public schools

Lindenhurst was a good school district when I was in school (almost 10 years ago ) But I couldn't tell you how it is now as most of the teachers I had retired. Steer clear of amityville- not great. Copiague is so/so

I agree with Massapequa, Wantagh, Bellmore, Seaford, Merrick...all good schools

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Posted by daniebc16

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Posted by Espo22

i found this one thing a girl wrote about that was posted on a real estate site, it was based on best test scores

Jericho was #1 and its also #1 in the country

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But who can afford to live there??? It is super wealthy.

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I don't know im just answering the question about best school districts in long island...I also mentioned massapequa is a great school district and that area is not bad with the prices

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Posted by Espo22

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Posted by daniebc16

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Posted by Espo22

i found this one thing a girl wrote about that was posted on a real estate site, it was based on best test scores

Jericho was #1 and its also #1 in the country

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But who can afford to live there??? It is super wealthy.

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I don't know im just answering the question about best school districts in long island...I also mentioned massapequa is a great school district and that area is not bad with the prices

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I don't think she was asking you Denise... I think it was a rhetorical question..

This website is VERY helpful...

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Posted by LuvMyAlfonse

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Posted by Espo22

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Posted by daniebc16

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Posted by Espo22

i found this one thing a girl wrote about that was posted on a real estate site, it was based on best test scores

Jericho was #1 and its also #1 in the country

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But who can afford to live there??? It is super wealthy.

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I don't know im just answering the question about best school districts in long island...I also mentioned massapequa is a great school district and that area is not bad with the prices

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I don't think she was asking you Denise... I think it was a rhetorical question..

This website is VERY helpful...

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i know but i answered it bc its not like im telling people you have to move to an expensive neighborhood, im not from LI and i had no clue its a wealthy neighborhood. I dont want people to think im suggesting wealthy neighborhoods and putting it out there like its nothing...so yeah just felt the need to answer

i'm a long time long islander and a long island teacher.. my advice is this.. drive around and look at neighborhoods, and look at the schools. make appointments to GO TO the schools.. particularly the middle schools.. elementary schools are ALWAYS great.. never a problem there.. but the middle school will tell you about a neighborhood.
regardless of what type of neighborhood it is the 6-8th grade years are the HARDEST on adolscents and the middle schools is always going to be the toughest building.. so if the middle school is okay.... it's safe to say the rest of the districti is okay. also look at the high school offerings, how many AP courses do they offer, graduation rates, where the kids are going to college.. there was one neighborhood where students were graduating in great percentages.. but they were all going to nassau community college.. not that there is anything wrong with NCC. but if u have 95% graduating and 89% of that 95% goes to a 2 year college that is telling...

i wouldn't pay a lick of attention to the state test scores.. they are so skewed and messed up. it is not hard to scores 75% or 80% on the NYS ela exams.. all you gotta do is Teach the Test from Sept to Jan when it's given your kids will pass.. and many MANY districts offer there kids a little 'help' on the exam..

hope this helps a bit! Good luck and Welcome to LONG ISLAND!!!

(oh and Jericho feels that they are such a great school district that there website is bestschool.org or bestschools.org- no seriously it is.. but the houses in that area range from 650k and up..

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Posted by iwannabmrsD

i'm a long time long islander and a long island teacher.. my advice is this.. drive around and look at neighborhoods, and look at the schools. make appointments to GO TO the schools.. particularly the middle schools.. elementary schools are ALWAYS great.. never a problem there.. but the middle school will tell you about a neighborhood.
regardless of what type of neighborhood it is the 6-8th grade years are the HARDEST on adolscents and the middle schools is always going to be the toughest building.. so if the middle school is okay.... it's safe to say the rest of the districti is okay. also look at the high school offerings, how many AP courses do they offer, graduation rates, where the kids are going to college.. there was one neighborhood where students were graduating in great percentages.. but they were all going to nassau community college.. not that there is anything wrong with NCC. but if u have 95% graduating and 89% of that 95% goes to a 2 year college that is telling...

i wouldn't pay a lick of attention to the state test scores.. they are so skewed and messed up. it is not hard to scores 75% or 80% on the NYS ela exams.. all you gotta do is Teach the Test from Sept to Jan when it's given your kids will pass.. and many MANY districts offer there kids a little 'help' on the exam..

hope this helps a bit! Good luck and Welcome to LONG ISLAND!!!

