St Cecilia or other private school in Irvine?

Me too. let me communicate in your language. I have a 4 car garage but I keep it vacant and I don't even park my car in it.

irvinehomeowner said:
irvinehomeshopper said:
Living in Irvine but not sending your kids to public school is like going to the Hats but not ordering a pastrami sandwich.
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I do that all the time!
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irvinehomeshopper said:
Living in Irvine but not sending your kids to public school is like going to the Hats but not ordering a pastrami sandwich.
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Sigh...The orginal Hat in Alhambra was a great spot in the 70s. The garbage I had at the one in Lake Forest was barely edible. For a decent pastrami like the original Hat you need to venture to Pasadena or Arcadia to one of the 2 locations of Tops World Famous.

Having grown up in L.A., lived 12 yrs in OC and now living in the Bay area I can unequivocally say that OC is underserved with academically competitive private schools. In L.A. you have Pasadena Poly, Harvard Westlake, Loyola, Westridge, Mayfield, Marymount etc; Bay area options are more plentiful than even the east coast. Given the relative demographics and affluence I am very surprised something like The Harker Academy or Challenger School hasn't sprung up in Irvine.
 
Boston2theBay said:
Given the relative demographics and affluence I am very surprised something like The Harker Academy or Challenger School hasn't sprung up in Irvine.
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Yep.

I had a discussion with the Mrs. about the viability of a private 1-8 school in Irvine and she didn't think it would work. I was thinking some non-denominational Christian school (that obviously took anyone) would be a draw but she disagreed. Even some type of Montessori private school.

The reason I mention a faith-based school is because there are many churches in Irvine that already have classroom type facilities, a kitchen, dining hall, restrooms and playgrounds so you could start their without having to build a school. Most of these places are in use during the evenings and weekends so daytime during the week would provide full usage of the facilities. Anyone interested in the FCB Academy of Irvine? :D
 
irvinehomeowner said:
Boston2theBay said:
Given the relative demographics and affluence I am very surprised something like The Harker Academy or Challenger School hasn't sprung up in Irvine.
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Yep.

I had a discussion with the Mrs. about the viability of a private 1-8 school in Irvine and she didn't think it would work. I was thinking some non-denominational Christian school (that obviously took anyone) would be a draw but she disagreed. Even some type of Montessori private school.

The reason I mention a faith-based school is because there are many churches in Irvine that already have classroom type facilities, a kitchen, dining hall, restrooms and playgrounds so you could start their without having to build a school. Most of these places are in use during the evenings and weekends so daytime during the week would provide full usage of the facilities. Anyone interested in the FCB Academy of Irvine? :D
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Look up The Harker Academy in the Silicon Valley area. It was started by a group of parents who were local high tech execs. It is the most prestigious school inthe Bay area now. They evn play full 11 man football and everything.
 
@b2tb:

I think I came across them when I was doing research into different types of private schools. Interestingly enough, it's not that hard to open your own private school. While there are standards by the state... they are really just guidelines, a private school actually doesn't have to abide by the same rules that public schools do (at least that's what I remember reading... I could be wrong). The difficulty is getting parents to buy-in if you don't have history, experience, credentialed teachers etc etc.

Maybe I could have Panda remote-teach a Real Estate Investing course. /da-dum-dum
 
We?re considering the private elementary school that Leport is scheduled to open in Irvine this September.
Still debating whether the benefits would outweigh the costs.
 
WoodburyDad said:
We?re considering the private elementary school that Leport is scheduled to open in Irvine this September.
Still debating whether the benefits would outweigh the costs.
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Thanks for the tip.

I just looked at their website, and they are actually pretty expensive... $1545 for grades 1-6, $1645 for 7-8. After school care from 3-6pm is an extra $225/mo. Plus a $150 reg fee and a $995 annual fee.

So for a school year, that's about $16500-18900...  compared to a year of undergrad at UCI for $13970 (http://www.reg.uci.edu/fees/2011-2012/undergrad.html).

I looked at St Cecilia's and they seem to be more reasonable at about $6000-8000 per year depending on daycare (and if you're Catholic or not). St Jeanne de Lestonnac is in the same range but probably around $7000-9000 (couldn't find daycare fees but I'm assuming it's simlar to St Cecilia).

Edgewood, a Fairmont private school, in North Tustin (aka Santa Ana) doesn't have tuition info on their website.

Anyone know of any other private schools in/near Irvine and their tuitions?
 
We?ve heard a lot of positive things from other parents about the Fairmont school in North Tustin.
It would be worth checking out if the proximity works for you.
Unfortunately the location of both Fairmont and St. Cecilia is a problem for us.
The Leport location near the Spectrum is a perfect fit.
It?s the steep tuition cost that?s caused us to question whether it?s worth it or not.
 
Patrick J. Star said:
So let's just say the average private OC school is about $15k/yr.  And let's also say Irvine homes generally run about a $200k premium to its adjacent (and similar) neighbors.  I'm not very good at math, but I'm pretty sure I could buy the same house in Ladera Ranch or Aliso Viejo or Mission Viejo or Laguna Niguel and then send my kid to private school for their entire K-12 experience ---- and still come out in about the same place, and maybe even a little ahead.  Not to mention a better education for my child, because they probably won't have 33 kids in their 1st grade class.

That almost seems like a no brainer, but I'm open for counterpoints, IHO.
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I have more than 1 kid... the math changes considerably for that situation.

I think I addressed that here:
http://www.talkirvine.com/index.php?topic=1178.msg28861#msg28861

That also doesn't factor in the commute time/costs from South County to my work.

If I worked in South County, this discussion would not be taking place.
 
I don't know about other campuses of Fairmont, but the one in Santa Ana(north Tustin) has big bully issues.  I know several people who left that school because the school would do absolutely nothing about bullying. 
 
had a bully at my daughters old school.. all the parents complained and the school talked to the dad and you know his response?

"lock him in the bathroom".. I think that's where the problem lies..
 
Bullying is not just confined to the classroom.
There have been instances where kids are openly bullying other kids meanwhile their parents are standing just a few feet away acting indifferent.
It?s a big problem.
 
Bullying is a tough one. My son is a gentle giant. An older kid at his previous school was picking on him and my son just took it. Fortunately enough I was nearby one day to see what was going on so I corrected the situation (talked to the older kid and informed the teachers).

One thing that kid said to my son was "I'm bigger than you so I can do whatever I want." As a man it made me want to inform the kid that no matter how big he thought he was, there is always someone bigger and then have a longer talk with his parents (I'm a big guy and can be very scary) but the parental side took hold of me and I went the politically correct way.



 
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