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Our family is moving to LI from NYC and looking at Smithtown school district area specifically Nesconset, St. James as well as Three Village School District due to their great reputation. We are undecided (I am leaning towards 3vsd while my husband is Smithtown) and would love to hear what people think about both school districts, particular those who either have kids or have themselves have attended the districts. Any one feel strongly for or against either one?
We also would love to hear about the Special Education program and gifted and talented. Our first born is 3 and going through the CPSE evaluation process but it is suspected he may have mild autism and sensory integration disorder.. Again we are still going through the evaluation process but would like to plan ahead in case he needs services. He has a high IQ so want to make sure the school provides differentiated learning for both.
Parental involvement and a variety of courses offered are also important.
Lastly, my husband will need to commute to the city and we would like to stick to the Ronkonkoma train line over the Port Jeff line if possible
Smithtown Township has more to offer in general i'd say, although some will disagree. Both are great school districts and I think you'll be happy in either place.
Add Stony Brook and Kings Park to your search.
OhBeeHave is our three village expert, and an overall suepr helpful person on here! I'm sure she can tell you anything you need to know about the area.
I live in Smithtown and have one child in elementary and the other starting next year. Overall, the experience has been a positive one. The teachers have all made a connection with my child and have helped her continue to develope. The district is implementing an elementary STEM program next year in addition to some before school enrichment programs but there is no gifted and talented.
Parental involvement in our school has exceeded our expectations. I have no experience with the special Ed program, hopefully someone else can chime in.
If you're dependent on the Ronkonkoma line, you're looking at (at optimal times with perfect weather) 20 minutes to get to the train station from the few parts of 3V south of 347. I live near the SB train station, and it takes me at least 30 minutes to reach the Ronkonkoma station. Please keep that in mind if you look in 3V anywhere near 25A. The time saved using Ronkonkoma will be consumed driving there.
As for the schools and special ed:
My oldest and youngest both had autistic children mainstreamed within their elementary classrooms. Depending upon a child's needs, some of the autistic students were in programs outside there home school for a portion of the day, rejoining their classmates later while other students were in the classroom full day. I wish I could tell you more, but I do not have any experience other than this to offer.
The IG program (gifted) is offered to students who are phenomenal students and place high on particular exams. It is very rigorous. There is also an in school enrichment program for those students who weren't quite IG, but whom excelled scholastically.
There is also 3VSAGE which might be very helpful answering any questions you might have: http://in2307.wix.com/3vsage#!
You will find quite a lot of parental involvement in 3V -- from K straight through to the HS. (Senior parent volunteers are currently transforming the HS to something out or Aladdin for Senior prom!) We do not lack for parental involvement one iota!
Having Stony Brook University in the middle of our district, along with 3 hospitals nearby, we have a diverse mix of professionals, academics, and some blue collar. Your children might become friends with peers from Europe, Asia, Africa, other states, and of course, local people.
Last edited by OhBeeHave; 06-21-2016 at 08:43 AM..
Reason: Hit send too soon.
Thank you, ydsavaged for your reply! I appreciate your suggestions and will add Stony Brook and Kings Park to my search. Do you mind elaborating on why you feel the Smithtown Township has more to offer? TIA
@nassau2suffolk - it's great to hear that your family has had a good experience in Smithtown. Do you mind sharing if your review is of either Mills Pond elementary or Tacken? We are looking at houses which are zoned for those elementary schools.
@OhBeeHave - thank you so much for your detailed reply! Do you know if autistic kids are mainstreamed in all elementary schools in 3V or just specific ones? Also do you have a recommendation of an area within 3V that have a good community and perhaps may even see kids playing outside on the street?
Thank you all for your replies! Much appreciate it!
@OhBeeHave - thank you so much for your detailed reply! Do you know if autistic kids are mainstreamed in all elementary schools in 3V or just specific ones? Also do you have a recommendation of an area within 3V that have a good community and perhaps may even see kids playing outside on the street?
Thank you all for your replies! Much appreciate it!
