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Hey all, me again. I visited MAS yesterday and I was a bit put off by something: why don't they let parents walk their kids directly into the classroom? Is this something that all of the Mamaroneck elementary schools prohibit? I want to go up and tour Central next... I'm still very interested in moving into either Mamaroneck or Larchmont (husband wants us to expand our search to include Larchmont PO addresses), so I really, really appreciate all of your opinions on all of this.
I do have some additional questions - I saw Central's former principal was the subject of a racism complaint? Given that we are explicitly looking for a school that welcomes diversity, this was obviously concerning to me... I know it was many years ago, but the fact that that principal was more recently promoted to assistant superintendent of administration/personnel of the entire district gave me pause. Any reassuring thoughts to offer? :-)
Also, when it comes to Rye Neck (which I am still in love with!), the graduating class is so small - but the kids interact with the Mamk school district through extracurriculars and sports, right? Neither my husband nor myself went to a small high school, so a class size of 120ish is hard for us to imagine.
Hey all, me again. I visited MAS yesterday and I was a bit put off by something: why don't they let parents walk their kids directly into the classroom? Is this something that all of the Mamaroneck elementary schools prohibit? I want to go up and tour Central next... I'm still very interested in moving into either Mamaroneck or Larchmont (husband wants us to expand our search to include Larchmont PO addresses), so I really, really appreciate all of your opinions on all of this.
I do have some additional questions - I saw Central's former principal was the subject of a racism complaint? Given that we are explicitly looking for a school that welcomes diversity, this was obviously concerning to me... I know it was many years ago, but the fact that that principal was more recently promoted to assistant superintendent of administration/personnel of the entire district gave me pause. Any reassuring thoughts to offer? :-)
Also, when it comes to Rye Neck (which I am still in love with!), the graduating class is so small - but the kids interact with the Mamk school district through extracurriculars and sports, right? Neither my husband nor myself went to a small high school, so a class size of 120ish is hard for us to imagine.
Hello again, I cannot answer as to Mamaroneck School District. As per Rye Neck, I am not sure about walking your child directly to the classroom. Most parents, drop off at the front door. The kids actually line up in the auditorium and their teachers walk the class to the classroom. As for sports, my son plays for Larchmont Mamaroneck Little league (baseball), football, soccer and basketball. All of these are for children in Mamaroneck Schools and Rye Neck Schools. Obviously, when they get to HS they play for their school. My daughter will also be playing for Larchmont/Mamaroneck leagues next year when she is eligible.
The school size is really just an individual preference so I cannot help you there. I love the small size and feel my child gets such a personalized education. It can be the same in a larger school but I cannot say either way. I can tell you that I personally know RN recent graduates and they absolutely loved RN and had no trouble moving on to large colleges.
Finally, I do know that Mamaroneck School district is running into overcrowding issues and currently figuring out ways to relieve the issue. I believe one option is rezoning or possibly "lottery". You may want to look into this further.
Good luck!
Hello again, I cannot answer as to Mamaroneck School District. As per Rye Neck, I am not sure about walking your child directly to the classroom. Most parents, drop off at the front door. The kids actually line up in the auditorium and their teachers walk the class to the classroom. As for sports, my son plays for Larchmont Mamaroneck Little league (baseball), football, soccer and basketball. All of these are for children in Mamaroneck Schools and Rye Neck Schools. Obviously, when they get to HS they play for their school. My daughter will also be playing for Larchmont/Mamaroneck leagues next year when she is eligible.
The school size is really just an individual preference so I cannot help you there. I love the small size and feel my child gets such a personalized education. It can be the same in a larger school but I cannot say either way. I can tell you that I personally know RN recent graduates and they absolutely loved RN and had no trouble moving on to large colleges.
Finally, I do know that Mamaroneck School district is running into overcrowding issues and currently figuring out ways to relieve the issue. I believe one option is rezoning or possibly "lottery". You may want to look into this further.
Good luck!
2 of the 4 elementary schools are reaching their capacity limits (Murray and Chatsworth). So in the future they might have to redraw the elementary school lines within the district or otherwise find ways to accommodate the kids. I haven't heard of anything similar at MAS, Central, or the middle & high school.
As LisaNicole says: the Rye Neck / Mamaroneck decision largely comes down to individual preference of small vs large school district.
I am a teacher. In no school I've ever worked at have parents walked their kids to their classroom doors past nursery school or pre-k. There is a system at every school for drop-off - kids wait outside, go into the gym or auditorium, or go straight to their classrooms by themselves at the appointed time. Not sure why this is off-putting, I've literally never heard of parents walking their kids to class in an elementary school.
As far as I know the districts do not interact. Why would they? They have their own teams and own programs. It's a different district. Just because part of the Rye Neck school district catchment area is in Mamaroneck doesn't mean anything to the school districts. They are separate. Sports leagues outside of school are a different matter, and aren't related to school district.
We loved Mamaroneck and I recommend it to everyone! I think you are overthinking the school aspect. You really can't go wrong, you just need to decide about the district size and what might be best for your kids. Take a look at the course offerings and sports and clubs in the middle and high schools, that's where there might be a difference.
I am a teacher. In no school I've ever worked at have parents walked their kids to their classroom doors past nursery school or pre-k. There is a system at every school for drop-off - kids wait outside, go into the gym or auditorium, or go straight to their classrooms by themselves at the appointed time. Not sure why this is off-putting, I've literally never heard of parents walking their kids to class in an elementary school.
