[Essbee]

Just reading thru this oldish thread…

I can count myself as someone who attended a school with an API of 1, and later went on to be valedictorian of an middle class school, followed by the Ivy League!

Here is my story:

I moved from the Midwest to San Diego with my family in 1986. In the Midwest, I had attended an elemetary school with only 1 classroom per grade, so we had learning disabled kids in with gifted kids, etc. I was in the gifted program so I spent Friday afternoons in a pullout program with a resource teacher. For reading, those of us who were ahead went up to the next grade’s classroom and did reading group with them. So in 5th grade, I did reading group with the 6th graders.

This is an aside, but I made it to 5th grade in my Midwest school and had NEVER had even a single worksheet of homework. [I probably was supposed to read, but I did that voluntarily. I didn’t need to study for spelling or math tests because those were easy for me.] As I recall, actual written homework with worksheets and the like started in 6th grade.

Anyway, we moved to San Diego, and somehow we ended up in Normal Heights (WAY before it was cool). I attended Adams Elementary for about 5 months in Spring 1986. That school is API rank 1, and similar schools rank 2. I don’t think it was any better back in 1986. I was stunned to realize that I had to use the reading book that I had already completed in 4th grade. And the school was targeted for some sort of federal program for low-performing schools. I will never forget the fact that we had a vocabulary worksheet and one of the words — for FIFTH grade — was CLOCK!!

Incidentally, at Adams I had a very good teacher who was really interested in world events and had us read the newspaper, etc. We discussed not only the Challenger disaster, but events in Libya and the Philippines as well. The school also had a program in which those of us who were “ahead” took a bus over to Hoover HS and took a computer class (Basic, LOGO, Print Shop, etc)! And suddenly, I had a few hours of homework every night… math, spelling/vocabulary, etc etc.

The next year I enrolled in Wilson Middle School and a girl named Tijuana (seriously) threatened to “jump” me on the way home. Also, another 6th grader claimed that she might be pregnant. There were huge fights outside every single day — before school, at lunchtime, and after.

SO…about 7 weeks into the school year I switched schools. I was lucky to have qualified for the seminar program and to have a mom who was willing to transport me there every morning. In the afternoon, I took the city bus home. I stayed in the seminar program thru 9th grade and then attended a middle class HS (using AP classes to justify my intradistrict transfer), and went on to attend an Ivy League school.

So, it does sometimes happen that someone goes on from an API 1 school and leads a successful life. However, I kinda wonder what would have happened if I would have been in that school system for my entire schoolage life (K-12)?

[Essbee]

There is a “California’s Gold” episode in which Huell Howser visits Slab City and Salvation Mountain. I can’t remember what Huell said… but bets are on, “That’s ahhhMAYzing!!!”

And also, as the article points out, it was featured in the book and movie “Into the Wild.”

[Essbee]

Passingthrough,
When did you attend Patrick Henry? I attended in the early 1990s, and at that point, it did not have a seminar program. Several of the feeder schools did (Lewis JHS and several local elementaries).

I started in seminar at Hearst Elementary and also Lewis Junior High. When we finished 9th grade, our class dispersed. A few went to private schools and a few went to other seminar programs (Point Loma HS, La Jolla HS) but most of the Lewis seminar class stayed on and attended PHHS. We had some fantastic AP classes there mixing mostly the old seminar crowd and some of the kids who used to be in “cluster” at either Lewis or Pershing. And yes, many of the “cluster” kids were nearly as high achieving as the seminar kids. I thought the AP prep was great. I personally took 8 AP tests and got seven 5’s and one 4 (Spanish IIRC).

I am still in touch with almost all of the Lewis seminar group and about 30-40 of my PHHS classmates on Facebook! Most are very successful. My former class has 7 MDs, as well as multiple PhDs, lawyers, journalists, etc etc.

I am sorry to hear that your experience at PHHS was not as good as mine!

[Essbee]

Thank you.

It confirms that the agent we are working with almost certainly makes more than we do. (Which is what we thought all along.) Well, good for her!

[Essbee]

can you give an estimated range?

10%/90%, 25%/75%, 50%/50%, 75%/25%, 90%/10%?

[Essbee]

I live in Clairemont and have HOA!

[Essbee]

We toured these a few weeks ago. We actually only looked at Plan 1 and Plan 2, as Plan 3 was out of our price range, and we were short on time.

Plan 1 was a one story model. The master was quite separated from the other bedrooms. Not great for a family with young kids, but perhaps an advantage to other types of families.

We liked Plan 2 a great deal.

Agree that the Mello Roos are not that bad. But.. the HOA was something like $300+ per month(!), if I recall correctly. I guess someone has to pain for the salary of the guard at the gate, right?

The views of the nearby mountains were quite beautiful and the lots were large. However, I was cocerned that there was a kind of loneliness to the nearby subdivisions. I wasn’t sure what it would be like to be a little child growing up there. I would hope this would change as more of the lots get built.

[Essbee]

I would be buying in a later phase, so the SDGE power lines would not be a problem for me. I don’t think we would want to be in one of the houses right on Camino del Sur, however.

I haven’t spent much time in the move-in ready homes but that is interesting about the materials. Are the move-in ready homes for Valencia any better?

For us, it is still a toss-up between Carleton and Valencia.

If we are in Valencia, I would not want to be in one of the homes right across from a townhouse. In Carleton, I would not want to have Camino del Sur right behind the house. We like some things about the floorplans in each. The yards in Valencia are a little larger.

Regarding Verrazzano, we are also considering it. However, I am not a huge fan of the alley entrance (back garage) and courtyards in lieu of yard. The demographic there seems more of a mix of older and younger people, whereas Del Sur seems to be mostly young families. I like the trees and overall landscaping in Verrazzano. I really like the look of some of the more traditional homes with front garages around the perimeter of the development, but most zillow puts most of those at 900K to 1M+.

Almost ALL of the resales in Del Sur are of the alley-entrance type, and most have a much lower square footage, so we have not considered these.

We have tried many times to like 4S Ranch, but so far, we haven’t liked it much. We have mostly looked at the North side, and something about that view coming in (thousands of houses, row after row) is not appealing. The streets are wider, but it also feels kind of empty.

Regarding Brightwater, it looks like the plan 1 starts in the $830,000 range, so at least 100K to 150K more than plan 2 of Carleton and Valencia. For that reason, we have not looked at it.

[Essbee]

First time poster here. You’ve inspired me to take the plunge to register.

To the one who is wondering what this is about, the poster is referring to Brightwater by Pardee. I believe it is in Pacific Highlands Ranch / Carmel Valley.

Valencia is located in Del Sur.

To the original poster, did you also consider Carleton? Why or why not?

Right now, my husband and I are seriously considering Valencia and Carleton in Del Sur.

We didn’t even check Brightwater based on our previous tours of Carriage Run, Bridle Ridge, and Terramar. It seemed like you would get less for your money in Pardee developments. But tell me if I am wrong… maybe we should go and check it out, too.

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