Nice Suburbs bordering Queens and Long Island? (New York, Hempstead: environment, apartment)

[Walter Greenspan]

Originally Posted by loulee811

Bellerose is where I grew up, but I have a home in Hicksville now.

For those who may not be familiar with Hicksville:

Once the potato capital of LI, Hicksville is a hamlet (an unincorporated area) in the center-west part of the Town of Oyster Bay, in the east-central part of Nassau County, along the Oyster Bay/North Hempstead/Hempstead town line.

Beginning on the north and moving in a clockwise direction, the Hamlet of Hicksville in the Town of Oyster Bay is bordered on the north by the Hamlet of Jericho and the Hamlet of Syosset; on the east by the Hamlet of Plainview and the Hamlet of Bethpage; on the south by the Hamlet of Levittown in the Town of Hempstead (the Oyster Bay/Hempstead town line); and, on the west by the Hamlet of Salisbury in the Town of Hempstead and the Hamlet of New Cassel in the Town of North Hempstead (the Oyster Bay/Hempstead/North Hempstead town line).





The Hamlet of Hicksville has a different border than does the "Hicksville, NY 11801" ZIP Code postal zone (i.e., a place can have a "Hicksville, NY 11801" mailing address and not be in the Hamlet of Hicksville and a place can be in the Hamlet of Hicksville and have other than a "Hicksville, NY 11801" mailing address): places with a "Hicksville, NY 11801" mailing address that are not in the Hamlet of Hicksville are in the Hamlet of Jericho; and, at the same time, there are places in the Hamlet of Hicksville that have a "Bethpage, NY 11714", "Jericho, NY 11753" and "Westbury, NY 11590" mailing address.


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): Excellent Long Island Geographic Resource

[DonnaReed]

Originally Posted by I_Love_LI_but

OP wants Nassau not Queens.

What's your reasoning on Elmont?

Poster asked for areas - BORDER of Queens and LI.

Elmont begins where Queens ends.

All of the those areas lead divide lines from Queens to LI.

Get it?

[I_Love_LI_but]

Originally Posted by DonnaReed

Poster asked for areas - BORDER of Queens and LI.

Elmont begins where Queens ends.

All of the those areas lead divide lines from Queens to LI.

Get it?

Original Poster also is pregnant and needs a good school district.

That would NOT be Elmont. As per Newsday:

11 LI school districts tagged as substandard -- Schools, Long Island -- Newsday.com

Nassau County
Elmont
Freeport
Hempstead
Roosevelt

Suffolk County
Amityville*
Brentwood
Central Islip
Copiague
Little Flower**
Longwood
South Country

* Partly in Nassau County.

** Little Flower School District is run by a nonprofit charity and serves about 110 students with disabilities.

See post "11 LI school districts tagged as substandard," NEWSDAY

[Glad2BHere]

Originally Posted by I_Love_LI_but

Original Poster also is pregnant and needs a good school district.

That would NOT be Elmont. As per Newsday:

11 LI school districts tagged as substandard -- Schools, Long Island -- Newsday.com

Nassau County
Elmont
Freeport
Hempstead
Roosevelt

Suffolk County
Amityville*
Brentwood
Central Islip
Copiague
Little Flower**
Longwood
South Country

* Partly in Nassau County.

** Little Flower School District is run by a nonprofit charity and serves about 110 students with disabilities.

See post "11 LI school districts tagged as substandard," NEWSDAY

Good response. We are here to provide HONEST opinions. Elmont does not have a desirable school district. It is not truthful to try to tell someone otherwise.

[sean sean sean sean]

Originally Posted by Glad2BHere

Good response. We are here to provide HONEST opinions. Elmont does not have a desirable school district. It is not truthful to try to tell someone otherwise.

I won't argue that Elmont isn't a desirable district, simply because it's known everywhere else as being no good, but maybe a more important question would be is Elmont a good district?

Greatschools.net only gives Elmont MJSHS a 6/10, however it appears they only have data for 7th & 8th grade classes. The parent reviews are 4/5 and not a negative one to be found.

From: Parent Reviews of Elmont Memorial Junior/Senior High School - Elmont, New York - NY
There are a variety of Academic programs offered including review classes for all majors test and exams. Teachers are available before and after classes to explain any area of difficulty students may encounter in any subject area. They have had great representation in the Math and Science Fairs over the years. Students have options for music participation. The school has representation the all music programs open to school...example, All County Music and NYSSMA. They continue to excel in sports such as football, basketball, lacrosse, volleyball, and others. There are a number of extracurricular activities for student involvement. Some programs that are considered impressive are, Key Club, Leadership Core, Talented and Gifted Club, FBLA, Model UN, and many more. Parent involvement is viewed satisfactory and there is much being done to improve this.

