Mount Sinai, NY (New York, Brookhaven, Coram: appointed, credit, new house)
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I'd like to hear from people that live/have lived in in Mount Sinai. Recently moved here and have found it to be very family friendly. Currently have a 3 year old and a second child on the way. I know the school district is excellent, but wanted to hear from anyone currently enrolled in it...are you happy with the schools.....disappointed in any way.
For those who may not be familiar with Mount Sinai
Quote:
Originally Posted by AES888
Recently moved here and have found it to be very family friendly.
Mazel tov!
While your children might be too young to need a library (especially the one on the way), for the future, you should be aware that Mount Sinai does not have a library and people living there use either the Port Jefferson Free Library or the Comsewogue Public Library.
You should also be aware that not all places with a "Mount Sinai, NY 11766" mailing address are in Mount Sinai.
For those who may not be familiar with Mount Sinai:
Mount Sinai is a hamlet (an unincorporated area) in the northwest part of the Town of Brookhaven, in the north-central part of Suffolk County.
Beginning on the north and moving in a clockwise direction, the Hamlet of Mount Sinai in the Town of Brookhaven is bordered on the north by Long Island Sound; on the east by the Hamlet of Miller Place; on the south by the Hamlet of Coram; and, on the west by the Hamlet of Terryville, the Hamlet of Port Jefferson Station and the Village of Port Jefferson.
The Hamlet of Mount Sinai has a different border than does the "Mount Sinai, NY 11766" ZIP Code postal zone (i.e., there are places that have a "Mount Sinai, NY 11766" mailing address that are not in the Hamlet of Mount Sinai): places that have a "Mount Sinai, NY 11766" mailing address that are not in the Hamlet of Mount Sinai are in the Hamlet of Coram and the Hamlet of Port Jefferson Station.
For a good set of town-by-town maps showing all the villages and hamlets in each of LI's 13 towns (3 in Nassau County and 10 in Suffolk County): //www.city-data.com/forum/long-...-resource.html
I'd like to hear from people that live/have lived in in Mount Sinai. Recently moved here and have found it to be very family friendly. Currently have a 3 year old and a second child on the way. I know the school district is excellent, but wanted to hear from anyone currently enrolled in it...are you happy with the schools.....disappointed in any way.
Schools are well regarded. You pay through the nose in taxes for them, however. Also, I know some people who live there and there was some very shady stuff going on with the school board for a few years in terms of paying way too much on certain mtc contracts and such..not sure if it still is, but there tax rates are some of the highest around...all those new houses they built off 83, people were told taxes would be 10K..they're more like 15-20K!!
Second to above, taxes in Mt Sinai are off the charts, insane actually. And yes, the school board is corrupt as are most on LI as they are insular and not subject to as much oversight from the state as they should have. But, that is actually old news.
Second to above, taxes in Mt Sinai are off the charts, insane actually. And yes, the school board is corrupt as are most on LI as they are insular and not subject to as much oversight from the state as they should have. But, that is actually old news.
No rateables, no downtown, no library and skyrocketing taxes.
We are also new to Mt. Sinai and to New York. Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish the differences between "what is Mt. Sinai" and "what is NY". So, yes the taxes are high, but you knew (and we did too) what they were going to be before you bought your home and you added that into the equation of what was important for you when you chose a new place for your family. You balanced cost versus lifestyle and chose Mt. Sinai. We think it was a good choice too.
Mt. Sinai offers newer homes with newer family friendly layouts without the need to renovate everything over the next 5 years. Although, there are older homes here too. Mt. Sinai also offers newer school buildings with cutting edge technologies built into the school. In my book, this is a great advantage. The schools are smaller, which won't be an issue for your kids, since they are smaller and will grow up in the district. It was an issue for us b/c we have older kids and we wanted our kids to be somewhere that wasn't too over whelming at first. This has worked out for us.
Mt. Sinai schools are good by New York standards. I'm sure I'll be flamed for this, but the bottom line is that the whole regents system throughout NY really limits what a NY school can do. In my opinion, the regents makes NY schools on average meet higher standards, however, it keeps really strong schools from being really GREAT schools. I have friends and family in Half Hallow and in Ward Melville. The advanced kids are all learning the same thing in all three districts b/c the curriculum is state mandated through the regents exams. So they can be a whole year above in some subjects (as other states do too). However, the regents system is different from other states in that other states can teach more advanced curriculum beginning very early on in the education process so their students are more prepared for advance courses in high school. They are more prepared because they've been introduced to the material earlier on in their education. NY schools teach to the regents and they do so heavily, so they don't have opportunity to weave advanced curriculum into regular courses. So, by NY standards Mt. Sinai is a good school, but compared to great schools in other states, it is really more average.
I'm not sure whether the next part of my critique is Mt. Sinai or whether it is NY. The Mt. Sinai school board puts emphasis on their high "pass" rate on the regents. The school is geared towards getting as many kids as possible to get a 65% or higher on the regents. They do a great job at that. However, the regents are a basic proficiency exam. A great school would emphasize getting the majority of their students to get an 85% or above. Mt. Sinai numbers are good, as good as Ward Melville and such, but that is not their priority. The school board could also put effort into getting more kids to score 4 and 5's on the AP tests. But they don't. Their approach is that some kids will score high b/c they are really smart. They miss the boat though in that they could get alot more kids to score high on those tests if the school board put emphasis on it. They have good caliber students, so the school board just needs to reach for it. But they don't.
