[quote=Rhett]Save for one grade school, the public schools in Clairemont range from average to awful. Save for one person, everybody I’ve met that owns in Clairemont either sends their kids to private school or ends up choicing their kids into a UC school (since the aging demographics there have twice as much capacity in south UC than students that live there).
This is why Mira Mesa might be a lot more attractive to some people.[/quote]
Ironically – I live in UC and am in the Curie neighborhood. I’ve got my kids (2nd son moves starting next year) at Hawthorne Elementary in Clairemont. On paper Curie looks fabulous and Hawthorne looks awful. In reality – the teachers are what counts and the seminar program at Hawthorne is beyond exceptional. Seriously, it’s an amazing program, better than the seminar program at Spreckels in the UC cluster… This is entirely because of the two teachers there and the parent foundation – plus a great principal that really puts the students needs above all. My son has been much better served by a “crappy” Clairemont school with a great schools rating of 6 than by our neighborhood school that has a great schools rating of 10.
I have quite a few friends with kids at Holmes – including another UC family who moved the child because Curie violated the IEP. Holmes is a very good school in Clairemont.
That said – probably 25-30% of the kids at Curie are from Clairemont.
I like Clairemont. First house I lived in (from coming home from the hospital after birth) was on a Mt. street. Obviously, I like south UC too – bought the house I grew up in (that we’d moved to from Clairemont) from my parents when I moved back to San Diego.
You have to look at more than just the paper ratings when looking at schools. Especially if your child is exceptional in any way at all. If there are special needs (of any kind – GATE/Seminar, ADHD, whatever… anything at all non-typical) you need to look at what each school provides to serve those needs.
