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I am from Garden City and attended the SD. My mom is also a teacher in one of the elementary schools in the Garden City SD.
I will describe my experience with the Garden City SD from MY POINT OF VIEW, so someone else point of view may be different. I'll note that I graduated in the mid-2000s so I've been out of SD for awhile.
Garden City SD has a great reputation and looks good on paper. Being a student, I can say that the education is very good. However, my family moved to Garden City about 15 years ago because of the SD. We were more middle-class than upper-middle class or upper-class. I know this is stereotypical, but I found many of the students to be mean, snobby, materialistic, and spoiled. I had a good group of friends who weren't like that, but I felt many students were the stereotype. I feel Garden City students tend to be more focused on sports and material goods rather than academics, even though the SD receives high scores statistically.
The elementary schools were great in Garden City. I did not like Garden City Middle School. Although most of the teachers were fantastic, the students were rude, disrespectful, and many acted up class. This may had to do with the age group, but I felt the administration was disorganized about discipline and therefore teachers could not control students as well as they wanted to. However, I haven't attended the middle school since the early 2000s, so things probably changed. I know they hired a new principal, but I'm not sure how he is on discipline.
The high school is decent. Some good teachers and some bad ones like everywhere. Has your typical high school problems like drugs, etc. Students seem to have matured more by then, but definitely still snobby and materialistic. When I attended 9th grade at GCHS, the honor roll standards were low and almost everyone was on the honor roll even though if some people had a B- average. Again, this could have changed. My parents decided to send me to catholic high school after 9th grade (and as I said my mom is a teacher in the SD). While the education was good, they were fed up with snobby, materialistic atmosphere. Actually, a good percentage of families in Garden City decide to send their children to private elementary and high school because they don't want their children in the stereotypical Garden City atmosphere.
On a side note: I actually found the education at my catholic high school to be better than Garden City High School.
As for Jericho I don't know much about it only that it was the top SD on Long Island for years. However, my second relatives are from Jericho and sent my cousins to the Jericho SD. From what I heard they liked it a lot. Don't know anything about the students socially though. I apologize if you fall into this demographic, but Jericho is mostly Jewish and Asian. Where as Garden City is mostly white catholic with a good number of protestants. But only recently has Jericho become about 30% Asian. I don't mean to sound racist, but my relatives ended up moving out of their neighborhood in Jericho after my cousins graduated because the section they lived in is completely Asian now.
I believe Jericho is a little smaller than Garden City also, which means possibly smaller class size but less AP and electives offered in the high school. If this matters to you, a higher percentage of Jericho students attend ivy-league schools or "little-ivys" compared to Garden City. However, a good number Garden City students attend ivy schools as well.
Both Garden City and Jericho are expensive areas. Garden City is located closer to Queens and has better convince to the LIRR with having 5 stations in the town. In Jericho you might be able to get more property since the houses are little more spread out. Garden City has more quaint houses, but both areas have nice houses. Garden City has also a downtown area, but Jericho has some nice stores around it. Garden City is closer to more crime-ridden areas like Hempstead and Uniondale, but is still very safe. Both Garden City and Jericho are stereotyped to be rich, snobby, materialistic towns.
Keep in mind that there is more to school that statistics. If you are interested in both SD I'd visit the schools as well. I'd also try to get to know some people in both areas to see if you'd fit in. Remember it is just as important for a school to be good socially as it is academically. Good luck.
I am from Garden City and attended the SD. My mom is also a teacher in one of the elementary schools in the Garden City SD.
I will describe my experience with the Garden City SD from MY POINT OF VIEW, so someone else point of view may be different. I'll note that I graduated in the mid-2000s so I've been out of SD for awhile.
Garden City SD has a great reputation and looks good on paper. Being a student, I can say that the education is very good. However, my family moved to Garden City about 15 years ago because of the SD. We were more middle-class than upper-middle class or upper-class. I know this is stereotypical, but I found many of the students to be mean, snobby, materialistic, and spoiled. I had a good group of friends who weren't like that, but I felt many students were the stereotype. I feel Garden City students tend to be more focused on sports and material goods rather than academics, even though the SD receives high scores statistically.
The elementary schools were great in Garden City. I did not like Garden City Middle School. Although most of the teachers were fantastic, the students were rude, disrespectful, and many acted up class. This may had to do with the age group, but I felt the administration was disorganized about discipline and therefore teachers could not control students as well as they wanted to. However, I haven't attended the middle school since the early 2000s, so things probably changed. I know they hired a new principal, but I'm not sure how he is on discipline.
The high school is decent. Some good teachers and some bad ones like everywhere. Has your typical high school problems like drugs, etc. Students seem to have matured more by then, but definitely still snobby and materialistic. When I attended 9th grade at GCHS, the honor roll standards were low and almost everyone was on the honor roll even though if some people had a B- average. Again, this could have changed. My parents decided to send me to catholic high school after 9th grade (and as I said my mom is a teacher in the SD). While the education was good, they were fed up with snobby, materialistic atmosphere. Actually, a good percentage of families in Garden City decide to send their children to private elementary and high school because they don't want their children in the stereotypical Garden City atmosphere.
On a side note: I actually found the education at my catholic high school to be better than Garden City High School.
As for Jericho I don't know much about it only that it was the top SD on Long Island for years. However, my second relatives are from Jericho and sent my cousins to the Jericho SD. From what I heard they liked it a lot. Don't know anything about the students socially though. I apologize if you fall into this demographic, but Jericho is mostly Jewish and Asian. Where as Garden City is mostly white catholic with a good number of protestants. But only recently has Jericho become about 30% Asian. I don't mean to sound racist, but my relatives ended up moving out of their neighborhood in Jericho after my cousins graduated because the section they lived in is completely Asian now.
I believe Jericho is a little smaller than Garden City also, which means possibly smaller class size but less AP and electives offered in the high school. If this matters to you, a higher percentage of Jericho students attend ivy-league schools or "little-ivys" compared to Garden City. However, a good number Garden City students attend ivy schools as well.
Both Garden City and Jericho are expensive areas. Garden City is located closer to Queens and has better convince to the LIRR with having 5 stations in the town. In Jericho you might be able to get more property since the houses are little more spread out. Garden City has more quaint houses, but both areas have nice houses. Garden City has also a downtown area, but Jericho has some nice stores around it. Garden City is closer to more crime-ridden areas like Hempstead and Uniondale, but is still very safe. Both Garden City and Jericho are stereotyped to be rich, snobby, materialistic towns.
Keep in mind that there is more to school that statistics. If you are interested in both SD I'd visit the schools as well. I'd also try to get to know some people in both areas to see if you'd fit in. Remember it is just as important for a school to be good socially as it is academically. Good luck.
Thanks for taking the time to give us your first-hand experience!
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