Standard Rankings from the '06-'07 school year: http://www.city-data.com/forum/1805859-post33.html
Miller Place High School (Miller Place)...................................149.9 (S/2%)
Valley Stream Central (VS Central)......................................149. 2 (N/3%)
Seaford High School (Seaford)......................................... ...147.7 (N/1%)
Plainedge Senior High School (Plainedge)..............................145.0 (N/6%)
H. Frank Carey HS (Sewanhaka)....................................... ..141.7 (N/13%)
Elmont Memorial (Elmont).......................................... ........141.1 (N/23%)
W. Tresper Clarke High School (East Meadow).......................138.3 (N/9%)
Shoreham-Wading River (Shoreham-Wading River)..................137.8 (S/2%)
Long Beach High School (Long Beach)..................................136.7 (N/14%)
Sewanhaka HS (Sewanhaka)....................................... .......136.3 (N/29%)
Newfield High School (Middle Country)..................................135.7 (S/13%)

Also, the Wikipedia page on this school has some other impressive information. 97% of the senior class graduated last year (a figure that was down from 100% in 2004) and 97% of those graduates attended college after graduating. Probably the most impressive figure, however, is that Elmont MJSHS had the largest number of African-American students scoring a 3 or higher on AP exams in the entire country!
Elmont Memorial High School - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Personally, I know nothing of this school district other than what's posted above and hearing that it's "not good". Just throwing the info out there, but a lot of that data is pretty impressive. I'd like to hear from anybody on here that either attended or has kids in Elmont.

I also wouldn't put too much stock in that list from Newsday, see my post in the original thread for a reason why.

[Glad2BHere]

Originally Posted by sean sean sean sean

Personally, I know nothing of this school district other than what's posted above and hearing that it's "not good". Just throwing the info out there, but a lot of that data is pretty impressive. I'd like to hear from anybody on here that either attended or has kids in Elmont.

I also wouldn't put too much stock in that list from Newsday, see my post in the original thread for a reason why.

Would it convince you if we told you that people do not move to Elmont to be in a "desirble" or "good" school district? That in itself is enough. It is not a place that people recommend to people looking for safe neighborhood, with good property values, with good schools, by far.

[sean sean sean sean]

Originally Posted by Glad2BHere

Would it convince you if we told you that people do not move to Elmont to be in a "desirble" or "good" school district? That in itself is enough. It is not a place that people recommend to people looking for safe neighborhood, with good property values, with good schools, by far.

I'm not suggesting that the OP center his apartment search around Elmont, only providing some (substantial) evidence contrary to the commonly held perception that Elmont SD is one of LI's worst. Lots of people read these threads besides those who originally post them. In fact, a lot of the time when I Google something Long Island related, threads from these message boards are among the first results.

I don't know enough about the area to say it's a good or bad bet, I only know that people say it's no good, but I also know that people are generally full of crap. I've only been through on Hempstead Turnpike, which is definitely not too hot. As far as the OP is concerned, I can't imagine that it's a "better" place to live than Bellerose or Floral Park (both of which I think are excellent), but again, I'm working with limited knowledge regarding Elmont. It's certainly a lot more affordable.

[I_Love_LI_but]

Seanx4,

I read your post on the original thread and I agree with you that yes, it would be good to know what Newsday based their "complex calculations" on.

I have a friend whose daughter graduated from Elmont and was accepted into a very prestigious college, so obviously not every kid who goes there is going to end up a "loser."

However, due to the %&^*%$ high cost of homes and the %&^*%$ high cost of taxes here on LI, when I make recommendations to people I base it on them getting the MOST FOR THEIR MONEY and school district reputations are a key factor in that respect. It's not fair to the current underdog school districts, but perhaps it is an incentive to them to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and do better. Hopefully some of the schools in the substandard category (Newsday's or otherwise) will not be there in future years! For the high taxes that are paid to support Long Island's school districts, IMO NO SCHOOL DISTRICT ON LONG ISLAND SHOULD BE IN THE SUBSTANDARD CATEGORY AND I HOPE ONE DAY NONE WILL BE!

[androniki]

try looking at the herricks school district some reasonable capes
albertson,williston park etc.
close to all parkways
but i agree that little neck and douglaston are good schools with less taxes
just expensive homes

[maisy123]

Originally Posted by I_Love_LI_but

The Westwood section of Malverne goes to Valley Stream SD #13. That is why the houses "sell for considerably more" in that area.

The taxes for Lynbrook #20 and for Malverne #12 are similar. There is no "discount" for being in #12. I would rather be "on the other side of the tracks" in #20.

As for people being "big on sending their kids to private school," I don't think the "private school" type of parent just happens to flock to Malverne because it's popular amongst the jet set or something. I think they simply bear the extra expense and send their kids to private school out of necessity because they don't want their kids in Malverne SD#12, so that's why you will find many more private school students in Malverne than in some of the other nearby school districts.

As for Lakeview, that's a whole other town and one which I did not advise the OP to go to. I think it is part of West Hempstead, but I don't know 100%. (I am sure someone on here can tell me though.)

I believe the original poster stated she lived in an apartment in Queens. To me that says she may not have an issue with the diversity in Malverne schools. My children attend Malverne schools and the parents from Lakeview I have come to know are middle class, civic minded parents-they just happen to be minorities. Don't discount Malverne schools. Much improvement has been made in the past 5 years and there are many Malverne residents starting to come back.