Pine View School for the Gifted
| Pine View School | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Location | |
| Osprey, FL | |
| Information | |
| Established | 1969 |
| Principal | Dr. Stephen Covert |
| Grades | 2-12 |
| Enrollment | 2,186 (2014-15) |
| Color(s) | |
| Mascot | Python |
| Website | [1] |
Pine View School for the Gifted is a public, college-preparatory, coeducational school located in Osprey, Florida. The school is the only full-time program in Florida for intellectually gifted students in the elementary through high school level. The mission of Pine View School is to provide a qualitatively different learning environment that nurtures a passion for intellectual curiosity; encourages risk taking, and independence; and is committed to a tradition of academic excellence and social responsibility. There are currently around 2,210 students at Pine View. Pine View serves students in 2nd through 12th grades.
In 1969, the school was founded as the state's first and only school for the intellectually gifted. The first director was John D. Woolever, an educator who had written numerous scholarly articles on education throughout his career. During the school's early history, many feared it would be closed, particularly when the school moved to its current campus in 1994. Periodically, this possibility has reemerged, the most notable occasion being in 2007 and 2008 when the Florida State Legislature considered abolishing the Exceptional Student Educational (ESE) label "gifted." On this occasion, Pine View was included in a statewide comprehensive policy assessment completed by the Florida Legislature's Office of Program Policy Analysis & Government Accountability (OPPAGA), which determined that gifted programs were thriving and that the ESE label "gifted" had more advantages than disadvantages.
There were 28 members in the first graduating class. Until the 1990s, Pine View's class sizes hovered around 130 per graduating group. From 1990 until 2010, class sizes gradually rose but were generally kept under 200. However, the Class of 2012 (with 158 graduates) is generally considered the school's last small class, as class sizes are steeply increasing above 200 with the Class of 2013 and younger grades.
At the end of the 2012–2013 school year, Steve Largo, Pine View's principal of 25 years, retired. Dr. Stephen Covert took Largo's place as Pine View principal on July 1, 2013.
During the 2003–2004 school year, Pine View School was recognized with the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education, the highest award an American school can receive.
In 2014 Pine View was ranked the number one school in Florida and the sixth best school in the Country. In 2013, Pine View was ranked by U.S. News & World Report as the sixth best public high school in the nation. The previous year, Newsweek ranked Pine View the 15th best public high school in the nation. Out of public and private schools, Pine View was rated the 6th best high school in the nation in 2007, 11th in 2008, 14th in 2009, 30th in 2012, and 6th in 2013 by U.S. News. Due to its average SAT score of 1335 for 2005, the school was listed among Newsweek magazine's 21 Public Elite American high schools. It was the only Public Elite school in Florida. Pine View's U.S. News & World Report 2012 national ranking was called into question when it seemed the ranking was significantly deflated when U.S. News calculated Pine View's 8th grade students as high school students who did not participate in Advanced Placement courses (a significant factor in its methodology) and incorrectly factored Pine View's AP pass rate.
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