(oh and Jericho feels that they are such a great school district that there website is bestschool.org or bestschools.org- no seriously it is.. but the houses in that area range from 650k and up..

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OMG i can't believe that is their URL...you know whats sad, in astoria where i grew up which is in queens, condos theyre building now are that price range and the block i grew up on, which weren't big houses, infact they're two family houses were starting at $725,000 and up around the time i moved...when i had first moved there, you could've bought it for 250-300k

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Posted by iwannabmrsD

i wouldn't pay a lick of attention to the state test scores.. they are so skewed and messed up. it is not hard to scores 75% or 80% on the NYS ela exams.. all you gotta do is Teach the Test from Sept to Jan when it's given your kids will pass.. and many MANY districts offer there kids a little 'help' on the exam..

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Great point!!

you know what the price of home on LI is ridiculous all around. the fact is that most newlyweds can't afford a home in the neighborhood that they grew up in.. and most retirees can't afford to be retired in the neighborhood they raised their kids in.. it's sad.. i own my home here on LI and brought 4 years ago when I turned 25. My two bedroom home cost less than 240k at the time.. today.. it assess at 350k and homes in my neighborhood that are 2 bedrooms are SELLING for 350k. so to get a move in condition 3 bedroom home in a decent school district u're looking at 500k or better.. 400k nowadays on LI gets u a fixer upper.. what kind of insanity is that?


i do believe the prices are better out in suffolk county, which is why FH and I are looking out there.. if we can't find it out there we're leaving the state.. what choice do we have..

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Posted by iwannabmrsD

you know what the price of home on LI is ridiculous all around. the fact is that most newlyweds can't afford a home in the neighborhood that they grew up in.. and most retirees can't afford to be retired in the neighborhood they raised their kids in.. it's sad.. i own my home here on LI and brought 4 years ago when I turned 25. My two bedroom home cost less than 240k at the time.. today.. it assess at 350k and homes in my neighborhood that are 2 bedrooms are SELLING for 350k. so to get a move in condition 3 bedroom home in a decent school district u're looking at 500k or better.. 400k nowadays on LI gets u a fixer upper.. what kind of insanity is that?


i do believe the prices are better out in suffolk county, which is why FH and I are looking out there.. if we can't find it out there we're leaving the state.. what choice do we have..

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it is ridiculous, imagine how those of us in queens feel that for $400-500k that buys you an apartment and not even the new ones being built now.

FH and i are planning on moving to LI bc you can actually find houses for less than here

thats true.. future hubby owns a home in queens and his house is assessing for 500k! in south jamaica queens!! who the heck wants to live where fiddy cent grew up? Geesh..!!


we're looking at the central suffolk county..


Good luck to you and your future hubby!!

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Posted by iwannabmrsD

thats true.. future hubby owns a home in queens and his house is assessing for 500k! in south jamaica queens!! who the heck wants to live where fiddy cent grew up? Geesh..!!


we're looking at the central suffolk county..


Good luck to you and your future hubby!!

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i know its horrible seriously...i moved to another part of queens but where i did live in astoria theyll charge whatever they want now bc its 10 mins from the city.

Thank you, good luck to you and your fh too, were all gonna need it lol

the two suffolk districts I can think of off hand are half hollow hills (dix hills area) and three village (setauket / stony brook area). I'm a half hollow hills product, and can't complain.... but a lot of my classmates were really bratty and materialistic so I'll rate the expereince as 'ok'..... Three village has a lot of parents who are faculty at stony brook u.... must mention the teachers and district benefit by that close union.... a lot of highschool students from there roaming the campus and building their CV....

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Posted by portjeffbride

the two suffolk districts I can think of off hand are half hollow hills (dix hills area) and three village (setauket / stony brook area). I'm a half hollow hills product, and can't complain.... but a lot of my classmates were really bratty and materialistic so I'll rate the expereince as 'ok'..... Three village has a lot of parents who are faculty at stony brook u.... must mention the teachers and district benefit by that close union.... a lot of highschool students from there roaming the campus and building their CV....

