OT: Looking for Public Middle School: Advice?

[NotCranky]

We are considering schools east of the 805 and between the 94 and I-8.
But could get as close as 15 minutes to La Jolla beaches i.e., Santee

We’ve got a diamond (our son) in the rough of east county boonies who would excel in a challenging academic, STEM focused school. We’d like it to be both academic and creative/project oriented for incoming 6th grader.

Thanks in advance for any reviews or advice you could share.

[UCGal]

Slightly west of your parameters – but I can recommend Roosevelt Middle…. Right by the zoo.

My son is attending there. My younger son will start next year.

It’s an International Baccalaureate school. With your family’s spanish language abilities – they should be able to be in the native speakers classes.

It’s ethnically and economically diverse… that is good and bad. There are definitely some less than savory students there… but most of the kids are good.

It has a very strong GATE and Seminar program. I’m very pleased with the science and Gateways to Technology classes that my son is in.

I liked the program well enough that I’m dealing with the hassle of driving him to/from – despite the hellish I-805 traffic.

Feel free to PM me and I can give you more details.

As you probably know – the choice deadlines are coming up – so you’ll need to apply before the deadline. (Feb 15th?) It’s a magnet school – so that helps with the choice program… (SDUSD is cutting funding to choice in the interests of keeping kids at their neighborhood schools. Stated ideal is that every neighborhood school becomes excellent. But that’s not always possible.)

[UCGal]

Just realized – your diamond in the rough is the same grade as my younger son – so they might end up attending together.

I re-read your post and saw you wanted project based learning. Roosevelt isn’t quite as project based as High Tech Middle but it is more project based than our neighborhood school.

We looked at High Tech Middle and have friends who attend there. But it’s even further west.

The application process there requires you to attend an informational meeting before they let you apply. Then it’s a lottery by zip code. We didn’t get in because too many of our neighbors were also applying. Coming from east county – you might have better odds.

Also – since it’s a charter school – it’s application is SEPARATE from the choice application – so you can apply to High Tech and not impact your choice application – then make a decision based on which (or both) accepts you. You’re increasing your odds.

[NotCranky]

Thank you UCGal for your input. Roosevelt does sound great, I didn’t know anything about that school. The language instruction is definitely attractive to me, but at this point in the process I’m still going to look for something a little closer to us. We had considered trying High Tech Middle, but as you noted, it’s too far for us. I’m hoping to balance how much time our kids spend in the car with the benefit of an interesting school. It’s 30 minutes to the nearest grocery store, Roosevelt would be an hour when (if) traffic is good. Anyway, can’t complain since we chose to come out here!

Glad you mentioned ‘choice application’ and the fact that charter schools are outside of that process. I didn’t know about lottery by zip code. All this is new to me since I’ve only dealt with Jamul-Dulzura and Cajon Valley districts so far. I’ll read up that. You’ve given us some leads on what more to learn.

Do you know anything about Magnolia Science Academy? or Lewis middle school?

[Essbee]

My niece went to Magnolia and just finished last year. She is now a freshman at Patrick Henry. I myself went to Lewis, but that was a million years ago, when it was a “junior high” school.

Magnolia has a few oddities, such as having electives in Turkish language. You need to watch out or you will get put into that class, which does not exactly seem useful.

She had some really good teachers, and some really bad ones. I think the really bad math teacher may be gone now. My niece seemed to do well with the small size of the school.

She had a lot of friends attend either Lewis or Magnolia, and all seemed satisfied with their choice. My niece went from being a B/C student in 6th grade to now straight A’s in 8th and 9th. I think most of that is a change in her attitude and effort though (“Oh, this matters!”) rather than a direct result of the school.

[UCGal]

A former coworker of DH sends her son to Albert Einstein Middle School (charter school).
It’s in your geographic boundaries – just. (Just east of 805, just north of 94).

She’s super pleased with the school and would have moved him if she wasn’t. Her son is very bright and seems to be thriving. We see them twice a year when the old firm has reunions. It might be worth looking into.

[NotCranky]

Thank you Esbee, Will attend an information meeting this week to see what kink of impression we get. I agree that ultimately the student’s attitude and effort make the biggest difference.

[NotCranky]

I’ve checked out the website. Does seem like an interesting school. Good food for thought. Personally, I’d like to emphasize language learning, but our son gravitates to science/tech. This month we’ll attend info meetings at different schools. Thanks again for your efforts to help.

[cvmom]

Friends of mine go to Riverview Elementary in Lakeside and are very happy. It is a relatively new school, you choose either Spanish or Chinese immersion, I think. Amazing how fluent their kids are. I really think learning multiple languages when kids are young helps their brain development a lot.

[NotCranky]

I would have loved to send our kids to Riverview. I’ve also heard great things about that school. Mine are too old now, but ditto the recommendation for anyone with a kinder age child.

[Author]

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