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We've been looking to move out to Long Island for awhile and have gone back and forth on a few towns. (and now prices are still high but with high interest rates too)
Great Neck obviously has the good school district and the easy LIRR commute to the city, but we thought it might be too competitive for our kids. (they're on the shy and quiet side)
Manhasset and Roslyn are also good school districts, but we're priced out of those areas.
Would appreciate some opinions/thoughts on Herricks and East Williston.
The main difference I've read between those two are the size, East Williston school district is much smaller.
Is that a pro or a con? My high school class was close to a thousand kids. I think its good because you won't get lost in the crowd, the kids will know everyone, etc. But on the other hand, if a popular person doesn't like your shoes now you have no friends.
We've looked at a few homes in the Roslyn Heights area that goes to Herricks and the neighborhoods looked very nice (wide streets, big neighboring homes) while East Williston homes seem closer together and a lot more traffic driving through.
We're east asian with two kids who are finishing up elementary school and we work in Manhattan.
The zone for Herricks is huge, it is Manhasset Hills, Searingtown/Roslyn, Albertson, Williston Park and Roslyn Heights. East Williston SD is Albertson, Roslyn Heights, Mineola, East Williston and Old Westbury.
I think smaller allows you to be more agile and pivot, towards the needs of the community/student body. However you should see that somehow or somewhere. That said check out the school webpages, or even the school calendars - days they take off for or celebrate. That is not to say, larger SD can't, but likely require time is to roll out new initiatives.
Great Neck has plenty of East Asian kids. Herricks is mostly Indian. They have after school clubs that promote Indian culture, such as Hindi language, Bollywood style dancing, Indian art classes. I have attended some academic competitions and the Herricks students seem very cut-throat with lots of "tiger" parents. Of course, this was a competitive environment. Herricks usually won.
Great Neck South is majority East Asian, I believe it’s like 70% if I’m not mistaken. I don’t think your kids would struggle there, it’s pretty universally regarded as one of the top high schools on Long Island and in the country. If you can afford it I would seriously consider it.
From my understanding Herricks is mostly Indian, but I’m sure there are East Asian families too. East Williston/Wheatley are excellent schools and I find the area of East Williston/Albertson very pretty, beautiful colonial houses and tree lined streets.
If you’re willing to go a bit further out you may want to look at Jericho and Syosset. Jericho has the top public schools in the state so they may be a bit of a pressure cooker situation, but it is majority East Asian as well, like Great Neck South. Syosset schools are also excellent, comparable to Herricks or East Williston, and are about half Asian as well, especially in the areas zoned for South Grove, Willits, and Robbins Lane elementary schools. People in Jericho usually use the Hicksville train station which is one of the largest LIRR stops and has express trains to Penn Station at rush hour. Syosset train station is just one stop more and the express trains also stop at Syosset after/before Hicksville.
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