I'm moving my family from Florida to Connecticut. I was blown away by the differences in schools and safety.
In Florida schools, libraries had some bare shelves after book bans.
In Connecticut, she saw more diversity in schools.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Ellie Doyle. It has been edited for length and clarity.
I was born and raised in Miami, but I don't want to raise my kids in Florida. That's especially true since the pandemic. That's when I feel like Florida became really crazy. My state was well-known for not enforcing COVID-19 precautions. My sister was in kidney failure, and I donated my kidney to her, so we needed to be extra cautious. It felt really unsafe and scary to live in Florida, so much so that we moved to South Carolina temporarily. I also saw a shift toward more conservative politics, displayed more aggressively.
That's why my husband and I are moving our 5-year-old daughter and 1-year-old twins from Florida to Connecticut. Here are the reasons we decided to make that move before our oldest starts kindergarten in the fall.
Miami schools weren't great when I went through them, and now I have lots more concerns about schools in Florida, especially in St. Augustine, where we live. When we looked at schools in Florida, I noticed that some library shelves were bare. It was a poignant visual representation of policies like book banning.
There are also tons of funding cuts in Florida. My nephew's gifted program recently ended, and a friend had to withdraw her autistic daughter from school because she didn't have the resources she needed. I want my kids to be in a district where they are supported, no matter what their needs are.
The school we visited in Connecticut had bright decor, a new playground, and a packed library. I'd see these things in a private school in Florida, but in Connecticut, my kids will get them without a $30,000 tuition bill.
Guns are a huge worry of mine in Florida, where there's even a law that teachers can carry in schools. When we asked about that at the Connecticut school, the woman giving us a tour looked at us like we were nuts.
My sister taught in elementary school in Florida and was really traumatized by the fact that schools showed kids actual videos of evacuations after shootings. I don't want my children to watch kids filing out of a building with police everywhere.
I already don't allow my daughter to go to one of my girlfriends' homes because I know there are guns in her house. In Connecticut, I still plan to ask new friends about gun safety but feel like it will be an easier conversation to broach.
Where we live in Florida, everything from day care to the local fair is organized by churches. That's fine for people who are religious, but we're not, so I don't want religious stories in my kids' day-to-day experiences. Here, everything seems, in a roundabout way, guided by religion.
Connecticut felt much warmer and open to me. I loved seeing the diversity in my daughter's soon-to-be school. In Florida, she's never had a Black or Hispanic classmate, and as a Hispanic mom, I feel it's really important to me that she sees an array of cultures.
Nowhere is perfect. People are quick to point out problems with Connecticut, like high taxes or the fact that the Sandy Hook school shooting happened here. Personally, I'm sad to be farther from my family. I know my parents are going to miss the kids so much.
Yet Connecticut is the best choice for our family right now. I'm looking forward to the kids experiencing four seasons, but I'm even more excited for them to have quality education and choices, no matter who they grow up to be.
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