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.
I've been a Farmingville resident for about half of my life and went to school there, and still have siblings in the school.
Would you give your firsthand experience in the schools as a student? What were honors classes like? Equipment in the classrooms? Did you feel the teachers were there for the paycheck, or there because theyloved teaching? Social experiences -- cliques, drugs, race relations? Your siblings' experience is more current, but they aren't the ones on City Data.
This might be asking too much, but did your family relocate to Farmingville from elsewhere on LI, and if they dud, why?
^^^
Communities with the most ESL going on (and for older children) have a lot of illegal alien children who are smuggled into the country by parents rather than kids born here of the wives or girlfriends of day laborers. I agree when we talk about ESL, we can also think of other than spanish speaking ... I grew up with a family who moved from Italy (whose dad was fluent in english and moved to the USA for a job) and the kids needed ESL help at the beginning, but caught on fast.Often families that don't speak or write english themselves WANT their kids born in the US to know english and enroll them in school on time so their kids or grandkids can help them with paperwork, translating, etc. A lot of asian families in the city have been like that for ages! However, in the long run, ESL education costs money, but in this "global economy" whether the immigrants be white collar executives or farm hands, it is something we cannot simply stop doing, is it?
My grandmother spoke nothing but Spanish until she started grammar school as a young child -- despite being born in the US; I understand your point.
I am trying to make the best decision for my home purchase. Not able to afford Mount Sinai, Port Jefferson, Three Village or Smithtown schools, I am trying to find something in a nearby district which offers a sound education, located in a fairly stable area. I know three people (only 1 has children, much older than John910) in the Ronkonkoma area near Hawkins, and they are happy over there. They had no real issues to speak of. I know that the economy is lousy and a house might lose value because of it, but I don't want to buy a house in an area which will lose value because it went downhill. Free lunches, increases in ESL programs could be indicative of changes to come down the road.
A map of the Hamlet of Farmingville in the Town of Brookhaven, Suffolk County
For those who may not be familiar with Farmingville:
A map of the Hamlet of Farmingville in the Town of Brookhaven, Suffolk County:
The Hamlet of Farmingville has a different border than does the "Farmingville, NY 11738" ZIP Code postal zone (i.e., a place can have a "Farmingville, NY 11738" mailing address and not be in the Hamlet of Farmingville and a place can have other than a "Farmingville, NY 11738" mailing address and be in the Hamlet of Farmingville): places that have a "Farmingville, NY 11738" mailing address that are not in the Hamlet of Farmingville are in the Hamlet of Centereach, the Hamlet of Selden, the Hamlet of Coram and the Hamlet of Holtsville; and, at the same time, there are places in the Hamlet of Farmingville with a "Centereach, NY 11720" and "Holtsville, NY 11742" mailing address.
The reality is what the reality is? What does the state Portion Road, Farmingville have to do with East? You keep bringing this up and it is totally irrelevant.
Fact of the mater is, with comments like "I'm not comfortable with the direction that some parts of east are going" proves that you have 0 knowledge about the school. Yes, Farmingville has some well documented challenges, but OP isn't moving to Farmingville. He/She asked a question about Sachem East. Farmingville has had the illegal immigrant problem for years and it still has had no effect on the schools.
And don't start with the "I'm entitled to my opinion". It's not an opinion, you're just wrong.
I am trying to make the best decision for my home purchase. Not able to afford Mount Sinai, Port Jefferson, Three Village or Smithtown schools, I am trying to find something in a nearby district which offers a sound education, located in a fairly stable area. I know three people (only 1 has children, much older than John910) in the Ronkonkoma area near Hawkins, and they are happy over there. They had no real issues to speak of. I know that the economy is lousy and a house might lose value because of it, but I don't want to buy a house in an area which will lose value because it went downhill. Free lunches, increases in ESL programs could be indicative of changes to come down the road.
You might want to check out Hempstead or Roosevelt in Nassau, they're in your price range. Ultimately, you'd probably be better off somewhere other than LI though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Crookhaven
Sean albeit relatively low,is population taken into account?
