Our new article “An American School in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico” is an on-the-ground look at the realities of placing children in an international school in Mexico. But the lessons learned can be applied anywhere in the world.
We focused on Puerto Vallarta because I lived in that Mexican Riviera paradise for nearly seven years and know some of the parents who have placed their children in the city’s international schools.
One of those families belongs to Brock Squire, managing director of Puerto Vallarta’s La Costa Coldwell Banker real estate firm. Squire has lived in PV since 1984 and chose the American School of Puerto Vallarta for his children’s education. He told us that he and his wife never really considered local public schools as an education option, primarily because of quality, discipline and class size issues. They also did not consider homeschooling because they wanted their kids in a school environment.
Squire’s daughter Chanel and son Julian both attended the American School, which Chanel graduated from in 2013. Squire chose the school because it had such a great track record of student success. Of the 24 students who graduated this year, about 15 were offered at least a 25 percent scholarship at recognized universities in the U.S., Canada, Mexico or the United Kingdom. Two received full scholarships to Cornell University and more than 90 percent go on to college.
The school has a unique dual academic program that meets both U.S. and Mexican education standards. Accreditation, according to the school’s General Director Gerald Selitzer, is something parents should seriously evaluate. He thinks Americans should be looking for schools like his, which are U.S. accredited schools. All U.S. universities and most others around the world accept transcripts from U.S. accredited schools without having to go through the long and difficult process of re-evaluation studies.
Like all international schools, this level of education does not come cheap. The American School of Puerto Vallarta charges about US$9,500 to $US12,000 per year for each child, depending upon grade level.
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