Pound ridge elementary school? (Bedford, Scarsdale: houses, college, wealthy)

[Suburbsearching]

Looking for feedback on the school. It gets a 7/10 in contrast to the 9/10 and 10/10 in most affluent suburbs? Are people happy with it?

[kletter1mann]

Originally Posted by Suburbsearching

Looking for feedback on the school. It gets a 7/10 in contrast to the 9/10 and 10/10 in most affluent suburbs? Are people happy with it?

My kids went through it, k-6, and my wife and I were very happy. So was pretty much everyone we knew. Where is the 7/10 rating from?

[kletter1mann]

Originally Posted by kletter1mann

Where is the 7/10 rating from?

Ah ha, rating is from Greatschools.com I think. Yet all the parental reviews are glowing except one grudge review (there's always one so if it's completely at varience with the others it's a clear outlier). And PR parents have pretty high expectations and most could afford private schools if they wanted. So I think there's something wierd going on here. Doesn't make much sense.

[ponytrekker]

Greatschools.com is irrelevant.

[Suburbsearching]

Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it. What is Fox Lane like? Are people happy with it?

[kletter1mann]

Originally Posted by Suburbsearching

Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it. What is Fox Lane like? Are people happy with it?

Unlike Chappaqua, John Jay etc FLHSis surprisingly diverse owing to the minority population in Mt Kisco. This means resources for ESL etc and a significant group that is not college bound. OTOH, there are also preppies and the Ivy-bound. If your kids would be ivy-bound in Scarsdale they'd be equally so at FLHS. So, for those looking for an excellent school with some diversity, the same diversity that drags down average test scores and perturbs the test-score-obsessed, it's an amazing school with amazing resources.

FLHS is surprisingly mixed socially. "Style" groups exist (preppies, emo/goth, artsy etc) but boundires are porous so movement between groups/styles is relatively easy and fluid. The social boundaries aren't concrete walls. Pound Ridge is called "Pound Rich." Still, PR'ers mix with Mt K and Bedford Hills kids and vice versa. Ditto Bedford.

And, like anywhere, there's always somebody with a horror story of some kind. FLHS is and there are drugs (like everyplace else) and there are parties (like everyplace else). What's different from the downcounty bored-rich-kids-partying-on-drugs phenomenon is that there are so many huge houses on huge lots. If the guy next door is separated by 400 feet of woods there's effectively nobody next door to call the cops. And parents have the resources to travel, so there are some epics. But this plays out the same way in Chappaqua, New Canaan, etc.

What's telling is that some fabulously wealthy Bedford folks send their kids there because of the diversity. Case in point: one of my son's classmates and buddies was Rooney Mara (girl with draggon tatoo, daughter of John Mara of the NY Giants dynasty). There are lots of other kids from similarly situated families.

[Full disclosure: both my kids and a niece went through PRES and FLHS (classes of 2003, 2005 and 2009) + 2 more nieces there now. All are doing great, the college grads all went to sub-ivies.]

[Suburbsearching]

Thank you so much for your detailed description! I think an excellent school with some diversity sounds great (and very Breakfast Club). I will have to drag my kids on all my vacations so they can't throw a party.