Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Why is the school attendance down?

The Trib answers that question.

" The state forecast 50,536 new students but will be lucky to see 30,000"

"The repeat theme: Housing and insurance in Florida are just too expensive for working families with children."

Also

"Older, established neighborhoods such as Tampa's Seminole Heights also are seeing lower enrollments. The school is 122 shy of its projected 573 students.

"I think the community dynamics are changing," said Jackie Masters, principal at Seminole Heights Elementary. "There are young, young couples who haven't started families yet. There are families with life partners. Some grandparents are returning to the neighborhood."
Like other Hillsborough schools with lower than expected enrollment, Seminole Heights Elementary will be more easily able to meet state class-size reduction requirements - and move classes from portables to four empty classrooms."

These commmunity dynamics were predicted by a City of Tampa department. They looked at neighborhood statistics and predicted less families in Seminole Heights. That is obvious. When this was less revitalized more people lived in these home. Larger families, more families or extended families. Now with all of the individuals, couples and couples with young children there are less people. (When I find the link again to that department I will post it.)

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

OR... there are families like ours, who live in Seminole Heights, sent their children to SH elementary and then chose a PRIVATE EDUCATION!
OR... my neighbors who HOME SCHOOL their daughters.
Our children were not being challenged at the neighborhood school. Nothing is being done to raise the bar, the concentration is all on FCAT scores. ABSURD!

Anonymous said...

Bye the way Jackie... many families with "life partners" have children too.

Anonymous said...

By the way, there are "fewer" people, not less.

Anonymous said...

life is just cycling

the school you all speak of is a great school for inner area


my son and daughter both went to their elem.classes and I loved the teachers and the care .

Sad to see some dont..
Seminole Heights and other areas
may not be a family orientated as we like to think
however life is a cycle.
This does change...Life.

AngelSil said...

We've seen several families leave the area either when they decided to have children or when the children became school age. Their perception was that Seminole Heights is too 'urban' for families. Houses tend to be smaller and yards aren't as big as in the 'burbs. As the prices here approach or pass what you can pay for a larger home in a more traditional suburban area, I guess the draw out there is strong for some.

Anonymous said...

As a Realtor in the area, I deal with people who are considering Seminole Heights as a place to live all of the time. I can almost repeat the questions they all ask me: Is it safe here? and, How are the schools?. I always end up telling them that these are central city urban neighborhoods that experience crime just like any other city and that Hillsborough County offers school choice programs. I have also see the tendency of young couples living here but as soon as she gets pregnant the FOR SALE sign goes up. The reason that they always use is because they don't want to raise their kids in this "environment". Whether or not the safety and school issues are real or not, they are at least perceived to be that way. I personally don't believe that safety is an issue but the quality of the schools definitely is.

Anonymous said...

Dear Mr Mike




Is the school here in the heights of poor quality now?
I AM sincere when I inquire please






Years ago SHELEM.was a good school
I worked there I volunteered there as well


I would like to have some honest responses?
please
thanks Mike

Anonymous said...

My family moved to Seminole Heights a year ago with our three year old and we recently had a baby.

I have nothing buit good things to say about the neighborhood. My son loves going down to Epps Park to fish and look for manatees (we've seen a manatee, a dolphin and a bald eagle), the Sulphur Springs pool is a hidden gem on hot Saturday afternoons and our restored bungalow provides plenty of room, especially the front porch.


In a year and a half when my son becomes school age we will deal with it. We are not concerned. Education is 50 percent the parent's responsibility and I have absolutely no worries my boys will be educated they way we want them to.

People who don't move to Seminole Heights because they think it's not "pro-family" or "unsafe" are clueless. They are the kind of overprotective people who are going to raise basketcases as kids anyway.

Ever read how much disgusting crime goes on in Brandon?

Anonymous said...

Dear mommatoldme: Here are the websites that will connect you with the neighborhood schools for Southeast Seminole Heights. Click on the "School Report Card" button.

http://www.sdhc.k12.fl.us/schools/school_info.asp?site=1361

http://www.sdhc.k12.fl.us/schools/school_info.asp?site=0322

http://www.sdhc.k12.fl.us/schools/school_info.asp?site=3004

These are not all of the schools for Seminole Heights, but it is a good representation of what the schools are like. Would you be happy sending you kid to these schools??

Mike

Anonymous said...

Hillsborough High School, Memorial Middle and Broward Elementary aren't much better either. This is information from the SDHC website using the State of Florida's own scoring system.

Anonymous said...

This is the information on Seminole Elementary School.

http://schoolgrades.fldoe.org/default.asp?action=verifySelectionSchool&report=RC&districts=29&schoolYear=2005-2006&school_grade=&level=School&schoolNumbers=293921

Mike

IFly said...

Provided that they don't use it as an excuse to trim the budget, the smaller class sizes could help these schools with lower than expected enrollment, I would think.

Anonymous said...

Seminole Heights Elementary is a warm & caring community. The kids are nice, the families are supportive and the faculty are great. They have many events geared towards bringing families together and their fall carnival is the best. Despite cut backs the music and art department work hard to involve all the children in doing something special and creative during the school year.

Anonymous said...

We moved here when my son was in high school. He went to the magnet prograqm at Blake High School. He had a fabulous experience, and received a very good scholarship tp college. We and he love it here.