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ditto on the Half Hollow district - if you search on MLSLI and put in Deer Park as the town and Half Hollow Hills as the district you'll find more reasonably priced homes and cheaper taxes...

I have to agree that you shouldn't pay attention to the test scores. As a teacher, I see firsthand how skewed those test scores can really be and how they are not an indicator of how good a particular district is. I also agree with the person that said to GO TO the schools - especially the middle school. I worked in a Freeport elementary school 2 years ago and EVERYONE knew that the elementary school was fabulous, but once the kids went to middle school and high school is was just BAD. However, on the other side, I personally wouldn't PAY to send my kids to Jericho no matter how good the school is. I personally feel that it is just such a competitive school and many of the kids can be VERY bratty and self-involved, as are the teachers and the parents. Thats not to say that EVERYONE in the district is like that but just from living around the area for 25 years, you come to know a neighborhood well. With that being said, go by YOUR instinct and how you feel you would want to raise your children. In addition, someone else mentioned house prices - the better the district, the more expensive the houses are AND the taxes - so keep that in mind as well.

***I wasn't trying to offend anyone with my post I was just stating my personal experiences with people from this area in GENERAL***

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Posted by iBCraZ131

I have to agree that you shouldn't pay attention to the test scores. As a teacher, I see firsthand how skewed those test scores can really be and how they are not an indicator of how good a particular district is. I also agree with the person that said to GO TO the schools - especially the middle school. I worked in a Freeport elementary school 2 years ago and EVERYONE knew that the elementary school was fabulous, but once the kids went to middle school and high school is was just BAD. However, on the other side, I personally wouldn't PAY to send my kids to Jericho no matter how good the school is. I personally feel that it is just such a competitive school and many of the kids can be VERY bratty and self-involved, as are the teachers and the parents. Thats not to say that EVERYONE in the district is like that but just from living around the area for 25 years, you come to know a neighborhood well. With that being said, go by YOUR instinct and how you feel you would want to raise your children. In addition, someone else mentioned house prices - the better the district, the more expensive the houses are AND the taxes - so keep that in mind as well.

***I wasn't trying to offend anyone with my post I was just stating my personal experiences with people from this area in GENERAL***

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the good thing is that massapequa is a good district and on top of that i looked at their listings bc this is where FH wants to move and the prices are not that bad and the taxes were lower than most places i looked at. I wasn't sure about moving to massapequa bc i wanted to be a bit closer to queens, but sounds like a great choice and fh wants to move there bc alot of his friends live there, think i have to give this one alot of consideration.

and no need to defend yourself, you said nothing wrong, infact it was very helpful. I am not from long island, go there alot but as far as knowing most of these things i have no clue. I know alot of the rich areas but theres some i never had a clue about. You made very good points and definitely helped me out, i don't want bratty kids but seriously I want them to get a great education but I also think its important the type of person they become and bratty is not something i had in mind lol.

Thank you to all the girls with your suggestions, great for us non-li'ers

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Posted by Espo22

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Posted by iBCraZ131

I have to agree that you shouldn't pay attention to the test scores. As a teacher, I see firsthand how skewed those test scores can really be and how they are not an indicator of how good a particular district is. I also agree with the person that said to GO TO the schools - especially the middle school. I worked in a Freeport elementary school 2 years ago and EVERYONE knew that the elementary school was fabulous, but once the kids went to middle school and high school is was just BAD. However, on the other side, I personally wouldn't PAY to send my kids to Jericho no matter how good the school is. I personally feel that it is just such a competitive school and many of the kids can be VERY bratty and self-involved, as are the teachers and the parents. Thats not to say that EVERYONE in the district is like that but just from living around the area for 25 years, you come to know a neighborhood well. With that being said, go by YOUR instinct and how you feel you would want to raise your children. In addition, someone else mentioned house prices - the better the district, the more expensive the houses are AND the taxes - so keep that in mind as well.

