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Hello,
We are potentially moving to Scarsdale from NYC and were wondering whether there are any differences among its elementary schools in terms of the experience that students receive there? E.g. if class sizes, teacher/student ratios varied among the schools or whether there is any difference in the allocation of resources among them? I understand that they each teach the same curriculum, have excellent reputations and there may in fact be no meaningful differences among them, but would like to confirm as this may have an impact on what Scarsdale neighborhoods we look into. We would plan to tour the school(s) at the appropriate time, but would appreciate any insights from those who have sent their kids to any of these schools. Thanks in advance!
our son is in 3rd grade, even tho max size is 22. this year, there is only 17 kids.
where you move probably is more a function of the parents needs than the kids needs. they are going to get a top notch education in either of the 5.
if you want to be able to walk to the train station, you find a house in edgewood, greenacres or fox meadow. if you don't, you live in quaker ridge or heathcote.
I have nothing to offer on Scarsdale specifically, but I would generally caution you to not be hard and fast in terms of falling in love with a single elementary school within a district large enough to have multiple schools. This is because the internal rules/maps as to who goes to what school can be changed at a moments notice for any or no reason. When this happens its usually because child populations in one area of the district may temporarily outpace other areas, and adjustments may have to be made to keep one school from getting overpopulated. Or more drastically (and therefore more infrequently) a district may decided to shut down a school, or move to a district-wide model where all K goes to one building, all 1-2 grades go to another building, and so on. The bottom line - do your due diligence on each school, and purchase accordingly, but make sure you can live with any of the them if things change by the time you have a kid and he or she is school age. Even if nothing changes, all the kids will be together is MS and HS anyway.
987abc may be referring to the mamaroneck school district in the town of larchmont.
No. I was discussing a concept of general applicability to any district with multiple elementary schools. A plain reading of my post would indicate such.
Went to school there in the 90s and follow the market.
Fox meadow - Best balance, socioeconomic. One side of the area is near hartsdale train station, the other side near Scarsdale train station. Good school, expanded in the 2000s with multiple playgrounds.
Greenacres - slightly down the scale. Tucked away between hartsdale and white plains train stations. Houses slightly less
Edgewood - Notoriously known as the starter house community. At least in the eyes of people living in the other districts. Higher population of Asians. More crowded classes (since land parcels are smaller and it’s more dense. And you have people cramming in paying entry level prices to get their kids through Scarsdale schools. So the percentage of homeowners with kids in schools is higher.
Heathcote/Quaker Ridge - far from the station. The commute from here is meaningfully longer. You need to get on a waiting list to park at the station. The area is spread out and is a mix of small ranches and large estates. But mostly large estates. To be honest - it’s the land of super Jews for lack of a better term. It lacks diversity and if you aren’t in that crowd, you’ll feel like an outsider.
Thanks for the feedback and responses. Would it be fair to say that on a per-student basis the budget for each elementary school is similar? I'd think the answer would be yes as within the same school district I would not think that an elementary school that is located within a more affluent tax base (Heathcote) than a less relatively affluent tax base (Edgewood) would be treated any differently in terms of allocation of resources or in any other way. I can understand why - although I'd want to confirm that they don't simply have more classrooms - that Edgewood may have larger class sizes given that more people may live there than in the other neighborhoods. Are there any real differences among the elementary schools in terms of quality of facilities or an ability to service students with special needs?
On the neighborhoods themselves, I have some familiarity with them in terms of style of homes and comparative affordability. I hesitate to make too much of stereotyping though; in my experience of being a parent of nursery school children in NYC, I have often heard certain schools or our current neighborhood of the UWS as being described as being "overly insular" or "snobby," etc. What I have found to be the case is that some people are not particularly friendly or welcoming, but others are inclusive and down-to-earth and friendly. To me it's more a matter of mind-set and not defining a school or a neighborhood by its least appealing (seeming) members. I'm hopeful that Scarsdale is similar in that we will hopefully be able to find friendly, welcoming people. We are a two-working parent family and my sense is that there is a greater percentage of working women in Scarsdale than in some other towns. My wife is a little apprehensive about meeting women with whom she can relate with about that balance, but I'm hopeful we can find it there. In that vein, do people find themselves meeting others/spending time with those in other sub-neighborhoods of Scarsdale? I'd like to think in such a small town that the answer is yes, but in reading the posts the neighborhoods are occasionally described as though they are these relatively closed worlds.
Thanks for the feedback and responses. Would it be fair to say that on a per-student basis the budget for each elementary school is similar? I'd think the answer would be yes as within the same school district I would not think that an elementary school that is located within a more affluent tax base (Heathcote) than a less relatively affluent tax base (Edgewood) would be treated any differently in terms of allocation of resources or in any other way. I can understand why - although I'd want to confirm that they don't simply have more classrooms - that Edgewood may have larger class sizes given that more people may live there than in the other neighborhoods. Are there any real differences among the elementary schools in terms of quality of facilities or an ability to service students with special needs?
On the neighborhoods themselves, I have some familiarity with them in terms of style of homes and comparative affordability. I hesitate to make too much of stereotyping though; in my experience of being a parent of nursery school children in NYC, I have often heard certain schools or our current neighborhood of the UWS as being described as being "overly insular" or "snobby," etc. What I have found to be the case is that some people are not particularly friendly or welcoming, but others are inclusive and down-to-earth and friendly. To me it's more a matter of mind-set and not defining a school or a neighborhood by its least appealing (seeming) members. I'm hopeful that Scarsdale is similar in that we will hopefully be able to find friendly, welcoming people. We are a two-working parent family and my sense is that there is a greater percentage of working women in Scarsdale than in some other towns. My wife is a little apprehensive about meeting women with whom she can relate with about that balance, but I'm hopeful we can find it there. In that vein, do people find themselves meeting others/spending time with those in other sub-neighborhoods of Scarsdale? I'd like to think in such a small town that the answer is yes, but in reading the posts the neighborhoods are occasionally described as though they are these relatively closed worlds.
I can't speak to Scarsdale specifically, but can speak generally how school districts work. There will not be a separate budget for each elementary school. There is instead a single district-wide budget. As a percentage, very few dollars are spent on a particular school. For instance, teacher salaries and benefits are probably the single highest expenditure on a year to year basis. A teacher is not hired (and therefore not paid) to work at Edgewood or Heathcote or any other school. Instead, the teacher is hired to work for the Scarsdale school district and is assigned according to their NYS certification. For instance, a common certification may be K-6. This means that the teacher is permitted by the State to teach any class grade K-6. Such teacher, upon being hired, will be assigned a class at say Edgewood. But he or she can be assigned to a different elementary school down the road. Their is no Edgewood budget from which the teacher's salary is paid.
Similarly, tax revenues from one area of town are not singularly allocated to an elementary school within its area. Tax revenues are all put into the same district-wide pot, to be spent only on items approved in the singular district-wide budget.
As for class sizes, if an elementary school routinely has larger class sizes than the other schools, the school board should be changing its internal assignments to even such out amongst the various schools. At least this would be my policy preference.
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