Is there a market for this school in Jax?

[JHAT76]

I have about $100,000 in cash and another $70,000 or so from a life insurance policy I can cash in along with property I can sell and no debt.  But my health isn’t good and I am the only caregiver for my disabled mother, so I don’t know that I could commit to being a full-time teacher let alone run a school.  My other option is to leave the state, buy land and try to set up an organic farm that can serve as an environmental education center, but I have the same problem with my health.  But either way I need to do something because the money isn’t earning me anything sitting in the bank earning less interest than the inflation rate.

You could always establish some sort of trust in your or your mother's name for scholarships to current religion based, private schools with the extra $$. 

Even better for my own personal agenda, give it to LaVilla to help them run their great music program that my kid is in    It costs about $45k per year and they only get about $2k from Duval (dedicated to music not overall for the school).  They could use the funds as well.

[jax-native68]

Students who attend Paxson Advanced Magnet school can already receive close to two years of credits - depending on the classes they take.

When I was at Stanton I took AP courses for American History; European History; Biology; German Language and English Lit.  The teacher for American History had a family crisis in NC so the class fell behind schedule and I was given no preparation for essay questions so I was afraid to take the AP exam.  I had a string of bad teachers for German so I was afraid to take that exam as well.  I failed pre-calculus so I couldn’t take the calculus exam.  But I scored a 3 on the English lit exam (no college credit, but my writing skills were good enough to be exempt from the bottom freshman English course), and I scored a 4 on the biology and European History exams and received 8 hours of college credit for each.  I knew enough on my own that I probably could have taken the American Government and Microeconomics exams, but if they existed at the time nobody at Stanton bothered to tell me about them. 

In regards to the year round program, I'm all for it.  Due to the nature of my and my wife's jobs, I'm busy when she's not and vice-versa, so we usually end up taking our son out of school for family trips.  We can't take them in the summer and we can't take them in the spring, so we take them when we can.  I'm all for structuring the school system based on a 7 weeks on / 2 weeks off or something similar, throughout the year.

I’m working on another calendar option that will have 3 academic terms per calendar year. K-12 would take only 12 calendar years divided into 3 blocks of 4 years each (lower, middle and upper) with each block requiring 12 academic terms.  There would be an optional Kindergarten year, but it wouldn’t count towards academic credit.

In the 3 academic term schedule each term would have 16 weeks of school time.  The first term of the academic year would start in September of the calendar year to keep the traditional fall start for the new school year.  Term 1 will have an assembly day and a holiday for Thanksgiving along with 2 days for final exams and a day for an in-school party for Christmas.  Students would then have a 2 week vacation over Christmas and New Year’s and term 2 would start on the first Monday after New Year’s Day.

Term 2 would have a field day for Valentine’s Day for all grades with an evening dance for middle and upper school students.  There would be another field day for Easter with the date of Easter being set during the 15th week of the academic term.  Then 2 days would be used for final exams and another day used for a field trip. Students would then get a 1 week vacation during the last week of April or first week of May.

Term 3 would begin in May.  There would be a field day and a holiday for Independence Day along with 1 day for standardized exams (Stanford Achievement Tests for example) and 2 days for final exams.  Then students would get a 1 week vacation before starting the next school year.

I started out thinking in terms of five 9-week academic terms per calendar year.  But this schedule wouldn’t really allow any flexibility to make up days that are lost because of bad weather, and this schedule wouldn’t work at all for college since some college courses have 13-15 week lab components.

[jax-native68]

You better get a heck of alot more cash than that...

If you are such an expert, tell me how much money does it take to open a private school.

and as it sounds from your post it seems that you are ok with trying to get around standards which sounds like a scam...

I am not trying to get around standards.  I'm simply calling for standards that are stronger than what is usually applied already.

[jax-native68]

Umm..does that mean that you will promise to never teach that the only way to heaven is to believe in Jesus chirist as the son of god?

What is your point other than that you wish to be hostile towards religion?  I haven’t done a thing to you, so your attitude is totally uncalled for.

[jax-native68]

Personally, I would not send my child to any school that did not teach about living a healthy lifestyle.  That includes fresh food and PE.  The obesity epidemic in the US begins in childhood so teaching kids healthy living from a young age is critical.  Great for adding art history (what I actually have my degree in) but music is important too, especially for helping develop math skills.   Raising kids to appreciate quality of life and not just facts and figures is what I would look for in a school for my child.