You are talking about the largest disrtict on the Island.(State?)
Conversely East Hampton is one of the smallest.
Nassau?
Crooks
Is population taken into account for what? That's what a percentage is....
If "DISTRICT A" has 200 students and only one school with 5 classes (one for each grade, K-4) and is 10% ESL students, there will be 4 ESL students per class.
If "DISTRICT B" has 20,000 students and 20 schools with 5 classes per grade (K-4) and is 10% ESL students, there will be 4 ESL students per class.
C'mon Crooks.... I have a feeling that somewhere, a Jr. High math teacher is spinning in their grave right now
I could compile a whole list for Nassau (& the rest of Suffolk) if you want, but it would have to be in another thread.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 4DogsImDone
When you were in school, did you do everyone else's homework, too? The kid needs to learn to fight his own fights, but doesn't need to when he has an enabler doing it for him. John910 wrote Crookhaven doesn't know anything because he doesn't live there. You're burping up stats without insight of living in an area you were "blunt" about a few posts ago.
To tell you the truth, I don't really know shiit about nor care about Sachem whatsoever. Going on my fourth year reading & posting on this forum, I remember the outcome from the 4,000 other times this same exact topic has been brought up (consensus: Sachem does not have a lot of illegal immigrant ESL students) and was amused that OBH was so adamantly suggesting the "stats" "stats" "stats" imply MS-13 anchor baby taxpayer rape. And besides getting to humor myself with crapping all over something I think is dumb (illegal immigrants!! hysteria!! sachem east vs. sachem north microanalysis!!) I think the information I posted is also probably pretty interesting to people who actually do care about the area/districts listed, regardless of whatever anyone wants to interpret it to mean. If not for that I wouldn't have bothered responding. I didn't realize her post wasn't an open question to the forum and I'm sorry I completely ruined the unfolding drama of John9l0's response to this fascinating subject that you must have been anxiously awaiting.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 4DogsImDone
We all know what is on paper isn't always what you see.
Well you can see whatever you want to, but the actual headcount per district is up there if you want to look at it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 4DogsImDone
Ohbeehave made a point about expense to taxpayers and the link to the Sachem Patch stated there are 11 ESL teachers. If those ESL teachers are earning (hypothetically, but not unrealistically) $70,000 plus benefits, how much does that translate into tax burden per taxpayer?
Benefits have to cost at least $35k/year per teacher, so...
x = (11 * (~105,000)) - state/federal funding - commercial tax base / every single residential property in the enormous area that Sachem encompasses....
Scratch that, too confusing. Here's a better way to think of it...
According to the most recent Budget Modification posted by the Sachem Board of Ed, the 2010-2011 school year budget is $282,111,665. The 11 ESL teachers cost the district roughly $1.2 million dollars. So take 0.42% and increase the average residential school taxes ($4-5k/yr?) by that amount and it cost every taxpayer about eighteen dollars, although that's before factoring in state/federal aid and the commercial/industrial/multifamily tax base being taxed at a higher rate. In other words, it cost less than repairing a portion of the roof at Sachem East HS (reported as $1.4 million in the link).
I think those taxes are, like everywhere else on LI, stupid ridiculous...but what are you gonna do? Like I_Love_LI_but mentioned, these aren't really services any district can afford to cut.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 4DogsImDone
Crookhaven pointed out that Sachem is a huge district. You pointed out a few others nearby that were big (Smithtown having 2 high schools and Three Village) which didn't have the percentage of ESL Sachem had.
See reply to Crookhaven above. The difference between Smithtown/3V & Sachem was within a whopping 0.5%
Quote:
Originally Posted by 4DogsImDone
What percentage of ESL in the each of these 3 districts is Spanish? Were you able to learn that? Chances are it will be a much greater number in Sachem as opposed to Smithtown and Three Village, which tend to attract foreign families who are relocating for careers at Stony Brook. Often, they are Asian or European.
