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Hi!
We are a young family with kids looking to buy a home in New Rochelle - specifically Echo Bay and Sutton Manor.
I have 1 kid in high school, 1 in middle school and a toddler. My main concern is safety. We would love a neighborhood we could walk around, go to shops and cafes, and feel ok, yknow?
The schools we are looking at are New Rochelle High School, Albert Leonard Middle School and Trinity Elementary School.
What are your thoughts on this particular area and schools?
Echo Bay would be more ideal for what your criteria is. The closer you are to the water, the more property you will get. Echo Bay is more residential.
Sutton Manor has a lot of business establishments. Not only does this create more people going to and from stores, but even more out of towers venturing to New Rochelle. The closer you are to Route 1, the more businesses you will find.
Sutton Manor does have nice properties. You would have to find a side street to discover more.
I don’t know much about the schools, so I cannot really speak on that subject.
Wykagyl is a neighborhood that is very ideal. Good pieces of property, nice looking houses, and New Rochelle High School is walking distance. My honest opinion is that New Rochelle is a pleasant community. There are many neighborhoods that make up this city and that is what’s unique about it. Wykagyl is near the Hutchinson River Parkway. North Avenue brings you to interstate 95.
Full disclosure -- I don't live in NR, but next door (Pelham -- my username is outdated).
New Rochelle is a lovely small city. Many beautiful, walkable residential areas, lots of shopping options, and the first Amtrak hub in the northeast corridor after Penn Station. Some of the best local/lower westchester restaurants are there, as are beautiful parks, fishing, etc. We frequently shop there, go to the movies there, all our doctors/dentists are there.
As for the public school system, again, I am not a resident but I relay what I have heard (many times) anecdotally -- is that the smaller elementary/middle schools are great, but when you get to high school, it can be hit or miss. There is one high school for the entire city -- and it is *beautiful* from the outside and I heard it's relatively well-resourced -- but because it's the only public school for the entire city, students who aren't self-driven (or don't have parents who are vigilant/engaged) can be overlooked and lost in the sea of kids, educationally-speaking. Volume is volume.
Again, I'm not saying this is scripture, just what I have heard a few different times/different ways. Hope it helps! Good luck!
Full disclosure -- I don't live in NR, but next door (Pelham -- my username is outdated).
New Rochelle is a lovely small city. Many beautiful, walkable residential areas, lots of shopping options, and the first Amtrak hub in the northeast corridor after Penn Station. Some of the best local/lower westchester restaurants are there, as are beautiful parks, fishing, etc. We frequently shop there, go to the movies there, all our doctors/dentists are there.
As for the public school system, again, I am not a resident but I relay what I have heard (many times) anecdotally -- is that the smaller elementary/middle schools are great, but when you get to high school, it can be hit or miss. There is one high school for the entire city -- and it is *beautiful* from the outside and I heard it's relatively well-resourced -- but because it's the only public school for the entire city, students who aren't self-driven (or don't have parents who are vigilant/engaged) can be overlooked and lost in the sea of kids, educationally-speaking. Volume is volume.
Again, I'm not saying this is scripture, just what I have heard a few different times/different ways. Hope it helps! Good luck!
Good summary. The test scores in elem./mid.-schools are not stellar because of diversity. The high school has a good number of troublemakers but motivated kids do OK there. Its a very large and diverse school district. Overall, NR is a bargain, given its proximity to NYC.
Good summary. The test scores in elem./mid.-schools are not stellar because of diversity. The high school has a good number of troublemakers but motivated kids do OK there. Its a very large and diverse school district. Overall, NR is a bargain, given its proximity to NYC.
New Rochelle HS is like the large California high schools depicted in an 80s John Hughes movie. Very large with large representations from all aspects of society. Rich kids, poor kids, criminals, athletes, artsy kids, nerds, etc. It gets a bad rap in the NY suburbs because most school districts are much smaller and much more uniform - good two parent families, financially secure, near 100% school attendance/college enrollment - with nearly zero poor/criminal kids.
It is interesting that New Rochelle, which is the 7th largest city in population in the state, does have its share of private school options as well. 4 of those schools are high schools or go up to 12th grade. Some school information: https://nces.ed.gov/globallocator/in...=1&CS=E8481919
I live in Chappaqua and I'm not sure how honest of an assessment you're looking for, but having visited New Rochelle a few times, I'm not sure the above posts quite capture the way I felt when I was there. It's a pretty rough area. I wouldn't consider it for my family, especially if I had school age children.
I'd rather get a tiny dump of a house in a safer/nicer train town than get a nice house in New Rochelle.
Anyway, just my opinion, everyone is entitled to one. I'm not saying anyone else is wrong for how they've described it, but some of the responses just felt a little "PC". If you like New Rochelle and want to live there, then power to you. But if you're looking for an honest assessment, I'd say maybe consider some river towns in Westchester instead.
As someone who grew up in Westchester, I never had any problems in New Rochelle. We used to attend sporting events there, as well as explore New Roc City. To the original poster, you asked questions that generated a lot of responses. I am trying to convince you New Rochelle is a good place to live.
Anything can happen anywhere. Just because recent statistics may suggest one thing, that doesn’t mean it’s the norm. It could be isolated incidents, meaning not random and someone was causing problems which led to this. Tell you kids, regardless of where they live, to establish trust when it comes to making friends. People could behave any way anywhere. Mt. Vernon High School used to have metal detectors when you walk in. If New Rochelle school board members are listening, they would do the same (unless they already do, I am not aware.) What I am trying to say is that you can’t always correlate safety with demographics.
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