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I've read that Branch Brook Elementary is being closed and the children are being split up between Mount Pleasant and Tackan. Both of these schools feed into Great Hollow MS BUT when it comes time for HS, the students attending GH get split up between HSE and HSW.
Until 1992, everybody from Great Hollow and Nessaquake went to East, and everybody from Accompsett went to West. The result was East being about twice the number of students as West, even though the buildings have about the same capacity. You are correct that now Great Hollow is split between East and West, in order to keep East and West about the same size.
What I wonder is, does Great Hollow being split between 2 high schools cause any problems, such as students being separated from half of their friends? Is the Great Hollow culture more aligned with East or West? Or is that not really an issue?
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Didn't Smithtown close Nesconset elementary not too long ago?
That is correct.m
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ngAMommy cited that Smithtown has two high schools compared to 3V's one HS. Smithtown E & W have approximately 860 students combined graduating this year. IIRC, Smithtown had mothballed one HS years back due to declining enrollments, and then reopened it again.
More accurately, one of the high schools (East) became the middle school, and West became the one high school. This was in 1992. One of the middle schools (Accompsett, which is on the same campus as HS West) became the Freshman Campus, while the West building was for Grades 10 to 12. The other 2 middle schools, Great Hollow, and Nessaquake, were "mothballed", to use your term. Sometime in the 2000s, the district returned to its pre-1992 configuration, where Great Hollow and Nessaquake reopened, East reverted back to being a high school, and Accompsett reverted back to being a middle school.
Not sure if it really matters, but West is a newer and nicer building than East, and West also has a much more efficient layout and is much easier to navigate. The one negative I remember to West was that a lot of classrooms don't have windows, but I think nearly every classroom in East has a window. I'm fairly certain that both schools offer the exact same programs nowadays. That might not have been the case pre-1992.
I was in the Smithtown school district from 1984 through 1997. That meant that I was at Accompsett for 6th and 7th grade, and then the middle school in the "East" building for 8th grade. My class year was famous for being in 4 different buildings in 4 years. I also feel that when I was in 9th grade, at the Freshman Campus, they treated us as if we were still in middle school, even though they emphasized that we were part of the high school. In fact, the West building was supposed to be referred to as the "Main campus", not the "high school", but in practice, nobody ever called it that. Now that the high school is again Grades 9 to 12, that would no longer be an issue.
As an aside, it was very clear that the West building was designed for Grades 10 to 12, which I think was the configuration until the late 70s. It seemed that all of its facilities came in sets of 3.
One other thing I wonder about: given how few students West had in the late 80s through 1992, were there classrooms or perhaps entire sections of the building that were not used?
By the way, pre-1992, West's unofficial slogan was "West is the best, East is the least!". Did East have a similar slogan back then? Is that slogan still used today?
Last edited by mitsguy2001; 06-27-2016 at 07:31 PM..
If the high school portion is important to you, the rumor in Smithtown is that East will again be closing in 2020 and the 2 high schools will merge into West.
If the high school portion is important to you, the rumor in Smithtown is that East will again be closing in 2020 and the 2 high schools will merge into West.
That rumor is not supported by the Housing Committee's presentation. There is a possibility of a middle school closure around 2022.
not to blow up everyone's spot (my own included), but has anyone mentioned to the op the overwhelming heroin problem the area has? This matters when determining where to send your children to school.
Enough already with the heroin problem in Smithtown, it's all over Long Island for Christ's sake!
That rumor is not supported by the Housing Committee's presentation. There is a possibility of a middle school closure around 2022.
I know, but the rumor persists and people who I consider to be in the know, seem to feel these closures are a somewhat "fluid" thing........ Again, maybe a rumor, maybe not. But, there is certainly a precedent for it.
"Enough already with the heroin problem in Smithtown, it's all over Long Island for Christ's sake!"
The whole entire NE if not the US has drug problems. Sometimes prescription drugs cause more problems than the street drugs or prescription meds lead to street drugs once the Dr discovers your addiction and you're forced to go elsewhere. Have you seen the recent 20/20 show on the drug problem in Mass? It seems to be worst in the nicer areas because you need $$ for drugs.
FYI 3V HS is nicknamed "The Pharm" because of the amount of drugs floating around not to mention alcohol, but this will be true of most HS's. Teach your kids and their friends the importance of good health and to stay away from drugs/alcohol that can permanently hurt you if not kill in extreme situations. It may be one of the most important lessons that they ever learn.
The national rankings of top HS, the ones in Nassau are usually better than Suffolk schools. Don't forget to look at smaller school districts such as PJ and Hauppauge. Similar to a private school because of small student body and because of these two town sizable business districts, the taxes are usually much lower (30-40%) compared to other LI towns.
Betw. 3V & Smithtown. 3V has gifted program, SMTW doesn't. 3V has two science olympiad teams and both score very highly, SMTW only has one that's average. 3V and also Hauppauge have HS pool. SMTW had planned one but at the last minute turned it into a gym due to budget constraints and uses the Hauppauge pool when scheduling allows. Thus the SMTW swim team practices at 5AM. For house hunting, we like the homes in SMTW vs 3V. Many have basements and 2 car garages while many in 3V are on slab with only 1 car garage. St. James has its own train station with transfer at either Huntington or Hicksville. It's only 1 stop after Stony Brook.
So look around and decide what you want. Both areas are very nice, safe and both schools turn out great students.
That rumor is not supported by the Housing Committee's presentation. There is a possibility of a middle school closure around 2022.
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Originally Posted by north shore mom
I know, but the rumor persists and people who I consider to be in the know, seem to feel these closures are a somewhat "fluid" thing........ Again, maybe a rumor, maybe not. But, there is certainly a precedent for it.
The consolidation of schools in 1992 happened suddenly. It happened when senior citizens were bused from the nursing homes to vote against the budget, and to vote in the Tax Pac board members. It was done without any regard for the students and teachers. In fact, the district ended up losing money on that deal.
There's no "concentration" in Smithtown and Huntington, it's all over.
Okay. Whatever you'd like to believe, but I personally know tons of people from Huntington, Northport and smithtown who are/have friends who are on Heroin or have died from it.
It's hard to find a graduate of Northport HS that ISN'T nodding. I said town of Huntington too. You can stop defending your precious Smithtown now.
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