Anyone familiar with Oyster Bay-East Norwich Schools? (Huntington, Syosset: house, purchase)

[mld79]

Hi, My family and I are in contract in a house in Laurel Hollow. We are in the Oyster Bay - East Norwich district. If anyone has any info about the schools or our new town, it would be appreciated. Thanks!!

[Ziggi813]

We had perviously looked into the school district here as we saw a house we were interested in. Let me put it this way BECAUSE of the schools, we passed on the house. Most people who live in the area concerned about schooling send their children to private schools. GOod luck.

[Walter Greenspan]

Originally Posted by mld79

Hi, My family and I are in contract in a house in Laurel Hollow. We are in the Oyster Bay - East Norwich district. If anyone has any info about the schools or our new town, it would be appreciated. Thanks!!

The Village of Laurel Hollow is one of many municipalities that is in multiple school districts (Oyster Bay-East Norwhich Central School District, Syosset-Woodbury Central School District and Cold Spring Harbor Central School District) as well as multiple postal zones ("Oyster Bay, NY 11771", "Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724", "Woodbury, NY 11797" and "Syosset, NY 11791"), and this does not make for community identity or community cohesion.


For those who may not be familiar with Laurel Hollow:

Laurel Hollow is a village (incorporated in 1926 as Laurelton, after a local mansion; but, because of confusion with a Queens County community of the same name, the village changed it to Laurel Hollow in 1935) located in the northeast part of the Town of Oyster Bay, in the northeast part of Nassau County, along the Oyster Bay/Huntington town line and the Nassau/Suffolk county line.

Beginning on the north and moving in a clockwise direction, the Village of Laurel Hollow in the Town of Oyster Bay is bordered on the north by Cold Spring Harbor; on the east by the Hamlet of Cold Spring Harbor in the Town of Huntington (the Oyster Bay/Huntington town line and the Nassau/Suffolk county line); on the south by the Hamlet of Woodbury; and, on the west by the Hamlet of Syosset and the Village of Oyster Bay Cove.

Laurel Hollow is one of those many villages and hamlets on Long Island where none of the places in the community have the village name in their mailing address: places in the Village of Laurel Hollow have an "Oyster Bay, NY 11771", "Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724", "Woodbury, NY 11797" and "Syosset, NY 11791" mailing address.

The world-famous Cold Spring Harbor Lab is actually in the Village of Laurel Hollow in the Town of Oyster Bay, Nassau County and not in the Hamlet of Cold Spring Harbor in the Town of Huntington, Suffolk County.


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/26/Laurel-hollow-ny-map.gif (broken link)


For a good set of town-by-town maps showing all the villages and hamlets in each of LI's 13 towns (3 in Nassau County and 10 in Suffolk County):

http://www.city-data.com/forum/long-...-resource.html

[ObserverNY]

Congratulations on your purchase of a home in Laurel Hollow. I graduated from OBHS back in the 70's and I can tell you the district has come a LONG way since then. Graduating classes at OBHS are small, under 100, and it is similar to a private school setting. OBHS also has had very high placement of its students in the Ivies and offers a large number of AP classes in addition to a wonderful program with CISCO. In comparison to some other school districts, OB-EN has a very welcoming and communicative BoE and is very transparent with its data. The Superintendent is a real go getter and enthusiastic. The recent "faux pas" cited in a state audit regarding withheld purchase orders was blown all out of proportion by a local mensch who does nothing but badger the district and look for improprieties where none exist.

[Walter Greenspan]

Originally Posted by NorthShoreMom

The Superintendent is a real go getter and enthusiastic. The recent "faux pas" cited in a state audit regarding withheld purchase orders was blown all out of proportion by a local mensch who does nothing but badger the district and look for improprieties where none exist.

That's the first time I've ever seen or heard "mensch" being used in a negative sense, and should provide an insight into the "Oyster Bay" mind-set.

According to Yiddishkeit :
Mentsh - A special man or person. One who can be respected.

[sheena12]

In comparison with some of the really competitive , high pressure districts that surround it, ( I am thinking Syosset, Locust Valley, Jericho and CS Harbor) Oyster Bay may not be a stand out - but I tend to agree with NorthShoreMom - the small graduating classes, personal concern for students and welcoming attitude DO give the school a private school vibe.
She is also right about the district's high acceptance rate in Ivy League and other highly esteemed colleges and universities.
The AP offerings are fairly extensive - especially for such a small school.
This is a unique High School - more of a small town experience than a suburban experience.
OBHS's detractors might also not like the fact that not everyone in the HS is filthy rich
(although trust me many ARE - they just tend to be low key about it)
I am glad that I went there.

[Quick Commenter]

Quick update...the fraudulent purchase order issue has not gone away and at the same time there has been a dramatice decline of acceptances into the big three 'Ivies'. While the assistant superintendent for business was given the boot over the scandal the freespending (another scandal) superintendent remains. Over the last five years a grand total of three students have been accepted into either Harvard, Yale or Princeton. While this is not Syosset, Jericho, Cold Spring Harbor or Locust Valley there is still much to admire about the school district - and there is hope it can regain the reputation it had through the 1990's.