Well considering what gets served in your average school cafeteria in Jacksonville (public and private), and the fact that PE isn’t a yearly requirement in public school (at least it wasn’t when I was at Stanton in the 1980s), what school do you send your children to?

And why is it up to the school and not the parent to teach children about healthy diets and exercise?

[Ocklawaha]

The haze in the air isn't morning dew, it's airborne insulation dust and it's about as plesant as breathing liquid Draino.

Which is just another reason why not one of them should revieve a dime of any public cash...tax breaks and all. Remember..the church doesnt have to pay taxes...so they get off not only teaching rubish they do it at the cost of the nation...end the tax exemption status for all religious groups now.

Sorry Garden Guy, your either allowing your hatred of all things religious cloud your vision, or your trying to satisfy the vocal few on here who likewise will not admit to there being something in the universe bigger then they are. Regardless of their doctrine, when the Tornado swarm of May 3, 1999 hit Central Oklahoma I led Oklahoma Search and Rescue in the town of Mulhall...(more like the town site of Mulhall as the town was destroyed). For almost a week while FEMA tried to get it's act together we had a sea of tents, RV's and all manner of portable kiosks for the express purpose of disaster relief. It was made up of the largest collection of various church based organizations I've ever seen. Catholic, Baptists, Adventist, Mormon, you name it, they were there. They gave of themselves and provided everything from construction battalions to drinking water distribution. They set up a huge cafe 'circus tent' where victims and rescue workers could refuel and rest. They distributed tons of clothes, personal items, and thousands of hours of just pure back breaking work. The Catholics helped rebuild the Baptist Church, and the Baptists helped rebuild the school, and the Adventists fed the Catholic victims and probably a few atheists too. Whatever 'tax breaks' these churches got that year, they more then spent in this one small town. I never saw any of them ask for a thing, it was no stings attached giving.

I'd suggest you go spend some time in Joplin and spread some of your love there, no doubt you'd find it a life changing experience. Whether or not you agree with their doctine (and I often don't) these groups have more then proved themselves and IMO don't deserve to be taxed any more then the local museum, or service organizations. Frankly, I wouldn't care if their doctrine included that the moon is inhabited by 9 foot tall Quakers and made of green cheese, I've seen the selfless fruit of their labors.

Imagine Garden Guy, if jax-native68 actually starts this school, you have the right to not attend. Meanwhile the rest of us might, through gentle suggestion, assist us in obtaining another educational choice for our city.

OCKLAWAHA

[jax-native68]

You could always establish some sort of trust in your or your mother's name for scholarships to current religion based, private schools with the extra $$. 

Even better for my own personal agenda, give it to LaVilla to help them run their great music program that my kid is in    It costs about $45k per year and they only get about $2k from Duval (dedicated to music not overall for the school).  They could use the funds as well.

Considering what my health is, I cannot afford to simply give money away.  And I am not interested in supporting public schools or helping any existing religious school in Jacksonville because they are all a waste of money.

[Garden guy]

Yet you still support the idea of you running a school without standards of the rest of reality...i'm just sayin it seems like you could do better work in something else...maybe an outreach for the homeless and addicted instead of trying to teach children that its ok to exclude others that don't believe the way you do...public school has created a wonderful group of people we call Americans...

[jax-native68]

Yet you still support the idea of you running a school without standards of the rest of reality...

What are you babbling about?  Just what "rest of reality" standards will my school not uphold?

i'm just sayin it seems like you could do better work in something else...

That is not up to you to decide.  You are in no position to determine how I spend my own money.

maybe an outreach for the homeless and addicted instead of trying to teach children that its ok to exclude others that don't believe the way you do...

I don't have a right to tell others that their beliefs and behavior are wrong?

public school has created a wonderful group of people we call Americans...

I am a product of public schools but I gather that you do not think I am entitled to be called an American.

[sean]

You could always establish some sort of trust in your or your mother's name for scholarships to current religion based, private schools with the extra $$. 

Even better for my own personal agenda, give it to LaVilla to help them run their great music program that my kid is in    It costs about $45k per year and they only get about $2k from Duval (dedicated to music not overall for the school).  They could use the funds as well.

Considering what my health is, I cannot afford to simply give money away.  And I am not interested in supporting public schools or helping any existing religious school in Jacksonville because they are all a waste of money.

So what would make your school so special that it is not "a waste of money"? Are you trolling or are you just an idiot?

[Tacachale]

As far as accreditation goes, there are other bodies that accredit private schools besides SACS. Most are accredited with FCIS/NAIS and/or a Christian school accrediting body. Additionally, many private schools (eg, all the good ones) are also accredited by SACS as well. As to PE, whether they're required to have it or not (I don't believe there's a law requiring it in private schools in Florida), I've never heard of a school not having it.

