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Hello all. My family and I will be moving from Park Slope to Laurel Hollow later this spring. Our daughter will be starting kindergarten in 2013. We are currently weighing public vs. private education and are researching private schools in the area. I am especially interested in the following schools and hope some of you might have some thoughts, experience, gossip, commute times, etc. about them. We're trying to keep the commute to as far under 30 minutes as possible.
East Woods School, Oyster Bay (Only 5 minutes from home!)
Buckley Country Day School, Roslyn (my favorite based on word of mouth and research)
Friends Academy, Locust Valley (second favorite)
Portledge School, Locust Valley (We love the campus and program, but are afraid the atmosphere might be a bit too country clubby)
Progressive School of LI, Merrick (I really love this school's approach but the commute might be too much for a 5-year-old.)
Insight into Cold Spring Harbor School District is also welcome, especially Goose Hill Primary.
Please do not post maps or hamlet names. I already know where the schools are located, thank you.
Friends is supposed to be very good academically. They're always on the LI Challenge. I haven't had much to do with Buckley in a while, but I remember it being a nice looking place. Progressive follows a humanism philosophy and it was kind of like a hippy school. Is Eric and his wife still there?
Many folks in your situation have considered the same schools and have sent their children to CSH's Goose Hill Primary School. You are fortunate to be in the CSH district. The public schools themselves in CSH certainly have a bit of that that preppy county-cluby feel; and, this may surprise you, have a higher socio-economic student body than Friends or Portledge.
If you were in the Oyster Bay School District your decision would probably be between Friends and East Woods in the younger years as the public school's reputation and achievements are poor. In the upper-school years I believe Friends is considered a better bet than Portledge.
Best of luck in your choices.
Many folks in your situation have considered the same schools and have sent their children to CSH's Goose Hill Primary School. You are fortunate to be in the CSH district. The public schools themselves in CSH certainly have a bit of that that preppy county-cluby feel; and, this may surprise you, have a higher socio-economic student body than Friends or Portledge.
If you were in the Oyster Bay School District your decision would probably be between Friends and East Woods in the younger years as the public school's reputation and achievements are poor. In the upper-school years I believe Friends is considered a better bet than Portledge.
Best of luck in your choices.
Besides the educational approach, this is a major factor in our decision process. I like that the private schools level the playing field financially allowing for more economic and cultural diversity. We are still considering the public schools as an option.
I am especially interested in East Woods as my daughter can start out in pre-K and because it is minutes from our new home. We also like the idea of our daughter contributing to the eventual decision making process of where she will go to high school (although I find it somewhat odd that the school goes through 9th grade - thus the kids only spending 3 years at their chosen high schools.)
As someone who went through it, I can assure you that the playing field is not leveled for financial and economic diversity. The schools my accept the students and everyone is treated equally in the classroom, but there is a social hiarchy followed by the parents and in various degrees echoed by the students. Remember, when the kids want to have playdates outside of school, parents have to arrange them and provide transportation. Not everyone will have the time or the inclination to drive to various areas. The parents, themselves tend to form cliques and this filters down to the kids, more so the younger the students are.
As someone who went through it, I can assure you that the playing field is not leveled for financial and economic diversity. The schools my accept the students and everyone is treated equally in the classroom, but there is a social hiarchy followed by the parents and in various degrees echoed by the students. Remember, when the kids want to have playdates outside of school, parents have to arrange them and provide transportation. Not everyone will have the time or the inclination to drive to various areas. The parents, themselves tend to form cliques and this filters down to the kids, more so the younger the students are.
Thank you. Yes, I assumed/know as much. I imagine this type of hegemony will be present in any suburban school, public or private (except of course for the geographic cliques that likely occur when students commute from across the island). It was certainly the case when I was a student growing up in the Harborfields district.
I should have said "attempt to level the playing field" and allow for some diversity. From my understanding CSH is a very uniform white upper income district. Having lived in Manhattan and Brooklyn for the last 10+ years, this is a very different environment for my husband and me and not the ideal we imagine for our daughter. I want her to experience different types of people and have a first rate education.
Did you attend one of these schools as a student? Parent? I really would love to hear more of your perspective (educationally and socially).
Thank you. Yes, I assumed/know as much. I imagine this type of hegemony will be present in any suburban school, public or private (except of course for the geographic cliques that likely occur when students commute from across the island). It was certainly the case when I was a student growing up in the Harborfields district.
I should have said "attempt to level the playing field" and allow for some diversity. From my understanding CSH is a very uniform white upper income district. Having lived in Manhattan and Brooklyn for the last 10+ years, this is a very different environment for my husband and me and not the ideal we imagine for our daughter. I want her to experience different types of people and have a first rate education.
Did you attend one of these schools as a student? Parent? I really would love to hear more of your perspective (educationally and socially).