As far as I know the districts do not interact. Why would they? They have their own teams and own programs. It's a different district. Just because part of the Rye Neck school district catchment area is in Mamaroneck doesn't mean anything to the school districts. They are separate. Sports leagues outside of school are a different matter, and aren't related to school district.
We loved Mamaroneck and I recommend it to everyone! I think you are overthinking the school aspect. You really can't go wrong, you just need to decide about the district size and what might be best for your kids. Take a look at the course offerings and sports and clubs in the middle and high schools, that's where there might be a difference.
We just moved to Larchmont/the Mamaroneck school district from a different Westchester school district at the beginning of the school year, and even though my elementary-aged kid missed her friends from her old school at first, she (and my husband and I) have been very happy with the switch. So far I've found the school to be a very supportive environment, with good communication from both her teacher and the principal, and the quality of work that the children do in the classroom is impressive.
We originally came from a much small school district, so I was a bit worried about her getting lost in the shuffle, but I haven't found that to be the case.
On nice mornings you can drop the kids off at the playground as early as 8:20 (they have monitors outside) and they can burn off some energy for 20 minutes before starting their day; it's a feature that I really like about the school (and you can, of course, hang out and chat with other parents that are there if you have a minute and aren't rushing off to work). The only time you can walk you kid directly to the classroom is the first day of school (although I think for kindergartners it might be the whole first week).
The before/after school care options at the school were kind of limited this year, but the district just entered a contract with the Boys and Girls Club of New Rochelle to provide very reasonably priced before and after care at each elementary school, which I think is a great improvement; our previous district had a great before/after care program, and I really missed that moving to the district, b/c the district seemed to assume most people would have nannies or babysitters for their kids.
The diversity at the elementary school level seems to be uneven, depending upon which school your kid is in, but they will all eventually come together in the middle school.
And yes, overcrowding is a concern; the district has been fairly proactive in trying to strategize for the future (which is good, b/c I have a baby who will be in the district in 5 years!).
The town amenities are great as well, especially if your kids are into sports; my daughter plays several through the various Larchmont-Mamaroneck programs, and she's learned a lot.
We just moved to Larchmont/the Mamaroneck school district from a different Westchester school district at the beginning of the school year, and even though my elementary-aged kid missed her friends from her old school at first, she (and my husband and I) have been very happy with the switch. So far I've found the school to be a very supportive environment, with good communication from both her teacher and the principal, and the quality of work that the children do in the classroom is impressive.
We originally came from a much small school district, so I was a bit worried about her getting lost in the shuffle, but I haven't found that to be the case.
On nice mornings you can drop the kids off at the playground as early as 8:20 (they have monitors outside) and they can burn off some energy for 20 minutes before starting their day; it's a feature that I really like about the school (and you can, of course, hang out and chat with other parents that are there if you have a minute and aren't rushing off to work). The only time you can walk you kid directly to the classroom is the first day of school (although I think for kindergartners it might be the whole first week).
The before/after school care options at the school were kind of limited this year, but the district just entered a contract with the Boys and Girls Club of New Rochelle to provide very reasonably priced before and after care at each elementary school, which I think is a great improvement; our previous district had a great before/after care program, and I really missed that moving to the district, b/c the district seemed to assume most people would have nannies or babysitters for their kids.
The diversity at the elementary school level seems to be uneven, depending upon which school your kid is in, but they will all eventually come together in the middle school.
And yes, overcrowding is a concern; the district has been fairly proactive in trying to strategize for the future (which is good, b/c I have a baby who will be in the district in 5 years!).
The town amenities are great as well, especially if your kids are into sports; my daughter plays several through the various Larchmont-Mamaroneck programs, and she's learned a lot.
If you'd like more details, feel free to pm me!
Thank you so much for all of this info, Hartsie! I missed my chance to tour Central elementary this year (they aren't offering tours next week in their final week of school), but my husband and I are now keen on Larchmont - so I think I will look into houses around there. It's good to hear that they are working on strategizing for overcrowding. That did concern me a bit.
Hi, to the original poster, I’m curious as to what you ended up doing and if you moved to Westchester, how are you liking it? We currently live in Forest Hills and are debating whether we should move to the burbs or not, mostly we fear the lack of diversity in the suburbs after having lived in the Midwest for years with no social life! Our background is Indian but we don’t want to just have Indian friends, we like that our son in elementary has made a good set of diverse friends from all over.
Hi, to the original poster, I’m curious as to what you ended up doing and if you moved to Westchester, how are you liking it? We currently live in Forest Hills and are debating whether we should move to the burbs or not, mostly we fear the lack of diversity in the suburbs after having lived in the Midwest for years with no social life! Our background is Indian but we don’t want to just have Indian friends, we like that our son in elementary has made a good set of diverse friends from all over.
Hi! So... we ditched the idea of moving to Westchester altogether in favor of - wait for it - moving to Forest Hills instead! (Well, we haven't moved to FH yet, but we are actively looking for houses there right now - would love any tips from you!) We just couldn't stomach several things about Westchester. One, the commute. We both work in the city full-time and feared the Metro North shutdowns that come with crappy weather. Two, the taxes. And three, your fear: the lack of diversity. From my visits there and speaking to residents, I did feel Mamaroneck was an inclusive community. By Westchester standards, I found it diverse. As you probably already know, Mamaroneck and Larchmont share a public school system. I definitely felt the elementary schools on the Mamaroneck side would be more fitting for us than those in Larchmont. Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions... sorry I can't be more useful!
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