I doubt many of them are Spanish, maybe Hispanic, but no there isn't a breakout of demographics per ESL segment. The absolute most difference there could be in amount of HISPANIC ESL students between Smithtown or 3V would be 172, and that would require every single ESL student at Sachem to be Hispanic while there are zero at Smithtown/3V. I seriously doubt that is the case, and even if it were than it would still amount to a whole mind boggling 172 students amongst over 15,000 being in ESL classes. Whoopdie doo....
Quote:
Originally Posted by 4DogsImDone
Deny or accept it, but the presence of illegal immigrants to Farmingville and surrounding communities has an impact on the Sachem schools as the day laborers send for families and start having children with their wives or girlfriends.
Well I've been wavering between not caring and vaguely disagreeing this whole time, but with these bold statements and cliched rhetoric you have completely changed my mind. Great job!
Sachem Central School District: 172 ESL students out of 15,014. That's 1.1% of the student body... (source: here)
Below is a list of every single district in the Town of Brookhaven. Looks like 1.1% is pretty far down towards the low end...
Bayport-Blue Point UFSD: 0.4% ESL students (source)
Three Village Central SD: 0.6% ESL students (source)
Eastport-South Manor Central HS District: 0.6% ESL students (source)
Shoreham-Wading River Central SD: 0.6% ESL students (source)
Mount Sinai UFSD: 0.8% ESL students (source)
Miller Place UFSD: 0.9% ESL students (source)
Port Jefferson UFSD: 1.2% ESL students (source)
Rocky Point UFSD: 2.1% ESL students (source)
Center Moriches UFSD: 2.2% ESL students (source)
East Moriches UFSD: 2.5% ESL students (source)
Middle Country Central SD: 3.2% ESL students (source)
Longwood Central SD: 3.5% ESL students (source)
William Floyd UFSD: 3.7% ESL students (source)
Brookhaven-Comsewogue UFSD: 4.8% ESL students (source)
South Country Central SD: 5.8% ESL students (source)
Fire Island UFSD: 6.9% ESL students (source)
Patchogue-Medford UFSD: 9.5% ESL students (source)
And just for good measure, let's include a few elsewhere on LI. These were chosen somewhat at random, but I tried to make sure at least a few areas people think of as "typical" were included:
Smithtown Central SD: 0.7% ESL students (source)
Plainedge UFSD: 1.3% ESL students (source)
Babylon UFSD: 1.4% ESL students (source)
Harborfields Central SD: 1.6% ESL students (source)
Jericho UFSD: 1.7% ESL students (source)
Levittown UFSD: 2.0% ESL students (source)
Great Neck UFSD: 4.6% ESL students (source)
Herricks UFSD: 4.8% ESL students (source)
East Hampton UFSD: 12.0% ESL students (source)
The 21 or 22 year old is correct...any illegal immigrant population residing in Farmingville doesn't translate to a major economic burden for Sachem taxpayers. Either they have kids that speak English really well, or (more likely) they don't have kids at all.
John was also correct about no school in Sachem being more than 10% Hispanic at most. Well, technically that's not true.....Gatelot Avenue Elementary School in Lake Ronkonkoma was 12% Hispanic, but also less than 2% ESL students. I'm guessing Tecumseh (9% Hispanic, 3% ESL) is the elementary that covers the dreaded Portion Road illegal immigrant area?
Sachem North had, not really that surprisingly, a marginally higher percentage of both Hispanic (7%) and ESL (1.1%) students than Sachem East (6% Hispanic, 0.9% ESL)...
Good post Sean x4. Thanks for spending your time to compile the stats.
Good post Sean x4. Thanks for spending your time to compile the stats.
Anytime, Z
I also wanna mention, again, that despite some coarse language regarding it - I think Sachem is a fine school district covering a solid area. I have no firsthand experience whatsoever with the schools, so my opinion comes from word-of-mouth and academic statistics....however in my experience (with places that I am intimately familiar with), academic performance is an incredibly accurate indicator as to the overall quality of an area. Like anything else, there is some degree of flexibility within that, but 999 times out of 1,000 a school district that posts - at the very least - average figures (for Long Island) will be located within a high quality community. If anyone disagrees, good luck finding me an example.
