Babylon vs. West Babylon vs. HHH (Half Hollow Hills) Schools....best choice for us? HELP! (Huntington: credit)

[cathicool]

Help!
Hubby and I are looking for a new house. We have 3 small children- our middle child went to Just Kids in Lindenhurst for 3 years and is in kindergarden now. He was reccommended for an inclusion (aka integrated)class, but our current district does not have this. Hence the main reason we are looking to move. We have a solid buyer for our current home, so no issue there. Our buyer wants to move in pretty quickly, so I need to make a decision fast!

We saw a four houses we liked over the weekend.....
1. 2 of them were in Babylon Village- just south of Montauk Hwy, both have West Babylon Schools (neither on the water OR in mandatory flood zone, by the way)
2. In Babylon Village- north of Montauk Hwy,closer to Sunrise Hwy than Montauk Hwy, with Babylon Schools
3. In Dix Hills- very close to Babylon/Huntington border, but falls just in the Huntington township line on the map (and I mean "just"!)- with Half Hollow Hills Schools


So which of these would be the "best" choice for our family? We need a good special ed program definitely with a co-teaching inclusion model. Also need strong academics for my 2 other children who are quite bright, possibly gifted.


Assume the same house was at each location--each house has it's pluses and minuses-but I'm more concerned about the location and schools...I can also change the house, but not it's location or the school district. All the houses are on oversized land- .28 to .34 sized lots.

Thanks!

[nbres]

Half Hollow Hills is supposed to have a great special education department, at least on paper. Be wary, don't move to an area that supposedly has a certain special ed. program. You need to go check it out for yourself. If the district refuses - then what are they hiding.

Personally, If you are now in Lindenhurst you should stay there. I live in North babylon and I have a child that went to Just Kids also. We faced a similar dilema, but NB pays to send our child to Lindenhurst. Lindenhurst has a great program. You should see what your district can do for you before you move.

[cathicool]

hi
nope, we don't live in lindenhurst. we live in copiague. i have contacted many school districts about taking my son to their district, but they just don't do it for such a high-functioning child. IF he needed ABA, then he could/would be cross-districted, but not if he "only" needs inclusion. My district agreed that inclusion would be a good fit for him, but they claim not to have the ability to force another district to educate him.

so currently my son spends part of the day in self-contained- where he is the highest cognitive kid in the class, out-performing the 1st graders in the class (his teacher's exact words), and some of the day shuffling down the hall to a mainstream class. in addition to all the other pullouts for therapy- OT (2x/wk), PT(2x/wk), speech (3x/wk) and social skills group (2x/wk). He is identified as PDD on his IEP and has a 1:1 aide. Besides the obvious constant transitioning, I am concerned with him having to learn 2 different classrooms (kids, teaching styles, rhythm/pace, etc.). AND, my son has been at Just Kids for 2-plus years, so of course he knows shapes, colors and letters and counts to 20, which is what the focus is for kindergarden. But what happens when they start with new concepts? He has a very low frustration tolerance and a processing delay- an ugly combo at times.

This is why I feel we really need a "stronger" special ed district. In addition, I have 2 other kids who are not special ed and may very well be on the "gifted" (what ever that means!) spectrum.

Babylon, although a nice and small district which has it's advantages, does not have a resource room and does not have any TAG (talented and gifted) program for high performers. Smaller districts have smaller funding and resources.

West Babylon is bigger (more funding) has co-teaching inclusion, TAG, resource room, etc. BUT overall seems to underperform, compared to Babylon and/or HHH.

HHH is known for their special ed and TAG- but I have heard many other stories about how people did not like the district-- including people who currently work and/or send thier kids to school there.

I realize nothing is perfect and that there will always be someone who has a bad (or great) experience contrary to popular belief, but I am really struggling with the best choice of the 3.

[amyla]

Hi. I currently have 3 kids in HHH. One is in an inclusion class (she is also in the districts "gifted" program). The class seems to be run beautifully. Most of the time my kids have also been in classes with a "helper" for a particular child. When I was going for my spec ed degree, three years ago. I also spent time in another school, within district for credit hours, in their inclusion kindergarten class-beautifully run. I know lots of kids who get pulled out for resource in reading. math. speech etc. One of my neighbors moved here b/c of her special needs child. BTW, I am just on the border as well-advantages are lower taxes and babylon has some beautiful beaches. All will have advantages and disadvantages. Maybe call the district offices and meet with someone in their spec ed department. Feel free to pm me. Good luck!