Middletown-advice Needed Please (Monroe, Woodbury, Highland: appointed, city hall, crime)

[eyetooth]

I agree with mom2gurls and YouungNOCNY about the MDTN schools. I have a friend who works in the high school and I hear stories about the fights/riots that break out there. The city is very seedy - try not to get lost at night there. Its a scary experience. The Wallkill area (East of MDTN) is starting to sport some nice box stores (all on Rte 211). In the past year we got our first full size Borders and Starbucks (Yay!). For preschool kids there is a "Little gym" (Kids run around on gym equipment, taught to tumble - they have a blast) and some pretty cool parks scattered throughout the area. to the south in goshen you can get to the Heritage trail which is a paved trail that is 19 miles in length one way.
Orange Heritage Trailway -- Rail Trail Orange County -- Bike Hudson Valley
In case any of you are runners the city also has the orange classic, a world class 10k (a kenyan won it this year in under 30 mins!)

In spite of the fact that its in the MDTN the main library is something kids may want to check out. Its built from an old railway station and I was pretty impressed with what they had for an area like MDTN.

Coming out of the city I would also watch out for Poison ivy (its EVERYWHERE - Leaves of three - leave them be) and deer ticks (Read LYME disease) - use deet for prevention

good luck on your move!
Its an interesting area to live. A weird mix of inner city and farm lands...

[Bellmes]

Thank you all for your advice. Its greatly appreciated. I have alot of mixed feelings about moving up to middletown at this point. But im in no postion to stop the contract for the house. I would have to take a HUGE loss financally to do something like that..so at this point in time. I am moving to Middletown...like it or not. No job transfers for me either..Im a designer in the garment industry. So Manhattan is where I need to be.
In any case, I go up frequently to check on the status of the house . I have done some exploring and yes I did find the shady areas. Im not happy with what I see, so I am pretty sure to stay away. Our area is on the outskirts of middletown. I get off at the pine bush exit on 17. But yes-we are in the city of middletown - not in the town of walkill.
Down in the city -a child must attend his or her "zone" school. Does the same apply up in Orange County? for example I am hearing that school districts out of Middletown are better-but can I put my kids in a different district without having to give a different address? I dont want to go thru all of that. But at the same time I want whats best for my children. Short of putting them in private school. Yes..I know you all going to tell me -what would be best is not to move there. But I really cant take that loss right now.
Can anyone recommend a private school in the area?

[mom2gurls]

From what I understand..and I live in dutchess..is that you go where your school is Zoned. period. I guess you can always "find away around it"..but they will find out..and in our district..anyone caught 'cheating' has to pay back the school taxes or something and whatever is "fully prosecutable by law".....but its because our school district is very high rated.

My gutt feeling is that you will face that as well.because people will want to get into the pine bush or wallkill schools that surround you.

I would "annoymously"call some churches and see if there are any programs that are offered.

[Jason_Els]

Originally Posted by Bellmes

Thank you all for your advice. Its greatly appreciated. I have alot of mixed feelings about moving up to middletown at this point. But im in no postion to stop the contract for the house. I would have to take a HUGE loss financally to do something like that..so at this point in time. I am moving to Middletown...like it or not. No job transfers for me either..Im a designer in the garment industry. So Manhattan is where I need to be.
In any case, I go up frequently to check on the status of the house . I have done some exploring and yes I did find the shady areas. Im not happy with what I see, so I am pretty sure to stay away. Our area is on the outskirts of middletown. I get off at the pine bush exit on 17. But yes-we are in the city of middletown - not in the town of walkill.
Down in the city -a child must attend his or her "zone" school. Does the same apply up in Orange County? for example I am hearing that school districts out of Middletown are better-but can I put my kids in a different district without having to give a different address? I dont want to go thru all of that. But at the same time I want whats best for my children. Short of putting them in private school. Yes..I know you all going to tell me -what would be best is not to move there. But I really cant take that loss right now.
Can anyone recommend a private school in the area?

I think I know the area you mean. The area is generally OK, but it gets sketchy at night. There are homeless around that area too as they go looking for food thrown out by the chain restaurants and the Salvation Army store is on 211. Clothes they can't sell they leave out for the poor and homeless to rummage through.

If you're from the city then you should have a good sixth sense for where the bad areas are and who looks OK and who doesn't so don't sweat it.

Here's a listing of private elementary schools in the county. I don't know if they're full or not. Many are parochial schools and the NY Archdiocese will close admission to non-Catholics if the school begins to reach capacity. I know this because it happened to me.

This is the listing of private secondary schools in Orange county. I'm sorry to say there's not much here. Granted, you won't have to face that issue for another 4-5 years, but you need to plan.

Good luck!

[hjlacey]

What about a Montessori School? I know we have one between Monroe and Highland Mills. Must be more out there, and they are supposed to be wonderful!

[Jason_Els]

Originally Posted by hjlacey

What about a Montessori School? I know we have one between Monroe and Highland Mills. Must be more out there, and they are supposed to be wonderful!

There's one in Middletown listed in the link I posted. My sister sends her son to Montessori. I call it, "hippie school," but yes, they are supposed to be excellent and my nephew has an amazing vocabulary for a 3 year old.

[charleta]

A good private school is New Beginnings Montesorri School. They have an excellent program.

[Gatita]

hi
i know the posts in this topic are old but i have a similar situation so i decided to write here too. We are about to close on a house in middletown. we are from the city and my husband is a nypd officer so he will commute to work every day....now that i've read about all you guys have to say i'm pretty worry about where i'm going to live....we were searching around for a while but didn't find much in our price range that we liked, we searched in warwick but i didn't like that it was so quiet and than we found the house in middletown and we said this or no other......i agree that some areas are little shady and the town looks a little old but i also see that some areas are beeing renowated.we have a toddler so i'm not worry about the schools yet, but i'm worry about people in the town. as far as i read people got a lot of concerns about hispanics moving in the town...i wonder why??..i am white but my husband is hispanic.....with those opinion i'm more worry about the "hi class" white people lhaving problem with my husband or my son than about those homeless people or the bad teenagers on the streets...in my mind if a hispanic person or any other race is comming from a bad neighbourhood to live upstate just mean that they want to change their life for the better and they have to start somewhere....to me it matter more what you have in your head than what skin color you are, so maybe everybody should look at themself and make sure they are doing good. hope i won't be dissapointed when i move up there...i'm a city girl so i don't think a lot of things can suprise me anyway.....

[Gatita]

oh i read couple of subjects in this forum about middletown, so i don't necessary write to all of you, just some of the opinions were kinda offensive and bothered me so i had to spit it out...most of you gave good advice and it was good to read it

[Franz Fischer]

We are Germans, living in German. My daughter 16y wants to spend a high school year in the States as an exchange student. I found a guest family for her here in Middletown. But after reading this thread i wonder if she could stand a 10m stay in MT. Any thoughts from Middletown inhabitants? Thanks in advance