My observation was that autistic students attended the elementary and junior high for which their home is zoned. The school district web site appears to confirm this is still true: Three Village Central School District
It is difficult to recommend a neighborhood without having an idea of your budget. One thing I have to mention is that many children are in summer camps (day or overnight) or during the school year are in extracurricular after school activities. It seems that a lot of children have scheduled, planned days. I used to joke that the children evaporated. This doesn't mean there aren't children around. It's more of a heads up. You might see a neighborhood with kids outside on a weekend playing during the school year, it's just come summer their ranks might thin a bit.
Thank you, ydsavaged for your reply! I appreciate your suggestions and will add Stony Brook and Kings Park to my search. Do you mind elaborating on why you feel the Smithtown Township has more to offer? TIA
@nassau2suffolk - it's great to hear that your family has had a good experience in Smithtown. Do you mind sharing if your review is of either Mills Pond elementary or Tacken? We are looking at houses which are zoned for those elementary schools.
@OhBeeHave - thank you so much for your detailed reply! Do you know if autistic kids are mainstreamed in all elementary schools in 3V or just specific ones? Also do you have a recommendation of an area within 3V that have a good community and perhaps may even see kids playing outside on the street?
Thank you all for your replies! Much appreciate it!
Can't really go wrong with either district. The areas zoned for Mills Pond and Tackann are both good middle to upper middle class areas. Houses for sale in those areas are in contract after 3 months tops for the most part.
@nassau2suffolk - it's great to hear that your family has had a good experience in Smithtown. Do you mind sharing if your review is of either Mills Pond elementary or Tacken? We are looking at houses which are zoned for those elementary schools.
Thank you all for your replies! Much appreciate it!
Unfortunately it is not a review of either of those schools. I would be surprised if there was much of a difference from school to school. Good luck in your search.
Also do you have a recommendation of an area within 3V that have a good community and perhaps may even see kids playing outside on the street?
Thank you all for your replies! Much appreciate it!
For some reason people who move to LI from NYC/Queens/Bronx, etc., have this idyllic idea that children will be playing outside on the street instead of in their yards where they ought to be playing where it's safe. Playing in the street is a very good way for a child to get hit by a car. There are many cars on LI - even in TVCSD and Smithtown - and people drive badly; way too fast all over as you will see when you live here, including neighborhoods. Children play in their own yards, or in parks, etc. Once in a while you may see a basketball hoop up in a cul-de-sac where kids play, but that's a rarity.
Around the corner from us we have people from Queens who recently moved into a house on a half acre. They have a couple of toddlers. Every day they diligently put out their florescent green plastic kid statue in the street, claiming that part of the street for their kids. A) They have no right to restrict that part of the street from drivers and attempt to claim it as their own; B) It's unsafe for their kids to be playing in the street period. Plenty of neighbors have thrown the plastic thing into their front yard. You'd think they'd take a hint, but that piece of plastic is out there every day - along with their kids.
I can tell you a bit about the IG program since my kids were in it when we lived in Stony Brook. It's for students with an IQ of 130 and above. Every year the district culls out of the second grade students who make the grade through achievement tests, etc., and give them IQ tests to see who reaches the 130+ cutoff. The program doesn't allow independent tests given on the outside for obvious reasons.
The program is good for students who are intellectually miles ahead of average students and end up bored in a regular classroom where the teacher teaches to the middle of the class, helps the slow kids, and ignores the "phenomenal" kids, as OhBeeHave put it. As a result, the high end kids get basically next to nothing but a lot of time on their hands, which usually results in a lot of bored, frustrated, miserable kids. By the time they reach 3rd or 4th grade they burn out. They can't put up with the monotony anymore. The IG program puts a stop to the burnout.
A group of us saved the IG program from the chopping block years ago when the district was eliminating the extra programs at the elementary level. Some of the programs eliminated were Op Sail (a science program), Theater Arts, and the Traditional program, to name a few. I believe IG now runs from 4th grade through 6th, whereas in the old days when my kids were in it, third grade through 6th had IG classrooms.
Another point to make is that IG students do not attend their home elementary school, unless their home elementary school is the one in which the IG program is housed. Once they move up to junior hs, they will be reunited with their friends from their home school.
Worth noting is that 3V has the 7-9 JHS configuration with a 10-12 grade HS. It is one of a very minute number of school districts within NYS which haven't moved over to a 6-8 middle, 9-12 HS.
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