Best Long Island School Districts for Special Education (Bellmore, Port Washington: work, home)

[kimos]

Best of the best is Ocean Ave School in Northport

[mothraegg]

For anyone interested--Gersh Academy is not in Melville. The clerical office is. Grades K-5 are in Forest Hills Queens. We toured it and were not overly impressed. There is no elem school on LI, but grades 6-12 are in Hauppauge.

[sharon s]

Please tell me about Gersh.I am also interested in the school in Northport.Any other comments about Plainview?

[sharon s]

I called the Lowell School last week and the admissions person was very NASTY.She seems to be looking for a child that has a very high I.Q.She looks at all the scores and if she does not think it will work she will not even set up an interview.On the web site it says they take ed kids but I guess they have high I.Qs.This whole process of looking for a school outside the district also stinks. You might find one thats great, now try getting in. I think its easier to get into Harvard.

[sharon s]

Why does Boces have such a bad reputation?How much does a district have to pay to send a child out?

[mothraegg]

I have never seen the Jr High or HS but the elem school is in Queens and we toured it a few months ago. I wasn't overly impressed with the area or the building and grounds. Also we felt it to be too far away for our 9 yr old.

[Petunia393]

Jericho Schools, to me, were tops. They gave me the resouces as a parent to cope with my childs learning disability. I moved from Long Island to North Carolina and while my school is good, it doesn't have the resources that I had in New York for special education. I feel that had I not gotten the help in the early years from Early Intervention and the Jericho school system, my daughter would not be where she is today. We still struggle with things, but have a good foundation to work from if you can understand what I mean and I see her growing every day.

[mommytochris]

Originally Posted by sharon s

Why does Boces have such a bad reputation?How much does a district have to pay to send a child out?

From what I understand it cost significantly more than teaching a child in district. The district will then paint Boces with "the kids are the most severe and out of control" brush. My administrator told me it was a 'dumping ground" all because he did not want to have to pay extra for my child's education. Anyway it was the best move for my child we ever made. He is doing fantastic the class he is in is higher functioning and he is learning more. My advice is to tour and see for yourself. The only negative is that first impression may be bad since some of the buildings are older. If you can get past the esthetics (especially at Masera Learning Center) and look at the programs for what they are you will find they have amazing resources for the kids. In my opinion Premm Learning Center (where my son goes) has an amazing principal who knows each kid by name and his teacher could not be more perfect for him. We love Boces and it definitely does not deserve the false rep made by district administrators not wanting to pay for what is appropriate for a disabled child.

[sharon s]

Thany You for that information. Where is Premm?I am definitly going to look there.My district is ready to send my son out. Now I need to find a great place for him.

[iluvmycuties]

Originally Posted by sharon s

Why does Boces have such a bad reputation?How much does a district have to pay to send a child out?

I worked for Western Suffolk BOCES as a SpEd teacher. I am not there anymore b/c I could not handle how the children were grouped together. I had classes with children who had Down Syndrome, ADHD , psychological issues, Muscular Dystrophy, and "general" SpEd issues. I will say that this kind of classroom is more the norm than atypical for BOCES. Due to the multitude of classifications, I found it extremely difficult to create programs for the class as a whole. It almost felt like babysitting, to be quite honest with you. There are certain classes for specific diagnoses; however, on the whole, you get more of a hodge-podge b/c the program does not want to create a classroom for 2-3 children of the same age with a certain diagnosis; rather, the school will take the minority, who are the same age, and throw them together. While I am sure there are a lot of children and parents who have benefitted from BOCES as a universal aid, I think the particulars within the BOCES programs need to completey reassessed and restructured. Again, I do NOT want to take away from the positivies that other parents have taken from BOCES...this is what I have to say after working there for over 5 years.