Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Regions North Florida

Technically, the Orlando area (Orange County) is Central Florida, not North Florida (that would be the panhandle, Jacksonville,etc.) Most of North Florida wouldn't have the population to support congregated gifted classes but central Florida should. If they are operated anything like South Florida, they'll have fulltime self contained gifted classes in most of the suburban, middle class districts. The downside to magnet schools is that they tend to be in more urban areas not considered desirable, which have smaller school populations. You would have to really check it out to see if it is in your comfort zone. As for the gifted programs, like anywhere else, a lot depends on each individual teacher. As for kids with HG+ IQs, that's hard to say of course, but in my sons' class of 23 mostly MG, there were probably about 4 to 5 that I would have thought to be HG+ (we were in South Florida though, which has a higher population to draw from.)

There is one public gifted school in Florida (Pine View) but it is in Sarasota which is south of Tampa (sw of Orlando). The entire school is gifted and so offers a unique environment. There are pros and cons but most people I have talked to were positive overall.

http://www.sarasota.k12.fl.us/pvs/overview.html

Hi Kerry,
I would narrow down the choices of schools and neighborhoods (talk to realtors, check out http://www.greatschools.net). Visit three or four schools and meet with the principal and gifted teacher at each one. You can learn a lot by meeting with the people who will be affecting your child's education. I live in SW Florida and what they've done here is put the magnet programs and the full time gifted programs in the WORST schools. For the full time middle school program there are more kids than there are openings so it's a lottery.
My boys attend our neighborhood school where there are lots of gifted kids. They are not the only HG kids at the school. Gifted pull-out is one day a week, but the school does ability tracking for the regular classes so all the gifted and high achievers are together. I still have my frustrations and have started afterschooling ...
What I have learned is that each school does things differently. The gifted teacher is not supervised by the school district so he/she can use any curriculum as long as the principal approves it. So there is no "standard" gifted program.

The district of Orange County is not against skipping, the decision is left to the individual schools.
Here in my county, Magnet and choice schools offer a better education but are least likely to allow grade skips, whereas the regular schools which have a slower pace are more likely to let you skip away.
Magnet/Charter schools are very popular down here and you may have a hard time getting in past K. Magnet schools, in Florida, were originally designed to segregate high minority schools so they are usually not in the best of neighborhoods, if that bothers you.

Orange County is a good school district and the fact that they advertise their gifted program online is a good sign. Most districts will not even say the word "gifted".
Research some schools on the great schools link, visit the schools website, and then email the principal to get an idea of how their gifted program will work and if they allow skipping.

How's the job hunt going?

First, Sorry I posted this in the wrong section, you can tell I'm not from Florida, and have real idea about the state can't you?
Since we are in the middle of packing for the move, I am probably getting a bit more frustrated than I usually would be with people. (My 18 month old has been "helping" me with the boxes - if you know what I mean. )

I have gotten a job at a private prep school outside of Orlando. But, it is too expensive for us to send DD there and there are no spaces for 2nd grade. So, we are trying to do everything at once, which is just adding to the stress. But, at least we've gotten our house here sold, so now all we're waiting on is the buyer's bank...

We are going to visit a few school once we get down there, we've gotten a couple of good leads, so we'll see how it goes. Once we get into that, I'll switch to posting stuff in a Central Fl. region, so I won't keep confusing everyone. Sorry about that.