temporary move with 2 kids from Florida

Hello Kerri.

If you use the "search" feature at the top of this page you will find that island schools have been discussed at length on this forum. Maintaining accreditation has been a problem for some of the public schools. Schools are pretty segregated; public school students are predominantly black, private school students are predominantly white. Since you are contemplating island residency for only a year or two and since your children are young and would attend elementary school you may find the public school curriculum satisfactory. If your children were mainland educated teenagers hoping to attend U.S. universities you might find the curriculum at some private schools more to your liking.

Not accurate - the Private Schools are NOT predominantly white. Quite a few of the Private Schools accurately represent the racial diversity of the Island, in that a majority of the student body is of color.
Country Day (my daughter graduated last year) has a very healthy mix of all ethnicities.
It is more of an economic divide between Private and Public.
Although there are many good teachers in the Public System, very little of their energy is actually allowed to be focused on lessons. Pathetic administration, crumbling infrastructure, rotting classrooms, teacher shortages, no textbooks, violence and social problems make it very difficult for teachers or children to shine.
I speak from experience, my daughter spent 9th Grade at Public School here for the ROTC program - it was probably the worst decision of my life to allow her to attend there. She is a tough kid, but even she was driven out before the end of the year.
Long post, but our Public school system needs help NOW as it is failing the young people of this Island , ALL the young people.

Check your personal email for message from me - don't forget to look in your junk mail just in case it's there. You can call me locally to talk. Happy Thanksgiving Day to you!