Is there a market for this school in Jax?

[AmyLynne]

I think there is a market for a school like this- although I think you would do better by not having any religous affiliation similar to Bolles, that way you can draw from a wider group of people. I would assume there are a lot of parents who fall between "not wanting to send my kids to public school" and "not being able to afford one of the more expensive private schools" groups.  Especially with the difficulty of getting students into Stanton these days.

PS- I went to Stanton and FSU and had all my AP classes approved for credits- so whoever mentioned they didn't accept them probaby didn't get a high enough score on the exams.

No one said they don't accept them... They just limit the number that they will accept. Uf caps out at 30 and I believe FSU is the same or close too it now. My son graduated from Stanton's IB program in June and started Uf this month so this is something we've dealt with recently... and he never made anything lower than a 4 on any of his ap tests. He is also going for pre med and talked to that department and was told that to get into med school they want you to take all those classes again in college... even if you aced them in ap.

[jax-native68]

I went to Stanton and FSU and had all my AP classes approved for credits- so whoever mentioned they didn't accept them probaby didn't get a high enough score on the exams

haha!  no, good guess though - she got high scores on all of her tests and all of them should have been accepted.  I called her and asked her.  It has to do with course descriptions.  Incidentally,  I knew people at UF who had passed their AP exams with good scores and who also had to retake classes.

There is no pass or fail for AP exams.  Each exam is scored 1 to 5.  I scored a 4 on the exams for biology and European History and was given credit for 4 college courses.  I scored a 3 on the English lit exam and did not get any college credit.  But after taking 2 years of IB English and a year of AP English at Stanton (AP teacher was a college professor on sabbatical) my writing skills were good enough to exempt me from taking the 1st semester of freshman English.  But the exemption didn't count as a course taken towards the number of courses needed to graduate.

[jax-native68]

He is also going for pre med and talked to that department and was told that to get into med school they want you to take all those classes again in college... even if you aced them in ap.

I was never told this.  But this is the main problem with the school system in America today- public and private.  Education in this country has become big business- and as is usually the case when big business is concerned the consumer gets shafted.

[InnerCityPressure]

Education in this country has become big business- and as is usually the case when big business is concerned the consumer gets shafted.

Maybe this is "usually" the case.  But, many for-profit education groups have the right focus.  I will concede that many also do not.  I taught at a charter school in Southeast DC for 4 years.  We were right in the shit (Anacostia - if anyone from DC wants to confirm how bad it is there).  Some of the most bad-ass kids in DC were coming to learn from us.  It was hard as hell.  My heart was in it...at first.  After the first two years, I would have been out of there.  It was so exhausting and life-consuming; but, I was collecting $60K as a third year teacher.  We were held to an unbelievably high standard and so were the students.  Our standardized test scores and graduation rates were through the roof.  Our middle school kids got into some of the top high schools in DC.  These kids were legitimately on their way.

Why?

Because our management company was making that bread and passing it on.  Because we attracted (and kept) the best teachers.  Teachers who were being compensated well for their skills and effort.  Teachers who otherwise would have been forced to take their capable minds and make $60K in the corporate world in order to provide for their families.  It seems rational for the person providing the education for my child to be happy with their situation.  How was that accomplished?

Now, give me that money.

[buckethead]

You made a great case for having earned "that money".

I'm going to treat the last line of the post

Now, give me that money.

like a typo.

It seems more in line with the teachers I have known, and less in line with a mission of excellence.

[jax-native68]

You made a great case for having earned "that money".

I'm going to treat the last line of the post

Now, give me that money.

like a typo.

It seems more in line with the teachers I have known, and less in line with a mission of excellence.

Every school that is owned and operated by a church is legally set up as a non-profit organization because churches think they have a God-given right to not pay taxes.  But this doesn’t prevent the pastor from padding his pocket with the profits from the school.  My first teaching job offer came from a Baptist church in Mandarin. I was going to teach part of the day and prepare a curriculum for the pastor’s Bible college part of the day. Because of the curriculum work I was expected to work year-round even though the high school was not a year-round school.

The pastor put out brochures that told parents that the school’s teachers made $19,000 a year.  What he offered me, after obligating me to give his church 10%, was just $1 over minimum wage.  But yet the pastor, his wife, their son and the son’s wife were the only other teachers/employees this school had. The school had no library, no computer lab and its textbooks were 15 years old.  Needless to say I did not take the job.

The first school I worked at was non-profit and it was sponsored by a for-profit company.  But yet the school had no library or computer lab or science labs and the textbooks were garbage even though tuition at this school was $3000 per student per year.  Teachers were well-paid by private school standards, but the work environment was horrendous.

The other school I worked at was run by a for-profit company so any money that was spent in the classroom was that much money less in profits for the owner.  So it was much worse than the non-profit school was.

[InnerCityPressure]

I'm going to treat the last line of the post
Quote
Now, give me that money.like a typo

That was very much a joke.  I was trying to exemplify his generalization of attitudes toward "big money" and education.

so any money that was spent in the classroom was that much money less in profits for the owner

If the owner had half a brain...he or she would recognize that as an extremely short term profit.  Our owners realized that providing a high quality results driven curriculum would keep them around long-term.  Charter schools without results (at least in DC) can be shut down at the snap of the fingers.  As in any business, there was pressure to perform, becuase the profits would disappear without a unique, quality product.

[jax-native68]

If the owner had half a brain...he or she would recognize that as an extremely short term profit.  Our owners realized that providing a high quality results driven curriculum would keep them around long-term.  Charter schools without results (at least in DC) can be shut down at the snap of the fingers.  As in any business, there was pressure to perform, becuase the profits would disappear without a unique, quality product.

There is such a demand for schools for brats in Jacksonville that any school for brats will make money no matter what.  The owner of the school I worked for didn’t have to care about long-term profits.  Every student at this school got the McKay Scholarship so the owner had a ready supply of customers. The owner didn’t have to care about the quality of his product because the government is going to buy it anyway because public schools don’t want the problem students that this private school catered to.  And as long as parents weren’t paying for anything, they didn’t care about what their children learned.

[InnerCityPressure]

they didn’t care about what their children learned.

Therein lies the problem.

[ChriswUfGator]

personally, I believe there is significant value in the summer camp experience....and the calendar proposed here would not allow it

Oh yeah, speaking personally, the Citadel Military Summer Camp for Boys was just awesome. Lol...experiences differ.

[AFCassidy]

Jax-Native, you clearly have a passion for education and a vision for creating something lasting... and you have some resources. 

I don't claim to know all the costs involved in starting up a school.  But I know there are a tremendous number of private Christian schools in Jacksonville, of a variety of levels of quality from excellent to not-so-much.

Maybe a better plan to use your talents and your resources would be to open an "after school academy" somewhere in Jacksonville.  Rent a couple thousand square feet of commercial space and get yourself setup with a couple classrooms, an office and some basic facilities.  Don't underestimate the cost of stuff like a simple sign on the building, furniture for the classrooms and other general supplies. 

You could then offer weekday after school programs aimed at preparing students to take AP courses, tests, SAT prep, general life skills, etc.   On weekends, you might offer specialized day-long life skills courses taught by experts in their field.  Maybe even host some adult education courses.  On Sundays you could host a Sunday school.

If you are successful, perhaps a full-blown private school could grow out of your endeavour.  Worst case - you help a bunch of kids and don't go totally broke in the process.