Best public schools in Westchester County? (Greece, Yorktown: how much, neighborhood, theater)
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Just thought i'd say that Yonkers High School has been ranked as the best school in westchester two years in a row and was 85th in the nation the year before. The IB program is rigorous but worth it. I'm currently a senior there and the enviroment's great. Money isn't everything Scarsdale.
Nice post! Here is a little secret: There are kids in Bronxville and Scarsdale and Chappaqua who are not good students and barely make it through high school. There are kids at Yonkers that go to the Ivy's. As long as the school provides a setting that is conducive for learning, motivated smart kids can excel.
Nice post! Here is a little secret: There are kids in Bronxville and Scarsdale and Chappaqua who are not good students and barely make it through high school. There are kids at Yonkers that go to the Ivy's. As long as the school provides a setting that is conducive for learning, motivated smart kids can excel.
Thanks! It's so true! Practically all of my friends who graduated last year are at Brown, Columbia, Penn State, NYU and most others went into top SUNYs as sophomores or with a semester's worth of credits. And we got over 7 million in scholarships last year (graduating class of 200). I just hate that people still think we're a joke. We have ridiculously impressive pass rates on Regents and 4 to 20 times more students take regents when compared to other Westchester schools that only let the best and brightest 7 or 10 students take the exam.
Graduation rate is a really good summary statistic. If it's over 95%, that means that the school population contains almost no going-nowhere types. It suggests low influence of gangs and crime, and a pervasiveness of future-oriented values among the student population.
It's just a summary stat, of course, and I don't think you should ignore other details when committing to a school district.
But I think once you have a graduation rate in the 95% or better range, the most important factors in your child's future are probably not institution-level, but individual or family-level. I.e., I don't think a student's life chances are very different if s/he is a high performing graduate from Rye Neck vs. a high performing graduate from Edgemont or Scardale.
Pelham Manor(Estate Section), Bronxville & Scarsdale have the top schools and environment in Westchester. Real Estate values are rarely affected, homes, architecture and ambience are magnificent.
I just moved to Pound Ridge from Ridgefield CT and my son started at Fox Lane MS yesterday, in the Bedford Central school district. He gets special education services with his IEP (which transferred smoothly from CT to NY, by the way). Now, the jury is still out on how Bedford will do with implementation of the IEP, but so far I've heard many good things about Bedford schools. There are many good districts in Westchester, that is for certain. I know people who have attended, and worked in many of the districts, and I myself worked with Northern Westchester BOCES, but it was over 15 years ago.
I am trying to find parent support for children with Aspergers Syndrome in Northern Westchester. Hoping someone on here can recommend some resources for me.
Some folks have posted questions regarding communities in Westchester. As far as communities go, the ones with the best "village atmospheres" are (in my experience) Larchmont, Scarsdale, Rye, Katonah and Tarrytown. That is taking into account things like walkability in town, nightlife, arts and activities and proximity to just about everything.
If you are looking for this, I would also recommend Ridgefield CT as well. The taxes are lower than Westchester and there is a very active community presence there. The schools are fantastic in Ridgefield with one exception. They are fantastic for "typical" kids. If you need special education services, I cannot recommend Ridgefield. I have spent the past 6 years fighting for services for my child, paying for services out of pocket and being denied reimbursement by the district (when they are the ones who recommended going outside), and having my child fall through the cracks. However, for a sense of community and activities for kids, it is an awesome town.
Kind of all over the place here, but wanted to add my thoughts/experiences here for those who are unfamiliar with the area.
Like many growing families in the NYC metro area, we are in the process of choosing whether to stick it out in the city or move to a suburb that has purportedly an outstanding school district. In all the research that I've been able to do so far, I have come up with many high-level arguments supporting a move to the suburbs - high graduation rate, low class sizes, high standardized test scores, matriculation into selective colleges, etc. From that perspective only, it all looks very good. However, stories such as this make me wonder:
In addition, I do know of some suburban families (not in Westchester) who send their kids to private schools while paying high suburban taxes.
Which makes me wonder - Is there something I'm not seeing?
What makes my discernment more challenging is that I have not seen enough detailed comments when it comes to quality of academics, which is my highest priority. Essentially, those who like suburban public schools typically talk about:
- High graduation rates
- Reasonable class sizes (approx 20 students)
- High standardized test scores
- Matriculation into selective colleges
- Many extra curricular actrivities
While those who pulled their kids out of suburban public schools normally cite:
Among the naysayers, the only comment I found that directly focused on academics itself was from a (former?) Chappaqua teacher named Tom Corwin. According to Corwin, he had to dilute/make easier his lesson plans in order to accomodate mediocre/weaker students. Things like what Corwin mentioned - if true - are unacceptable to me.
So, I hope some people out there could help me shed light on both sides of the issue. My main concern is academics, especially at the elementary and middle school level.
Thank you in advance.
Last edited by Forest_Hills_Daddy; 09-12-2010 at 08:35 PM..
So, I hope some people out there could help me shed light on both sides of the issue. My main concern is academics, especially at the elementary and middle school level.
Thank you in advance.
All public schools are ultimately subject to the no-losers-only-winners PC gobbledygook that infects our entire culture. If academics are your singular concern the answer is dead obvious: you need to most academically rigorous private school you can find that your kid can get into (or that you can pay to get in).
Just because you live in Chappaqua, Scarsdale, Bronxville, etc, doesn't make you smart. It's just a fact of life that there is going to be a diversity of intelligence wherever you go. Now, the families in these towns can provide all of the advantages that a kid needs to do well - they read to them, travel and take them to interesting places, provide tutors, extra curricular activities, etc, which would give a "boost" to a kid compared to one from the South Bronx with similar intellectual ability. But it doesn't make them any smarter than they just are.
I personally know families in Scarsdale who have recently sent their kids to Duke, Cornell, and 2 to Columbia. Not too shabby. But I also know of some kids who are at schools I've never heard of (I'm not from the US so that doesn't help) or I know aren't that great.
The other problem you face when dealing with the public schools is that they are tied to the State curriculum standards. The teachers have to teach what they have to teach - they can't really deviate. If you want really high level academics during school hours you're going to have to go private.
"Susan Drews, 49, who lives in Yorktown Heights, in Westchester, said that art in the first grade at her son’s public school, for instance, involved “half-baked projects” like gold-sprayed macaroni glued to paper plates. “
LOL...it is FIRST grade!! At any rate, I would agree that you might be better suited to sending your kids to private school if you are as obsessive about education as some of the parents quoted in this article. I wouldn't WANT my kids around kids from those parents. Really? Subjecting a 5 or 6 year old to 2 subway rides each 13 hour day, 5 days a week, all because they weren't stimulating their child quite enough in their (excellent) home school? Parents like this will never be satisfied until their kid goes to Harvard (and hates their parents as much as they hated theirs.)
Kids are not machines. Not every kid can or should go to an Ivy League school. Enjoy your kids, live where you are happiest (all things considered), send them to good schools, make them study hard, make it your job to see the world through their eyes (not the other way around), and all will fall into place. People take schools far too seriously in NY, IMHO...
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