On the other side of that, there are some people who will say that Sachem does not post average statistics (for Long Island), that it's near the bottom....and I think that is a crock, too. If you look at either high school's place on a big list, yes - it is middle-to-bottom, but the academic performance is still 75-80% of what you're getting at districts considered to be the best in the country (Jericho, CSH, etc.). Rankings of LI schools should be viewed as a bell curve, and places like Sachem are far closer to the top than to anything truly undesirable. I'd really say that, looking at things "big picture" and discounting individual needs or programs, essentially every single district on Long Island offers it's students a quality education and the differences between "average" ones are trivial at best. As long as you're not in Roosevelt, Hempstead, Uniondale, Freeport, Wyandanch, Brentwood, etc. - you're OK. That's why the fretting about North vs. East seems comical to me....and for all the hoopla about illegal immigrants on Portion Road effecting the whole of Sachem East, as it turns out that school actually has a smaller population of Hispanics than North! And both are minuscule! It just seems ridiculous. The day laborer situation is well documented and obviously negative, but there is little evidence it has any noticeable effect on surrounding areas or on the school district.
And though the Sachem SD area is not one that I know as well as SE Nassau County, for instance, work and travel has brought me through or into most parts of it countless times. Enough to form an opinion of it for myself, at least. This is not an area that appeals to me in particular, it does not suit my personal preference nor would I ever consider moving there, but I have a feeling my tastes are not very closely in line with typical Long Islanders. Is it "nice"? Yes, no question....in fact, some parts I do find visually appealing, though I still wouldn't shop there. I like the scenery around Bald Hill ("Seven Sisters" area?) in Farmingville, for instance. I also like parts of Ronkonkoma, I like that it's one of the "classic" LI towns and it's history as a resort community surrounding the lake. In another thread I "bluntly" said (paraphrasing): "that area really blows", but I don't really think that....I should have chosen my words more carefully. I feel the same way about places like Dix Hills and Syosset, but I certainly don't think those are "bad" places by any stretch of the imagination....they're just not for me.
Sorry for the long diatribe here, but I feel like one poster in particular here has been up my ass for the last few pages and I want to make sure I don't step on any toes, or somehow misrepresent myself as being some kind of expert on Sachem.
From the perspective of someone who doesn't live there or have any interest staked in the area: Sachem SD is a good buy. Good place to live. That's my advice and I'm sticking to it
Would you give your firsthand experience in the schools as a student? What were honors classes like? Equipment in the classrooms? Did you feel the teachers were there for the paycheck, or there because theyloved teaching? Social experiences -- cliques, drugs, race relations? Your siblings' experience is more current, but they aren't the ones on City Data.
This might be asking too much, but did your family relocate to Farmingville from elsewhere on LI, and if they dud, why?
It was a typical high school. My teachers were all decent for the most part, some good some bad. Typical high school cliques, drugs of course like any high school, no race wars.
You might want to check out Hempstead or Roosevelt in Nassau, they're in your price range. Ultimately, you'd probably be better off somewhere other than LI though.
Is population taken into account for what? That's what a percentage is....
If "DISTRICT A" has 200 students and only one school with 5 classes (one for each grade, K-4) and is 10% ESL students, there will be 4 ESL students per class.
If "DISTRICT B" has 20,000 students and 20 schools with 5 classes per grade (K-4) and is 10% ESL students, there will be 4 ESL students per class.
C'mon Crooks.... I have a feeling that somewhere, a Jr. High math teacher is spinning in their grave right now
I could compile a whole list for Nassau (& the rest of Suffolk) if you want, but it would have to be in another thread.
