PLEASE HELP!!! Putnam County School Districts (Carmel, Putnam Valley: real estate, homes, movie theaters)

[Nick1918]

I am trying to get an idea of the best schools in putnam county (possible move). Can anyone give me their subjective ranking from best to worst or a gouping of (excellent, good, not good)? I believe these are the 6 school districts that people in putnam attend, and my very uninformed ranking based on some very preliminary research:

1. Garrison
2. Haldane
3. Mahopac
4. Carmel
5. Putnam Valley
6. Brewster

[Annieproductions]

Hi, have you checked out GreatSchools.net ? I am a real estate agent in Westchester and Putnam counties although, I know the areas have not had experience with the schools in putnam county. Hopefully that website can help you. Good luck with your search Moderator cut: realtor soliciting

[Nick1918]

I have checked the website but I find that it is not that helpful. Locals tend to be much more informed about the quality of schools in their areas. Any people from the area with opinions?

[Natalpaz]

If this helps - 4 high schools from Putnam county are on the Newsweek magazine list (ranking) of the top high schools in the country. They are as follow: Brewster (655), Haldane (994), Carmel (1059) and Mahopac (1303). Check complete lists/methodology at The 1,200 Top U.S. Schools - Newsweek America's Best High Schools - MSNBC.com.

[Nick1918]

Thanks. I've seen the newsweek results and although helpful they really don't give a full picture of the quality of schools. They basically just show how good the schools are at offering and placing students in AP and IB programs. This shows that the school is making students strive for hard courses which is great but doesn't say anything about the quality of those and other courses offered.

Do any of the putnam school offer an IB program? I would consider that as possibly a progressive school that is up to date with new higher standards.

[Natalpaz]

I don't believe that any school in Putnam county is offering IB program. There is an International Baccalaureate website (International Baccalaureate, who we are) where you can search which schools offer the program, but I am not sure how official or up-to-date that information is. If I come up with anything else, I'll send it your way!

[Torn2pieces]

I graduated from Carmel HS - That's all I can say....There are better schools.

[Nick1918]

Originally Posted by Torn2pieces

I graduated from Carmel HS - That's all I can say....There are better schools.

Torn2 pieces,
Any idea which ones were considered better? Is Mahopac considered better, it is an area I might be interested in if the schools are considered really good. Thanks.

[mom2gurls]

I heard that carmel/brewster schools are "okay" there are "better ones". Cold Springs is a WONDERFUL area...(That may be garrison schools)..but here alot alot about it. Not a bad commute down the taconic and the metro north cold spring station is there.

But 450k...YIKES..thats going to be tough..depending on what you are looking for. I live right over the 84 in arlington schools..very very very good..but dutchess is also expensive and so are the taxes...there is a misnomer that its "cheap"..to westchester prices yes, but lets just say there are still homes that are 4 bedrooms in our area that start at 599k...they are not going to down in pricing..that I have seen at least.

[Nick1918]

Originally Posted by mom2gurls

I heard that carmel/brewster schools are "okay" there are "better ones". Cold Springs is a WONDERFUL area...(That may be garrison schools)..but here alot alot about it. Not a bad commute down the taconic and the metro north cold spring station is there.

But 450k...YIKES..thats going to be tough..depending on what you are looking for. I live right over the 84 in arlington schools..very very very good..but dutchess is also expensive and so are the taxes...there is a misnomer that its "cheap"..to westchester prices yes, but lets just say there are still homes that are 4 bedrooms in our area that start at 599k...they are not going to down in pricing..that I have seen at least.

mom2gurls,
I'm sure you can find 4 bedroom homes that start at over a million in almost any large county (in some counties these come with movie theaters in others its a fixer upper )

599k and up is clearly not the norm in putnam county (or in dutchess). I did a MLS search for 3+ bedroom single family homes in the mahopac school district and found 58 results, and thats just in the one school district. The median single family home sold for 407k through May of this year in Mahopac and 438k through the same period last year, this is far below 599k.