If you want to start your own k-12 school, you'll need a lot more than $170 thousand. In fact, it is nearly impossible to start a new school without your financing lined up before you even begin. When Providence opened in 1998 it cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $6 million. And they had their financing already lined up, and were attached to a church congregation they could draw students from.

Assuming for the sake of argument that you do line up financing, look at what else is in the market already. While there are many poor or mediocre schools in the area, there are also excellent ones, and those are the ones you'd be competing with for students (not to mention donors). You're up against Episcopal and Bolles. Providence is also up and coming; you also have St. Johns Country Day. Additionally, the 3 Catholic high schools offer a pretty solid education for much cheaper than other private schools are able to. And the magnet schools are free. Plus you have all the other inferior private schools and the homeschool types.

Is there room for one more? Maybe, but it's clearly not an untapped market. And if you think that your little school will be comparable to or better than Stanton, Episcopal, and Bolles right off the bat, you're being as silly as some of the other comments on this thread.

[Tacachale]

Let's not paint all Christian schools with the same brush regarding evolution. Neither Episcopal nor the Catholic schools teach creationism or "intelligent design" or whatever else they're calling it these days.

[jax-native68]

Are you trolling or are you just an idiot?

Are you?

[avs]

The whole AP thing is a little overblown though, IMO.  My sister went to a school that was IB down in Hillsborough County, so all her classes were AP.  She still had to take many of those classes again at FSU even though she did well on the AP exams.  She still ended up going to college for 4 years even though sh ewas full time and came in with all those AP classes.  I took many AP classes in high school too and I don't feel like the curriculum was so much better than the honors classes or that it put me ahead any in college.  Just my experience though.  AP classes wouldn't sell me on a school, and the lack of Phys Ed and music would concern me.  I have no idea if there's a market or not for this school, it wouldn't be the school of my choice for my child and some great points about who the school is competing with and funding have also been made.

[jax-native68]

As far as accreditation goes, there are other bodies that accredit private schools besides SACS. Most are accredited with FCIS/NAIS and/or a Christian school accrediting body.

I looked into all of this back when I first began thinking about opening a school in the mid-1990s.  But I don’t have much faith in these accrediting organizations.  I taught briefly at a couple of private schools that had ACSI accreditation.  One school used Bob Jones University geography textbooks that were copyrighted in 1996 but still had chapters covering the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact nations.  The other school I worked at did not allow homework and gave me 2 class sets of A Beka textbooks with which I was supposed to teach science for grades 7-12.  But it didn’t matter.  No more than a dozen of the 150 or so students could read so textbooks were a waste of time.  And students at this school were not grouped into classes based on their age or even their grade level.  They were grouped based on their personality so the worst of the troublemakers were never in the same class where they could kill each other.

None of the other Christian schools whose teaching jobs I interviewed for back in the 1990s had a school library or science lab supplies, and if they had a computer lab the hardware was at least 10 years old.  I used to support taxpayer-funded vouchers for private schools, but I don’t anymore because of my experience with Jacksonville’s Christian schools.

Additionally, many private schools (eg, all the good ones) are also accredited by SACS as well. As to PE, whether they're required to have it or not (I don't believe there's a law requiring it in private schools in Florida), I've never heard of a school not having it.

The two private schools I taught at didn’t have PE as it is known in public school.  They simply had play periods.  Neither school had a locker room, and only one had access to a gymnasium.  My college degree is in biology.  I know nothing about sports, but I had to help monitor students during their “PE” periods at the second school I worked for.

When Providence opened in 1998 it cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $6 million.

If you are so knowledgeable, tell me what exactly the money spent on.  How much went into the pastor’s pocket?

And they had their financing already lined up, and were attached to a church congregation they could draw students from.

Neither of the schools I taught at were associated with a church.  One was K-12 and likely had 200 or more students.  The other had “grades” 7-12 and had about 150 students.

While there are many poor or mediocre schools in the area, there are also excellent ones,

With excellent tuition costs as well.  Very few people in Jacksonville can afford the likes of Bolles or Episcopal.

And if you think that your little school will be comparable to or better than Stanton, Episcopal, and Bolles right off the bat, you're being as silly as some of the other comments on this thread.

Have I said my school would be as good as Stanton, Episcopal or Bolles right off the bat?  No.  So take your snide attitude and shove it.