Putting our children in Florida Public Schools...ahhh

We never thought that we would have to do this, but we are. We were not planning on living in Florida this long. I did not think it was so bad at first since our neighborhood school is rated an "A." Well, I have changed my mind since I have been substitute teaching. I only substitute at our neighborhood school once and it seem nice, but I am still worried. I can't go into much detail since I am not suppose to talk about such things about certain schools. Just know I did not have such a good experience at other "A" schools. So maybe I was having a good day at our neighborhood school. I will try to substitute there again. My other concern is it is a Title 1 School, which means that more than half of the students have free or reduce lunch.

Well, since we can't afford private school and there is no way we can't afford to live in certain areas of privilege I decided to look for a magnet school in a good neighborhood. We had three choices...

Loretto Elementary - Technology Magnet

Pros:
In the heart of one of the best neighborhood
Have the best state of art computers
Have many programs- autism, gifted, etc.
Have high FCAT scores

Cons:
20min drive and it will be far drive from Nysa's preschool - Chad was going to take her before work since he work close to there, but we just found out that he just had a new offer for a job in the Fidelity Building downtown.
Have 1200 children in the school, very large for an elementary school, but the size of the school is large to accommodate the students... or so it seems (I haven't substitute there yet.)

Pine Forest Elementary - School of the Arts

Pros:
Have a good Arts program
Closest to home

Cons:
Crowded class room
Staff doesn't seem to be as organized as the other schools
Average FCAT scores
Neighborhood is not all that great

J. Allen Axson - Montessori
If you don't know about Montessori Schools, they have a motto that we need to keep our children happy and they are the ones that control the classes. I feel it is like a home school situation except it has other kids to socialize with. The kids work at their own pace and do what they like most and they are taught independence and cooperation. Only certain kids can do this. I believe that Kaya and Nysa will benefit from there Pre-K and Kindergarten program... I don't know if I want them to be there longer than that.

Pros:
Kaya and Nysa can be in the school.
Kaya and Nysa will be well adjusted little people.

Cons:
The Pre-K program is hard to get into and is almost $400 per month if I leave Nysa there until Kaya gets out of school.
It is a 25min drive.
I like structure... might be a little fruity for me.
Their FCAT scores are not impressive, but those don't matter here. (Most people don't like FCAT anyways.)

I am leaning on Loretto, but my neighborhood school is still not out of the picture. Please give me some advice if you have any. If some of my ideas are wrong about these schools please let me know.