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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
NDR - Any Fort Myers/SW FL Ladies?
DH and I have been toying with the idea of moving to SW FL, particularly the Fort Myers area. We visit my snowbird parents each winter down there(Bonita Springs) and LOVE it! Any advice on school districts, neighborhoods, areas to avoid, etc? This is all a big IF, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to do a little investigating.
TIA
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Re: NDR - Any Fort Myers/SW FL Ladies?
I lived in Naples for several years. It was before the housing crash, so I can't speak to neighborhoods now, but there are areas of Fort Myers that can be rough. I didn't find Cape Coral to be to my taste, but there were lots of young families there. One of the reasons we left Florida though, is because the schools are terrible.
I am intimately familier with the Lee County school district and I can say that while there are a lot of teachers there doing their best, Florida's education funding is poor and the system there, IMO, is broken. Lee is one of the best and still they very much "teach to the test" and the FCAT is everything.
I don't know if this is still a problem after the housing crash, but that area of Florida in particular had a hard time attracting teachers. There were a lot of first year teachers from states who had higher standards (like MN, oddly) and couldn't get jobs up north. When I was there, there still weren't enough of them to go around. One year I knew of several classrooms with no permanent teachers - only subs. That might be fixed now due to lower housing prices, but I'd still try to find parents down there to ask.
If you are going to live within an hour of Bonita and you aren't going to move to Naples, you'll likely be in the Lee County School district - it's one of the largest in the country. If you can, shoot for Bonita Springs Elementary. Pinewoods and Spring Creek are also good choices. You don't always get into the school you want, but you can transfer later on if you don't mind moving your child to get them in the right spot.
I know it sounds like I am down on Florida and I'm not. I love the Gulf Coast and if we moved back to Florida it would be to Bonita Springs or Estero. I just know too many people who moved there with kids from up north and were appalled at the difference in educational quality.
Great info and exactly what I was scared I would hear. As you said MN is known for it's high school standards, however, that would really be the only thing keeping us in the state - outside of good jobs which would have to be secured before we move(at least for DH). Hmmmm.......the cost you pay to live in paradise. I'll have to look into Bonita and Estero too, we're not really tied to FM, we just want to be close the an airport, my parents an area that we generally like.
Thanks again for your advice, it was very helpful!