Charter School

My daughter has been in a Charter school in Little Havana/Downtown Miami for the past three years. She attended a Community School originally and I was horrified by the need in the district. I was truly concerned with safety from bullies etc. But at the Charter she has full time security, a counselor actively involved in the everyday behavior of the kids and the administration are really into parent teacher communication. The Charters require a lot of parent involvement, I have to give 30 volunteer hours (physically, emotionally or financiallyLOL!) but while she's there I don't worry. I recommend checking the ranking of the school. Our school has been consistently graded "A" in the past 10 years. Good luck,

Hi there SS!

I can totally understand your worry about your daughter's school. I taught at a charter school for 4 years and had my son there with me. My son had a great experience there and so did I as a parent and teacher! Charter schools are a great alternative in that they are like a public school in that they receive funds from the government (only half of what public schools do) and they are like a private school in that they don't have to deal with too much district "red tape". I would strongly suggest you register your daughter into a charter school or into their lottery system.

Good luck!
C.

Truthfully it sounds great....most charter schools are highly rated as well as cater to either academics, arts, etc...what is the charter school and where is it located? You can more than likely read "reviews" online either through the school districts website or google search it for reviews(which is how I decided on my daughters preschool) Good Luck! L.

I would just schedule a time to go in and tour the charter school. Each one is different. They have more flexibility in the kind of curriculum and system they use. For example I know 2 local charters that use a montessori curriculum, one of those schools uses healthy foods , strives to be green, and work towards education for the whole child, another I know of doesn't really use a specific curriculum. They do get govt money but not a lot, and they do have to follow some public school regs just not as much as public schools. I don't think the post concerning the Imagine school is correct. Imagine schools are all over the nation, and they may be based in Virginia but they have had several Imagine schools in Florida. So I don't see that it should be a problem now. Their main thing is that they rate their schools on several areas unlike some schools that just use test scores to rate their schools.

My son goes to a Charter school is Florida. I'm very happy so far and in some ways it is similar to the private school he previously attended. I like that the reading level at his school varies by each child's ability. For example, he's in Kindergarten. The kids in his class are on 4 different reading levels (remedial/prek, Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd). He's not attended a public school yet, so I'm not certain, but don't think a public school has this same flexibility (but I could be wrong). There were a couple of charter schools in my area that received horrible grades, so I do know charter schools can vary dramatically and I would check the reviews like a prior responder said and would probably not go to one until it's at least one to two years old. Good luck!

If the school you are considered is the Imagine School, I just heard that they were having some problems because they are supposed to be based in Florida and they are actually based in Virginia or something like that. Not sure what they are doing to work this out.

My children go to the charter school in the Villages. I know that every charter school is different- You need to see how their charter is set up. For example, the school in the Villages has a charter in the workplace. This means that all children who attend the school have parents who either work directly for the Villages, for a company on Villages property or for a contractor that services the Villages directly.

The charter school is basically a public school that has private funding. They adhere to the county school system rules. They do have ESE, speech, ot, etc. They also have art, pe, music, spanish. My experience with the school has been excellent. The classes are smaller & the teachers are very focused on all the students needs. I would definitely recommend checking out the charter school in your area. I hope this information helps.

My oldest daughter is going to a Charter school. This is her 3rd year there. We really like the school. She is tested throughout the year many times. She is advanced in reading, writing, math, science, etc. They keep challenging her to strive to higher learning. Our youngest daughter will attend the Charter school next year. Good luck finding the school that fits your child.