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Smithtown is great, I think though Smithtown is expensive, so alot of people are looking for a district that is affordable, I went to Smithtown. but for special education lets just say it is questionable. Out of affordable districts Longwood seems to have alot to offer, so does Lindenhurst, Connetiquot, Est Islip, Sachem, Middle Country and Comsewogue. The taxes tend to be a little lower but still offer some great things.
We are a Danish family moving to LI in March. We will be located in Northport and would love to know about the different schools - actually the hole american schoolsystem.
Our daughters are 22months and 4 1/2 Y and normally the go to daycare and kindergarten. We are not into privateschools unless the public schools have bad rep. Where do we start to look and whom do we speak to???
We are a Danish family moving to LI in March. We will be located in Northport and would love to know about the different schools - actually the hole american schoolsystem.
Our daughters are 22months and 4 1/2 Y and normally the go to daycare and kindergarten. We are not into privateschools unless the public schools have bad rep. Where do we start to look and whom do we speak to???
Location: Concrete jungle where dreams are made of.
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I've leard good things about Northport. Mostly with western Suffolk north shore in general. They seem to be the best schools on the island. I also heard that Miller Place has gotten a lot better through the years, which is more central Suffolk.
Smithtown is great, I think though Smithtown is expensive, so alot of people are looking for a district that is affordable, I went to Smithtown. but for special education lets just say it is questionable. Out of affordable districts Longwood seems to have alot to offer, so does Lindenhurst, Connetiquot, Est Islip, Sachem, Middle Country and Comsewogue. The taxes tend to be a little lower but still offer some great things.
Smithtown has gotten better as far as special ed goes. As a whole it's a very good district.
I own a home in Huntington (Huntington Schools). This summer, with my daughter about to begin kindergarden in 2007 we tried to find a home in a 'better' district. For years we were told that the schools in Huntington were bad, but when we asked why no one could back it up with any real information other than there are 'non-whites' (read: hispanics). I looked into Smithtown, Northport, Harborfields, Kings Park and Commack. All of the schools seemed great, but I was not sure they were 'better' than mine. I decided to ask around and what I found is Huntington offers more AP classes than almost every district on the north shore (including CSH), the percentage of kids attending a 4 year college is 86% (of the districts I mentioned above, only CSH is higher). Sports are exceptional, with many of the athletes getting free rides to top tier schools. Are their minorities in the school, yes. Are people getting killed in the hallways, no.
So where is it that people form these perceptions? Is there something I missed?? I have a friend in Port Washington, who had no qualms about sending her kids to school, the percentage of minorities is exactly the same!! and I have not heard the same things said about Port Washington.
BB Mommy, yup the same thing here (but we have no children) we owned in Hunt. for 11 years and I always thought the district was good, AP classes, athletics, college rate etc.
I think it is partly to do with CSH and Harbor Fields surrounding the district (remember Lloyd Harbor and Neck are IN the Huntington District YET they go to CSH. Huntington Bay is IN the district and they go to Huntington) Now, I still think that today, there are no to a handful of minorities in CSH HS. When I went, there were NONE-all because of the parents, not us kids. I think Huntington gets a bad label because of it's class size (my CSH class was 98 children graduating, I think they are still in the low 100's today), student mix, and in all honesty ADDRESS. I am sure you know the attitude that pervails in the CSH and HF school Districts, again surrounding the Huntington District.
I don't know for sure, but when I was a kid, the people in CSH and HF looked down on the Huntington District. Hell Lloyd Harbor and Neck looked down on CSH(that was for the less weathly families)-fast forward 20-30 years and I would guess it is worse not better.
I think that is because there is gang activity at Huntington & S. Huntington schools and things can get rough. Teachers & staff are told to keep quiet. You will only read about the worst cases in the Long Islander. Ask your neighbors for specific reasons... sometimes they have them, sometimes they are just repeating rumors.
Most importantly, get a visitor pass & walk around the halls to see for yourself. If your kid is in the classroom? No problem. If your kid is in advanced classes? Your kid will get a great education.
But, if your school is in a rough area, there may be issues if your kid is a walker, or, there may be discipline issues in general. Things change so find out for yourself. Also be careful about the statistics you see reported in Newsday, some shcools under-report, others over-report.
BTW there is quite a lot of trouble that some spoiled kids at HHH and Northport get into. Not gangs, but drugs. (Tell that to your neighbors! )
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