In our old school district, kids took AP classes so they could show high caliber colleges that they were prepared for college level classes. Many kids were accepted into A and B level universities. The Mt. Sinai school board emphasizes AP classes for college credit. It's a different approach. They reach lower than they should. The school board compares itself to other schools in the Suffolk area and is happy with our standing, as they should be. However, they are preparing our kids to compete on a global level. Our kids will be competing against kids from Europe and Asia. In my humble opinion, the Mt. Sinai school board should be comparing themselves to the global market and look for areas that could improve. They should basically reach higher than they do.
Ok, so that's my little opinion. I think you made a good choice for housing prices, quality of life, emphais on family, and school. As always, there is room from improvement. Good luck!
We are also new to Mt. Sinai and to New York. Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish the differences between "what is Mt. Sinai" and "what is NY". So, yes the taxes are high, but you knew (and we did too) what they were going to be before you bought your home and you added that into the equation of what was important for you when you chose a new place for your family. You balanced cost versus lifestyle and chose Mt. Sinai. We think it was a good choice too.
Mt. Sinai offers newer homes with newer family friendly layouts without the need to renovate everything over the next 5 years. Although, there are older homes here too. Mt. Sinai also offers newer school buildings with cutting edge technologies built into the school. In my book, this is a great advantage. The schools are smaller, which won't be an issue for your kids, since they are smaller and will grow up in the district. It was an issue for us b/c we have older kids and we wanted our kids to be somewhere that wasn't too over whelming at first. This has worked out for us.
Mt. Sinai schools are good by New York standards. I'm sure I'll be flamed for this, but the bottom line is that the whole regents system throughout NY really limits what a NY school can do. In my opinion, the regents makes NY schools on average meet higher standards, however, it keeps really strong schools from being really GREAT schools. I have friends and family in Half Hallow and in Ward Melville. The advanced kids are all learning the same thing in all three districts b/c the curriculum is state mandated through the regents exams. So they can be a whole year above in some subjects (as other states do too). However, the regents system is different from other states in that other states can teach more advanced curriculum beginning very early on in the education process so their students are more prepared for advance courses in high school. They are more prepared because they've been introduced to the material earlier on in their education. NY schools teach to the regents and they do so heavily, so they don't have opportunity to weave advanced curriculum into regular courses. So, by NY standards Mt. Sinai is a good school, but compared to great schools in other states, it is really more average.
I'm not sure whether the next part of my critique is Mt. Sinai or whether it is NY. The Mt. Sinai school board puts emphasis on their high "pass" rate on the regents. The school is geared towards getting as many kids as possible to get a 65% or higher on the regents. They do a great job at that. However, the regents are a basic proficiency exam. A great school would emphasize getting the majority of their students to get an 85% or above. Mt. Sinai numbers are good, as good as Ward Melville and such, but that is not their priority. The school board could also put effort into getting more kids to score 4 and 5's on the AP tests. But they don't. Their approach is that some kids will score high b/c they are really smart. They miss the boat though in that they could get alot more kids to score high on those tests if the school board put emphasis on it. They have good caliber students, so the school board just needs to reach for it. But they don't.
In our old school district, kids took AP classes so they could show high caliber colleges that they were prepared for college level classes. Many kids were accepted into A and B level universities. The Mt. Sinai school board emphasizes AP classes for college credit. It's a different approach. They reach lower than they should. The school board compares itself to other schools in the Suffolk area and is happy with our standing, as they should be. However, they are preparing our kids to compete on a global level. Our kids will be competing against kids from Europe and Asia. In my humble opinion, the Mt. Sinai school board should be comparing themselves to the global market and look for areas that could improve. They should basically reach higher than they do.
Ok, so that's my little opinion. I think you made a good choice for housing prices, quality of life, emphais on family, and school. As always, there is room from improvement. Good luck!
Considering the taxes, the schools should be on par with 3V, Half Hollow or even Miller Place.
(and to think they broke away from the superior Port Jefferson school district)
Mt Sinai schools is a textbook case of boutique mediocrity and a poster child for what weve done wrong with our feifdom school districts on LI.
We should have districts in Brookhaven that are expanded and aligned with our Councilmanic districts. (Improved buying power, economy of scale etc)
Id be looking to vote out the entire school board and the Administration .
Mt. Sinai schools are on par with Ward Melville and Half-Hallow and score higher than Miller Place. On paper they do "look" good. They could be better though.
I disagree with larger being better. I think there is real opportunity in Mt. Sinai for the parents to bring these issues to the school board and change their approach. I think that it is difficult for someone who is in the district for a long time to "see" the areas that could be improved. They are so intergrated into the "how we've always done it" syndrome or so invested in the "we are great" attitude that sometimes it takes an outsider to bring new ideas to their attention. I guess time will tell.
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For those who may not be familiar with Mount Sinai
