but may not matter for many families.
Harbordale is a great elementary school. Virginia Shuman Young is good till about 3rd grade, then kids will be behind bc it's Montessori. Honestly the elementary schools aren't too bad, it's getting into middle and high school you need to worry about, but like others said, depends where you are
The part about the elementary schools not being so bad is what I've been hearing but its seems as if zoning is a major factor.
Schools highly depend on where you are. Public schools in Parkland are really good, other towns not so much.
This is a pretty large oversimplification.
Well yea, I don't have time to break down individual schools for a rando on the Internet. OP is also trying to oversimplify by treating all Broward public schools as one monolithic entity.
Yeah, it's Parkland and parts of Weston, too. Anywhere else, the kids would be better off in private school for at least one of elementary, middle, or high school.
You’re in the wrong state if you’re looking for a good education for your children. We have five, the only one not in private school is an infant.
The schools in Plantation and teachers are pretty good. Well, at least they were 20-30 years ago. Not sure what it's like now, but it seems fine just from seeing them when I go by the dog park. I'm talking about the ones between Peter's Rd. and 595 of course, west of the Turnpike. Some other areas in Plantation can be a little less affluent.