Enormous Suffolk School District ? (Islip, West Islip: homes, neighborhood, taxes)

[John9l0]

Originally Posted by NY62

Sachem is not as diverse as you think . I believe it is like 98% white. My kids have no problems in sachem. Longwood I would stay away from totaly. Not just because of the diversity either. If you can, go with a smaller district, but they have there own set of problems, If you go to some small districts and your kids dont have what some of the "rich kids" have, there could be problems. I know of people that moved to sayville from sachem and absolutely hated it and moved back in a year. because of the snooty my sh** dont stink factor . Eastport south manor Is a nice school district, they have all the newest stuff, but you pay in taxes.

Sachem is definitely not 98% white, I'd say the white percentage is in the 80's. I went to Sachem, there are plenty of minorities going to that school. It's just that the district is so huge, that the white population has the majority in the percentages. I made plenty of hispanic/asian/black friends in sachem.

[Jrprofess]

Originally Posted by lilibrarian

I'm curious about some of the larger School districts in Suffolk, specifically Longwood and Sachem. I've heard mixed things and seen the scores, but am looking for info from people who might really know. There were a couple of areas that might be a good fit for us (Nesconset, Lake Grove, Yaphank, Ridge), but I'm apprehensive about the schools. Specifically, that with fairly diverse populations represented, are there tensions, gangs etc. Also, is it easy to get lost in the shuffle with such big classes? You know, just the average student, not a genius, not requiring special ed? Mind you, my kids are very young, so I'm not positive they are geniuses yet.

How do they compare with Smithtown or 3V? If I were to go South Shore I'm thinking Sayville, Bayport or Blue Point. Better options?

We left the Sachem district because the 4-year college rate was 49%, we were looking for that number to at least be a modest majority of the school. Just our preference, no offense to Sachem parents. I saw Nesconset on your list. If you buy on the western side of Nicholls Rd. in Nesconset you are in Smithtown schools, but can still get a reasonable home particularly in the current market. Takkan and Nesconset elementary are great. Very middle of the road families as well in the neighborhoods between Southern Blvd and Old Nicholls. We have family in that area and they are extremely pleased. They moved from Sachem. You have to do your research on the tax situation in Smithtown of course. They can be rough.

[clamboy]

Smithtown/Rocky Point/Miller Place/Shoreham-Wading River/Sachem

Achievement index
Normalized average of 6 other school scores. Higher number indicates better score
72.94 67.53 72.94 61.47 64.72
Elementary ELA score
Elementary school English Language Arts average score 82 74 80 68 75
Elementary math score
Elementary school Math average score 86 81 81 72 85
Middle ELA score
Middle school English Language Arts average score 68 67 74 67 63
Middle math score
Middle school Math average score 72 68 71 63 64
High ELA score
High school English Language Arts average score 84 83 89 78 77
High math score
High school Math average score 83 77 80 74 73
School Info
Fundamentals index
Combined measure of other indexes in this group. 0 is the worst, 100 is the best.
75 66 71 78 80
Program expenditures per student
Amount spent annually on each student for educational programs
$8328 $7312 $7938 $9238 $9166
Total expenditures per student
Total amount spent annually on each student
$14091 $12524 $11466 $16023 $14010
Student to teacher ratio
Average number of students per teacher 13.6 15.9 14.9 14.2 13
High School Drop out rate
Percentage of students that started but did not complete high school 0 % 0 % 0 % 0 % 0 %
Program expenditures
Program expenditures for the school district
$74097 K $24429 K $23544 K $42109 K $129736 K
Total expenditures
Total expenditures for the school district $125369 K $41843 K $34009 K $73032 K $198292 K
Teachers total
Total number of teachers in the school district 653 210 199 320 1088
Students total
Total number of students in the school district 8897 3341 2966 4558 14154

[lilibrarian]

Thanks so much for the input. I think that the ultimate responsibiity for the child's academic success lies with the parent. And by that I mean creating an environment where achievement is valued, encouraging a good work ethic, and helping your kids find success in whatever area they are interested in (not spending 4000 dollars for an SAT course). At the same time, I would like a certain environment. Hmmm....right now we're just trying to zero in on an area or two, I might still win and we get to go to NH or CT. Right now I think we're going to zero in on Sayville/W. Sayville and Bayport/Blue Point. If we don't love it, we'll revisit the NS.

Clamboy--the Townhunter site was very interesting. Thanks.

[okaydorothy]

Lilibrrarian
You could also do what we did ; we bought in a so so district but choose to send the kids to parochial school where they are doing very well.

d

[clamboy]

Originally Posted by lilibrarian

Thanks so much for the input. I think that the ultimate responsibiity for the child's academic success lies with the parent. And by that I mean creating an environment where achievement is valued, encouraging a good work ethic, and helping your kids find success in whatever area they are interested in (not spending 4000 dollars for an SAT course). At the same time, I would like a certain environment. Hmmm....right now we're just trying to zero in on an area or two, I might still win and we get to go to NH or CT. Right now I think we're going to zero in on Sayville/W. Sayville and Bayport/Blue Point. If we don't love it, we'll revisit the NS.

Clamboy--the Townhunter site was very interesting. Thanks.

sayvilles great

[StephM]

Originally Posted by lilibrarian

I'm going to check out greatschools.net later, but does anyone have opinions on South Manor? I think I had it mixed up with South Country.

My parents live in Manorville, South Manor school district. My brothers and sisters are 14 years younger than me(two 17y/os and one 15 y/o) and they HATE the district. I went to Longwood and my mother said it was much much better.

There are tons of drugs in that school.

ETA: THey also said that there is preferential treatment based on which town you're from. Eastport kids get treated the best, Manorville kids well, but Mastic kids not so much.

[clamboy]

Originally Posted by StephM

My parents live in Manorville, South Manor school district. My brothers and sisters are 14 years younger than me(two 17y/os and one 15 y/o) and they HATE the district. I went to Longwood and my mother said it was much much better.

There are tons of drugs in that school.

ETA: THey also said that there is preferential treatment based on which town you're from. Eastport kids get treated the best, Manorville kids well, but Mastic kids not so much.

Id take Longwood over South Manor hands down.

C

[nbres]

Sachem is definitely not 98% white, I'd say the white percentage is in the 80's.

It is 89% White according to its NY state Report Card.

Expect its Hispanic population to rapidly increase as the Hispanic laborers in Farmingville start having children and also bring in other family members. Then expect them to bleed into Ronkonkoma (which might be happening already) and the older parts of Holbrook and Holtsville. Sachem is fine for now, but who knows about the near future.

[nbres]

Enormous Suffolk School District ?

Do you want to create one gian county wide district like they have in the south?

It certainly would save us in taxes, but nobody in a "better" school district would go for it. The reason, fear of Black and Hispanic children going to school with their White kids. Thats the reason why we have over 120 school districts on Long Island instead of just two: one for Nassau and one for Suffolk.