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Hello. I am currently in the process of relocating from Brooklyn to the Huntington area with my husband and 2-year-old. We are leaning towards private schools, but are also considering CSH and Harborfields, as they have excellent reputations and we are considering homes in Huntington, Centerport, and CSH. I graduated from Harborfields HS in the 90s, and would be happy if my daughter had the same educational experience as me, but I understand the district has grown and changed a lot in the last decade.
We're also looking in Cold Spring Hills and Huntington Bay, so comments on Huntington and S. Huntington SDs are also welcome, although I'm less impressed with these districts.
Please do not post maps, as I am not interested in this. I want to hear people's recent impressions of the schools.
Two great districts. If you want more of a "mix" of economic backgrounds, go with Harborfields. If you want a more similar socioeconomic background, go with CSH. I would personally stay away from S.H, and Huntington districts.
And just adding in, I saw an old thread that is now locked where there was a discussion about Harborfields having a portion of Huntington Station attending. I like you, did not believe this was true, but it actually is. It's only a few blocks of HS, right around Park Ave. For ex, street names are Bennet Ave, Gardiner Ave, Columbus, Hartland ave and a small part of Prairie. It's a nice area, just North of the East Rogues Path, South of Lake and west of Park. But it's really only about 5 small streets. Again, it's a nice area though. Aside from that, Harborfields is probably much more crowded than when you went to school, but it's still a great district. Depends which appeals to you more out of the 2 districts, and also, which area has home prices more suitable to your budget.
Last edited by Glad2BHere; 03-22-2012 at 10:48 AM..
Haborfields has grown to 3600 students from a size you probably recall of about 2600 students. It has retained its excellent reputation nonetheless. Interestingly, they are experiencing a fairly steady decline in enrollment like the rest of Suffolk and will be down to 3000 or so over the next few years. It has a very low minority population. Middle and upper middle class population. (tending towards upper middle). There are some million dollar homes there also as you most like already know. It is one of the best schoools in Suffolk and sends close to 100% of its grads to college. I would say it has changed very little since you went to school there.
Cold Spring Harbor, on the other hand, is uniformly upper middle and upper class. (tending towards upper class). It has absolutely no minority population to speak of which makes it almost unique in Nassau and Suffolk Counties. You read that correctly as there are almost 0 Hispanics, Asians, or African Americans in the district. It is about half the size of Harborfields. It sends 100% of its grads to college and provides an excellent education.
Thank you! Diversity is a very important consideration for us, both in the student body and faculty. We considered staying in Brooklyn for this reason, but simply need more space. When I was in school CSH was pretty uniform and (from what I've read/heard) hasn't changed much. Oddly, some of the more exclusive private schools seem to have more diversity due to scholarship and recruitment efforts and because the entire student body does not come from the same area.
We are planning on at least one more kid, so if we go the public school route we can afford a lot more house and property in either district.
Interesting about the small H. Station area in Harborfields (and understandable why the Times article left it out considering how small it is).
Thank you! Diversity is a very important consideration for us, both in the student body and faculty. We considered staying in Brooklyn for this reason, but simply need more space. When I was in school CSH was pretty uniform and (from what I've read/heard) hasn't changed much. Oddly, some of the more exclusive private schools seem to have more diversity due to scholarship and recruitment efforts and because the entire student body does not come from the same area.
We are planning on at least one more kid, so if we go the public school route we can afford a lot more house and property in either district.
Interesting about the small H. Station area in Harborfields (and understandable why the Times article left it out considering how small it is).
You might as well take advantage of the excellent public schools in the areas you are looking at unless you want to go the private route for the connections, etc. You will already be paying for them with your property taxes.
Cold Spring Hills is beautiful but there was a recent thread you might want to check out about the Oheka castle property and the proposed condos to be built there. Just an FYI, I'd be leery of where I buy there.
Cold Spring Hills is beautiful but there was a recent thread you might want to check out about the Oheka castle property and the proposed condos to be built there. Just an FYI, I'd be leery of where I buy there.
Yes, I've been active in that thread. Unfortunately, we passed on an absolute dream house because of the development. It currently overlooks the golf course and Oheka, but would eventually view the development. Such a shame! We're still open to the neighborhood though as long as it's on the opposite side of the golf course.
You might as well take advantage of the excellent public schools in the areas you are looking at unless you want to go the private route for the connections, etc. You will already be paying for them with your property taxes.
As I said, we are considering it, but IMO it's about more than just connections. The private schools we're looking at have very unique curriculum and methods for exposing children to knowledge and intellectual discipline that public schools (even excellent ones) simply can't/don't compete with.
Interesting about the small H. Station area in Harborfields (and understandable why the Times article left it out considering how small it is).
I am sure that is only reason it was left out. Harborfields is mostly Centerport, Greenlawn and parts of Huntington. HS portion is literally just a few blocks and I truly never knew that part was Harborfields. But it's very nice area with well kept homes and nice sized lots.
If you prefer a BIT of diversity, go with Harborfields all the way. Not saying it is very diverse, b/c that would be false. But it has all populations represented even if in small numbers, whereas CSH does not. If you want to verify this breakdown within the schools, just go to greatschools. net and look up each district/school and class/student population information for diversity breakdown.
As I said, we are considering it, but IMO it's about more than just connections. The private schools we're looking at have very unique curriculum and methods for exposing children to knowledge and intellectual discipline that public schools (even excellent ones) simply can't/don't compete with.
Well then if you have schools in mind that you like, then I would consider any school district. The reality is the taxes of the homes in the districts that are "less" desirable are sometimes just as expensive as those that are in "more" desirable districts.
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