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My wife and I have recently started looking for homes in Westchester County after years of living in NYC. We picked Westchester because alot of the towns and villages have that "Little Town USA" feeling that we would like our children to enjoy. The towns or villages we are considering are Tuckahoe, Eastchester, Scarsdale, Pelham , Bronxville or vicinity excluding Yonkers just because everyone keeps telling us that the Yonkers School system is horrible. Its hard to believe that the school system is that bad since the northern part of Yonkers especially Crestwood have lovely homes. Here lies much of our confusion , after searching for homes we have come to the realization that this county is completely "upside down" or whoever drew up the town and village boundaries was drunk. We have found homes that have a Scarsdale address with a Yonkers P.O. and Yonkers School district . The best one was a Scarsdale home with a New Rochelle School District and so forth. This is driving us nuts because since we are in reality buying a School district when buying a home we have no clue who to ask in what School District a home really falls into.
I have tried to comprehend why your children just cant go to the school system within your town or village if your home is inside it's boudaries?? Anyhow anyone with any info of where we can turn to actually find out where your children can attend school will be gladly appreciative. Also can anyone tell me if Yonkers Schools are really THAT BAD?? Thanks in advance.
This is not really that hard. If a real estate listing says "Scarsdale P.O., " "Bronxville P.O.," etc., you can pretty much be sure that the house is NOT in the Scarsdale, Bronxville, etc. school district. Believe me, if a house is in what is considered one of the really desirable school districts, the listing will most likely say so. But if you are still unsure, just ask your Realtor. They usually won't tell you anything about the quality of schools in a particular district, but they certainly can tell you which school district serves any house you are considering.
If you still have any uncertainty, call the local school district office and ask them if the address you are looking at is within their school district boundaries. That should give you the definitive answer.
Of the towns you listed, all of them are good districts--Scarsdale and Bronxville probably being considered the top two in the list.
I won't write about Yonkers as I don't have first-hand experience with those schools, but I think if you look at any list of SAT or other test scores you will see where it falls.
My wife and I have recently started looking for homes in Westchester County after years of living in NYC. We picked Westchester because alot of the towns and villages have that "Little Town USA" feeling that we would like our children to enjoy. The towns or villages we are considering are Tuckahoe, Eastchester, Scarsdale, Pelham , Bronxville or vicinity excluding Yonkers just because everyone keeps telling us that the Yonkers School system is horrible. Its hard to believe that the school system is that bad since the northern part of Yonkers especially Crestwood have lovely homes. Here lies much of our confusion , after searching for homes we have come to the realization that this county is completely "upside down" or whoever drew up the town and village boundaries was drunk. We have found homes that have a Scarsdale address with a Yonkers P.O. and Yonkers School district . The best one was a Scarsdale home with a New Rochelle School District and so forth. This is driving us nuts because since we are in reality buying a School district when buying a home we have no clue who to ask in what School District a home really falls into.
I have tried to comprehend why your children just cant go to the school system within your town or village if your home is inside it's boudaries?? Anyhow anyone with any info of where we can turn to actually find out where your children can attend school will be gladly appreciative. Also can anyone tell me if Yonkers Schools are really THAT BAD?? Thanks in advance.
I agree with you, it's completely frustrating at times. However, that is what the Westchester market essentially is, i.e one which is overly dictated by school districts.
However, a few pointers.
Homes in less-desirable school districts (no matter what the P.O says) usually look like bargain buys compared to other homes in the same vicinity (but in more-desirable school districts). You could the cost per square-foot as your point of reference.
Of course there are other reasons why a home may be comparatively underpriced, but nonetheless, such pricing should raise a red flag and demand closer scrutiny.
On the other hand, there is always private school.
As for Yonkers, well....there is always private school .
The people who live in those nice houses of Yonkers send their children to private school. Check with the school districts about the zoning. And yes, Yonkers schools are that bad.
I think K-8 in Yonkers is alright, but High School is where the problems lie.
There was a big bru-ha-ha about the Yonkers school district being segregated back in the 1980s with a federal judge getting involved to bus around the school kids. As a result lots of middle class white families then fled Yonkers for the surrounding areas or pulled their kids out and put them into private schools. That left the Yonkers school district with a lot of the hood rats who inhabit the schools currently. Some of the grade schools in Eastern Yonkers are still ok though, but not as good as they used to be.
The eastern part of Yonkers is still nice, but as I said before your real problem lies with High Schools, as they are pretty bad.
My husband was a cop in Yonkers. The schools are bad at all levels in comparison to almost all of Westchester County. We both actually lived in Crestwood at one point and most of the kids went to private schools. Look at school ratings and school report cards that the school districts put out to see test scores etc, you can also find data on attendance rate, class size, advanced placement classes, demographics of students, % of subsidized lunches, and education level/tenure of the teachers.
Westchester Magazine reviews all Westchester Schools annually. The most recent was the April 2007 issue. Here is a link to the article: Our Annual Public High School Report Card | Archives | Archives | Westchester Magazine (http://www.westchestermagazine.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=B5549CFD24E64BAC93E11938AD51A18C&nm =Archives&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AAr ticle&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4& id=C831AC0FB5474FD39096A62BA07F8A6C - broken link)
Good Luck
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My wife and I have recently started looking for homes in Westchester County after years of living in NYC. We picked Westchester because alot of the towns and villages have that "Little Town USA" feeling that we would like our children to enjoy. The towns or villages we are considering are Tuckahoe, Eastchester, Scarsdale, Pelham , Bronxville or vicinity excluding Yonkers just because everyone keeps telling us that the Yonkers School system is horrible. Its hard to believe that the school system is that bad since the northern part of Yonkers especially Crestwood have lovely homes. Here lies much of our confusion , after searching for homes we have come to the realization that this county is completely "upside down" or whoever drew up the town and village boundaries was drunk. We have found homes that have a Scarsdale address with a Yonkers P.O. and Yonkers School district . The best one was a Scarsdale home with a New Rochelle School District and so forth. This is driving us nuts because since we are in reality buying a School district when buying a home we have no clue who to ask in what School District a home really falls into.
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