Suburban Jacksonville: Julington Creek Plantation

[Tacachale]

^Thanks.  My kids attend Mandarin Oaks Elementary and I recall that their FCAT grades were no different from those found in Northern St. Johns and Clay County.

Imo, the major difference between these areas as a whole is that Jax is a city and the others are suburbs.  Being that a city typically has a larger cross section of the population at different economic and educational levels, it's going to have a wider cross section in terms of overall performance as well.

That's a big part of it, especially combined with how Florida organizes its school districts. Unlike some places our districts are nearly exclusively organized by county, and we have very large counties in both population and area, especially compared to most of the East Coast. As such suburban schools in Mandarin, Southside, etc. are within the same district as the urban schools.

[cline]

^Thanks.  My kids attend Mandarin Oaks Elementary and I recall that their FCAT grades were no different from those found in Northern St. Johns and Clay County.

I believe that those people that I was referring to that moved their because of the schools did so more because of the high schools.  There are a lot of great elementary schools in Duval County with high grades- not as many high schools.  In the NW SJC area you have Creekside, Nease and Bartram Trail- all schools with fairly high grades.  In some areas within Duval County you can send your kid to a decent elementary school but then they might have to go to a not so great high school.  Or you can send them to a magnet (Stanton) or a private school.

By the way, this is just what colleagues have told me, not from personal experience.  In full disclosure, I went to Fletcher (one of the better public duval high schools IMO )

[Overstreet]

......................
LOL.  Julington Creek Plantation is a great place for those who choose to live there which, by looking at all the cars driving down Race Track Road, numbers in the thousands.  Being in a diversified community, we're going to have an environment where several types of lifestyles appeal to a variety of people.  Obviously, from judging from the comments, the majority of MJ appears to be more urban oriented, so don't take anything said on these discussion boards personally.

I agree.

[Ocklawaha]

To fast forward to 2012, just add pavement!

Nothing wrong with it and a lot right about it, it's a matter of CHOICE. Example, if I were suddenly a widower I'd be in the Peninsula by the end of the month! But I've also been in WGV (think Julington Creek disjointed) for some time and find it's not unlike my stint in Oklahoma, in a tiny town called Cashion. Cashion was jumping from the year 1904 to 2004 in one giant leap as more and more residents who enjoy a COMPLETELY rural lifestyle move in. Cashion was a choice, and I actually built "my dream home" on acreage, backed into a woods, complete with creek on the northwest side, and out the front window you could see 5 days straight ahead. Guess what? The air REALLY is sweet, across that waving wheat, when the wind comes right behind the rain. It turned out to be quite an experience. In fact just yesterday I was sharing some old Cashion photo articles with Ennis.

One adventure I'll NEVER FORGET was when our 4 farm-to-market arterial connecting us with a few other little burgs and ultimately OKC finally got the attention of the OKC road department.  They came out in November or December and graded, crowned and laid a chip and seal pavement down. I wasn't the only one dancing in the streets, it cut all of 20 miles off getting to a supermarket or Wal-Mart! The day after the pavement went down we got snow, followed by ice, followed by more snow, followed...well you get the point. I think it was actually about a week later when the melt exposed a dirt road again! The Daily Oklahoman Newspaper called it The Case of The Vanishing Highway.  My best guess is they laid that stuff when the ground temperature was cold as hell and it lost all tack. LOL! But little Cashion got some real laughs on  OKC that week. They have subsequently put down a real road.

Stuck in a 2 car traffic jam while cowboys drive the herd across the road...  Watching the thermometer plunge from 75 to 15 in about 3 hours... Watching a puma at the end of my driveway.... Finding out your stunningly beautiful "Hispanic" neighbor is from the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribe ( http://www.c-a-tribes.org/ )... Telling the crew to "GET READY" when a parade of storm chasers zipped by going toward the Cimarron...  A flock of tiny fearless birds who swarmed over my coat and hoodie for a snowy day handout... A local 8 man football team that put all 1,200 residents in the stands... All things you'll probably never see in Jacksonville.

So the chunk of WGV next to the river is now home, when we need to buy some vittles or attend a Sunday-Go-To-Meeting, we head for Greater Metropolitan Green Cove Springs.