To tell you the truth, I don't really know shiit about nor care about Sachem whatsoever. Going on my fourth year reading & posting on this forum, I remember the outcome from the 4,000 other times this same exact topic has been brought up (consensus: Sachem does not have a lot of illegal immigrant ESL students) and was amused that OBH was so adamantly suggesting the "stats" "stats" "stats" imply MS-13 anchor baby taxpayer rape. And besides getting to humor myself with crapping all over something I think is dumb (illegal immigrants!! hysteria!! sachem east vs. sachem north microanalysis!!) I think the information I posted is also probably pretty interesting to people who actually do care about the area/districts listed, regardless of whatever anyone wants to interpret it to mean. If not for that I wouldn't have bothered responding. I didn't realize her post wasn't an open question to the forum and I'm sorry I completely ruined the unfolding drama of John9l0's response to this fascinating subject that you must have been anxiously awaiting.
Well you can see whatever you want to, but the actual headcount per district is up there if you want to look at it.
Benefits have to cost at least $35k/year per teacher, so...
x = (11 * (~105,000)) - state/federal funding - commercial tax base / every single residential property in the enormous area that Sachem encompasses....
Scratch that, too confusing. Here's a better way to think of it...
According to the most recent Budget Modification posted by the Sachem Board of Ed, the 2010-2011 school year budget is $282,111,665. The 11 ESL teachers cost the district roughly $1.2 million dollars. So take 0.42% and increase the average residential school taxes ($4-5k/yr?) by that amount and it cost every taxpayer about eighteen dollars, although that's before factoring in state/federal aid and the commercial/industrial/multifamily tax base being taxed at a higher rate. In other words, it cost less than repairing a portion of the roof at Sachem East HS (reported as $1.4 million in the link).
I think those taxes are, like everywhere else on LI, stupid ridiculous...but what are you gonna do? Like I_Love_LI_but mentioned, these aren't really services any district can afford to cut.
See reply to Crookhaven above. The difference between Smithtown/3V & Sachem was within a whopping 0.5%
I doubt many of them are Spanish, maybe Hispanic, but no there isn't a breakout of demographics per ESL segment. The absolute most difference there could be in amount of HISPANIC ESL students between Smithtown or 3V would be 172, and that would require every single ESL student at Sachem to be Hispanic while there are zero at Smithtown/3V. I seriously doubt that is the case, and even if it were than it would still amount to a whole mind boggling 172 students amongst over 15,000 being in ESL classes. Whoopdie doo....
Well I've been wavering between not caring and vaguely disagreeing this whole time, but with these bold statements and cliched rhetoric you have completely changed my mind. Great job!
Ok
Slow on the uptake here. I though the %s were v Genpops.
It is the most recent NYS Report Card, dated Jan. 29, 2010, and the district looks good on paper. I compared it with my district (3V) and it looked good. In fact, Sachem has far fewer paraprofessionals than 3V. Time to start questioning why that is at the school board meetings. 288 for under 8K students as opposed to Sachem's 176 for 15K -- how much is that costing us?
East has several hundred more students and a much newer school building. Science and social studies have higher average class sizes; with regard to science, I would question whether that is because the new building has larger science classrooms, or if cut backs in science programs necessitated a larger class size.
I don't fault anyone for wanting to be careful as to where they buy. Currently I am looking to buy down south and am trying to learn about that area as much as possible. Schools will not be a concern where my children are concerned as this is for retirement in the long run, but the quality and caliber of the schools local to the house will dictate the potential neighbors one might have. If a buyer wanted to be around white collar, MBA's they are not going to look in an area where at the end of the day there are commercial, lettered vehicles in every couple of driveways. (To wit: James Simons lives in the 3V, but isn't going to be buying his next house on my 3V street anytime soon as we are a mix of contractors, clammers, professors and retirees.)
I haven't posted on the FL forum about this because my concern is that I would get a bunch of what the OP got on this thread. Instead I have hooked up with friends and family there and utilized their knowledge. That is a very lucky break for me, not having to go in cold.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
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.
A map of the Hamlet of Farmingville in the Town of Brookhaven, Suffolk County