Not sure of the peculiar notion of going to private school (East Woods, Portledge, Friends, et al) to experience some sort of diversity, etc etc. If you have moved to CSH you are surely not looking for diversity. Harborfields, Manhasset, and Port Washington would have filled the diversity/academic excellence aims quite a bit a bit better. Best of luck.
We faced the same decision many years ago and ultimately decided to go the private route with our kids, not because the local public school options weren't excellent (including CSH, where I graduated from back in the dark ages), but because we liked the alternative approach to education, social discipline, and student-to-teacher ratio private education offered.
I'd say you can't go wrong with any of those schools (including Goose Hill), although Portledge gets my vote (DM me if you want to know more). I'll also say that the "country club on the hill" reputation of CSH is partially mythological. CSH is a very good, and rather normal, public school system.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Quick Commenter
Not sure of the peculiar notion of going to private school (East Woods, Portledge, Friends, et al) to experience some sort of diversity, etc etc. If you have moved to CSH you are surely not looking for diversity. Harborfields, Manhasset, and Port Washington would have filled the diversity/academic excellence aims quite a bit a bit better. Best of luck.
I don't think the OP said she moved to CSH looking for diversity, just that diversity was something she didn't want totally absent from her child's education. Given the options, private schools (or at least the ones I am familiar with) are going to offer more diversity (reflected in the student body, faculty, and curriculum) than CSH the public schools. They're still going to be mostly white and affluent, but at least they can (and have) established diversity as a value in their admissions policy (something public schools cannot do) and curriculum.
Ethnic diversity stats for the schools mentioned:
Buckley Country Day
Ethnic Background Percent Year
Asian/Pacific Islander 11.7647 2008
Hispanic 9.80392 2008
Black, non-Hispanic 6.66667 2008
White, non-Hispanic 71.7647 2008
Cold Spring Harbor High School
Ethnic Background Percent Year
White, non-Hispanic 98.9484 2009
Black, non-Hispanic 0.382409 2009
Hispanic 0.0956023 2009
Asian/Pacific Islander 0.573614 2009
Hello all. My family and I will be moving from Park Slope to Laurel Hollow later this spring. Our daughter will be starting kindergarten in 2013. We are currently weighing public vs. private education and are researching private schools in the area. I am especially interested in the following schools and hope some of you might have some thoughts, experience, gossip, commute times, etc. about them. We're trying to keep the commute to as far under 30 minutes as possible.
East Woods School, Oyster Bay (Only 5 minutes from home!)
Buckley Country Day School, Roslyn (my favorite based on word of mouth and research)
Friends Academy, Locust Valley (second favorite)
Portledge School, Locust Valley (We love the campus and program, but are afraid the atmosphere might be a bit too country clubby)
Progressive School of LI, Merrick (I really love this school's approach but the commute might be too much for a 5-year-old.)
Insight into Cold Spring Harbor School District is also welcome, especially Goose Hill Primary.
Please do not post maps or hamlet names. I already know where the schools are located, thank you.
My brother went to East Woods from Pre K through graduation. My sister went there for several years, then transferred back to public school. (Oyster Bay Cove) My brother is in his 20s.
I know many people who send and have sent their children to all of the above schools, with the exclusion of Merrick Progressive, which is on the South Shore. I am personally in favor of progressive schools, but Merrick is quite a haul from Laurel Hollow. I would never want a five year old to make that trip once, let alone daily!
Long island's North Shore has some of the best public schools around, and even the most average of schools are better than most schools in rest of the country. Cold Spring Harbor is a "boutique" public school district, and has a superb reputation.
All of the private schools you mention have a contingent of "country clubish" types, with the exclusion of Friend's Academy, which has always been more liberal and less snobish than the others, following the Friend's tradition.
At one time, all almost everyone at these schools were WASPY, and very upper class. By this I don't only mean wealthy. That goes without saying.
I am referring to Social Register, future debutant types.And yes, they still have coming out parties. There are still a significant amount of this type of people at each.They try to play it down to a greater or lesser extent at each school, but it's their. If you voted for George Bush, are a distant relative, have a Grandmother who is a member of the D.A.R. and own a forty foot ketch, this is not a thought.
If not, know that at those schools, most people attend boarding or prep school after 9th grade. I believe Portledge still goes up to twelfth grade. My younger brother went to prep school after East Woods, as did most of his cohorts.
You have to think of why the parents are making this choice, and then the exclusive factor will make sense. It is not as though their children will get substandard educations at Locust Valley or Cold Spring Harbor. There are no gangs there.
Of them, I would chose Friend's Academy. Hands down.
I would at least look at Cold Spring harbor, though.
I don't know your background, socially or ethnically; and obviously money is not an issue, as it is not for most of the people in that area.
The fact that you are even thinking about a Progressive School on the South Shore, sets you apart from the contingent that I am referencing.
Friend's or CSH District first, Buckley second.
Best of luck. I am interested to hear your feed back.
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