[halimeade]

Growing up in Mandarin, I will say that Julington Creek is almost universally despised. Not because of who lives there, what it looks like, or how its planned out, but because ALL OF THE TRAFFIC funnels down San Jose to 295, causing horrible congestion near the on ramp area. Its unreal. Its gotten especially worse in the past 5-6 years, to the point that the savvier Mandarin locals have to take back roads to avoid San Jose if we want to get anywhere at certain times of day.

[duvaldude08]

Growing up in Mandarin, I will say that Julington Creek is almost universally despised. Not because of who lives there, what it looks like, or how its planned out, but because ALL OF THE TRAFFIC funnels down San Jose to 295, causing horrible congestion near the on ramp area. Its unreal. Its gotten especially worse in the past 5-6 years, to the point that the savvier Mandarin locals have to take back roads to avoid San Jose if we want to get anywhere at certain times of day.

Nightmare is not the word. Not knowing how bad it was, I had to travel down San Jose one evening after work and I was so stressed and pissed off. The traffic was T E R R I A B LE.! I could not believe how bad it was.

[JeffreyS]

^ and in an effort to subsidize their neighbor county to the south Duval has added lane after lane of roads to maintain.

[cline]

Growing up in Mandarin, I will say that Julington Creek is almost universally despised. Not because of who lives there, what it looks like, or how its planned out, but because ALL OF THE TRAFFIC funnels down San Jose to 295, causing horrible congestion near the on ramp area. Its unreal. Its gotten especially worse in the past 5-6 years, to the point that the savvier Mandarin locals have to take back roads to avoid San Jose if we want to get anywhere at certain times of day.

You can't attribute the disaster that is 295 at San Jose solely on Julington Creek residents.  "Mandarin locals" are to blame as well.  That's why the "savvier" greater Jax locals avoid that area at all costs.

[Gravity]

Let me show you how ignorant you are by applying my stereotypical views

[fsquid]

I'm assuming that the growth of Mandarin East of San Jose also has a bit to do with the rush hour snarl along that route.

[themathochist]

First, my apologies for digging up an old post.

I've lived in the westside, northside, beaches, riverside/avondale, and am now in JCP. Every area has its pros and cons. I particularly miss riverside/avondale. My wife and I enjoyed being able to walk to just about everything, and seeing so many people out and about was a major draw for us. However, with a baby and hopefully more in the future, the thought of schools and neighborhoods drew us out to JCP. Like many have said, it's a great place for families. Part of the reason I think the schools do well here is because of the family-focus of the area. It's likely not the place for single folks or young couples without kids, but once you do have kids, it's a pretty nice place to raise them.

While traffic is heavy, it really is no worse than on any other major artery (e.g. Arlington Expressway near the Matthews), Roosevelt, Southside Blvd, etc.

[Tacachale]

First, my apologies for digging up an old post.

I've lived in the westside, northside, beaches, riverside/avondale, and am now in JCP. Every area has its pros and cons. I particularly miss riverside/avondale. My wife and I enjoyed being able to walk to just about everything, and seeing so many people out and about was a major draw for us. However, with a baby and hopefully more in the future, the thought of schools and neighborhoods drew us out to JCP. Like many have said, it's a great place for families. Part of the reason I think the schools do well here is because of the family-focus of the area. It's likely not the place for single folks or young couples without kids, but once you do have kids, it's a pretty nice place to raise them.

While traffic is heavy, it really is no worse than on any other major artery (e.g. Arlington Expressway near the Matthews), Roosevelt, Southside Blvd, etc.

The schools "do well" in St. Johns County because the area draws in a homogenous demographic pool that values education and is isolated from the more diverse Duval County School District. There's nothing more to it than simple white flight. "Family-focus" is subjective. Taking me as an example, I don't consider a development with no ability to walk or bike around, no where to walk or bike to, clogged arterials and a 20-minute drive to the nearest hospital to be a very enticing environment to raise a family.

[fsquid]

I walk and ride my bike all the time in the area.

[Tacachale]

So do these people:

It doesn't look like a particularly "safe" or "family-focused" environment to me.

[fsquid]

I've never had a problem as long as I wait for the traffic signal to tell me to cross.  Plenty of kids bike across that intersection to Fruit Cove Middle and Julington Creek Elementary every morning and afternoon.