East Williston/Wheatley schools ? (Buffalo, Garden City: renting, house, neighborhood)

[gwenrn]

Have oppty to send our children to Wheatley/East Williston SD but with Mineola address. Have heard this school is a great public school with tons of oppty and programs. We realize though this would probably put our child in the 2% that are not from million dollar income homes.

Looking for opinions if the school districts really vary that much to make it worth it. Would get much smaller home obviously for $ but do like area and education is very important.

Other areas for consideration are Herricks (Williston Park) and Lynbrook.

[azzurrony]

I think you have to be concerned about overly wealthy school districts. Children are a lot more spoiled and have ample opportunity and means to get involved with a lot of bad things.

It's a great school district, but money and materialism will be a priority for those kids so be aware of it.

[Walter Greenspan]

Originally Posted by gwenrn

Have oppty to send our children to Wheatley/East Williston SD but with Mineola address.

gwenrn, that house with a "Mineola, NY 11501" mailing address most probably is in the Village of Mineola, but you can find out in which community (city, village or CDP) that house with the "Mineola, NY 11501" mailing address is actually located by using the Census Bureau's online address search function. (CDP or Census Designated Place is the Census Bureau equivalent for a hamlet in Nassau and Suffolk Counties.)

Additionally, the Census Bureau's online address search function also indicates in which school district an address is located.

[twingles]

I agree somewhat with azzurony but I live in what's considered a very wealthy district and I think it's dependent, to a certain extent, on you how as a parent approach it. And just because it's East Williston doesn't mean that every single child comes from a wealthy family. WE've lived here for well over 10 years and paid a pretty reasonable price for our house, a price that you don't even see on Long Island anymore, and there are other families just like us. We aren't wealthy, just regular people who don't "keep up with the Joneses". I think East Williston (where we had acutally also looked at homes) is probably similar...yes there are going to be rich people who are snobby. There are also going to be rich people who are just as nice as a regular middle class person....it's "reverse snobbery" to think otherwise. I know our kids have not felt any difference between themselves and what are some potentially fabulously wealthy classmates. Maybe that will change as they get older, but maybe by then they will also have a pretty good handle on the kind of values that we espouse in our household. Bad parenting happens to the wealthy, the poor, and everyone in between.

[azzurrony]

Twingles,

While I agree with you that parenting is the key, I think that type of area makes it much much more difficult for the parents.

I live in Garden City now, but I grew up in a modest Western PA town near Pittsburgh. There wasn't much trouble we could get into as kids. We simply didn't have the access, wealth, and means. While I love GC and am happy to be here, I definitely understand that it will be a big challenge to raise kids among a large population of spoiled kids.

We are going to focus on trying to make friends with the same values, become part of the local church community, and try to give back to those in need as well. Hopefully, that will help ground the kids.

[andrea33]

My husband and I work in the schools. We make a good living taking care of other peoples children every day. We have lived here for 6 years. We have met many other people in the community that have similar jobs. My two neighbors are teachers the old lady next to me is a teachers aid. Many people in the neighborhood have modest jobs that promote respect and appreciation for others. Everyone has kids and they all go to the same Elementary school as the rich kids from Old Westbury. The children will learn a lot from each-other and so will we when we meet these rich parents.

[Port North]

Originally Posted by azzurrony

Twingles,

While I agree with you that parenting is the key, I think that type of area makes it much much more difficult for the parents.

I live in Garden City now, but I grew up in a modest Western PA town near Pittsburgh. There wasn't much trouble we could get into as kids. We simply didn't have the access, wealth, and means. While I love GC and am happy to be here, I definitely understand that it will be a big challenge to raise kids among a large population of spoiled kids.

We are going to focus on trying to make friends with the same values, become part of the local church community, and try to give back to those in need as well. Hopefully, that will help ground the kids.

I know how you feel, I grew up in a working/middle class neighborhood outside of Buffalo. Many of the things the other kids do and have here often seem excessive to me. Luckily my sons are still in pre-K and in-utero, so I won't have to deal with these issues for awhile yet.