***I wasn't trying to offend anyone with my post I was just stating my personal experiences with people from this area in GENERAL***

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the good thing is that massapequa is a good district and on top of that i looked at their listings bc this is where FH wants to move and the prices are not that bad and the taxes were lower than most places i looked at. I wasn't sure about moving to massapequa bc i wanted to be a bit closer to queens, but sounds like a great choice and fh wants to move there bc alot of his friends live there, think i have to give this one alot of consideration.

and no need to defend yourself, you said nothing wrong, infact it was very helpful. I am not from long island, go there alot but as far as knowing most of these things i have no clue. I know alot of the rich areas but theres some i never had a clue about. You made very good points and definitely helped me out, i don't want bratty kids but seriously I want them to get a great education but I also think its important the type of person they become and bratty is not something i had in mind lol.

Thank you to all the girls with your suggestions, great for us non-li'ers

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I actually really liked Massapequa, but we couldn't afford to live there. I also know a few people who went through Massapequa schools. It's a very good district.
I don't want bratty kids either - and believe me FH went to a relatively wealthy district too (Plainview) and he HATED it there. He said so many of the kids in his school were self-involved and 'Jappy' and just not the type of people you would really want to be friends with. He hated the town so much that he wanted to move as far away from it as possible!! We actually just bought a house in Ronkonkoma and we LOVE it. We may not have bought in the best area and I know that but at least I know we can raise well rounded children.

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Posted by iBCraZ131

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Posted by Espo22

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Posted by iBCraZ131

I have to agree that you shouldn't pay attention to the test scores. As a teacher, I see firsthand how skewed those test scores can really be and how they are not an indicator of how good a particular district is. I also agree with the person that said to GO TO the schools - especially the middle school. I worked in a Freeport elementary school 2 years ago and EVERYONE knew that the elementary school was fabulous, but once the kids went to middle school and high school is was just BAD. However, on the other side, I personally wouldn't PAY to send my kids to Jericho no matter how good the school is. I personally feel that it is just such a competitive school and many of the kids can be VERY bratty and self-involved, as are the teachers and the parents. Thats not to say that EVERYONE in the district is like that but just from living around the area for 25 years, you come to know a neighborhood well. With that being said, go by YOUR instinct and how you feel you would want to raise your children. In addition, someone else mentioned house prices - the better the district, the more expensive the houses are AND the taxes - so keep that in mind as well.

***I wasn't trying to offend anyone with my post I was just stating my personal experiences with people from this area in GENERAL***

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the good thing is that massapequa is a good district and on top of that i looked at their listings bc this is where FH wants to move and the prices are not that bad and the taxes were lower than most places i looked at. I wasn't sure about moving to massapequa bc i wanted to be a bit closer to queens, but sounds like a great choice and fh wants to move there bc alot of his friends live there, think i have to give this one alot of consideration.

and no need to defend yourself, you said nothing wrong, infact it was very helpful. I am not from long island, go there alot but as far as knowing most of these things i have no clue. I know alot of the rich areas but theres some i never had a clue about. You made very good points and definitely helped me out, i don't want bratty kids but seriously I want them to get a great education but I also think its important the type of person they become and bratty is not something i had in mind lol.

Thank you to all the girls with your suggestions, great for us non-li'ers

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I actually really liked Massapequa, but we couldn't afford to live there. I also know a few people who went through Massapequa schools. It's a very good district.
I don't want bratty kids either - and believe me FH went to a relatively wealthy district too (Plainview) and he HATED it there. He said so many of the kids in his school were self-involved and 'Jappy' and just not the type of people you would really want to be friends with. He hated the town so much that he wanted to move as far away from it as possible!! We actually just bought a house in Ronkonkoma and we LOVE it. We may not have bought in the best area and I know that but at least I know we can raise well rounded children.

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for me massapequa is the furthest ill move out to, especially now its so hard for me to even move that far bc i work in jersey and my commute is long as it is. Compared to alot of the areas in Nassau massapequa had decent prices well at least the listings i saw, lets see when we actually go and look lol.

Well glad you found something you love-thats what matters

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For example I told FH I liked Westbury, but he said while its such a nice town, the school isn't as good as you would think- so we would be sending our kids to private school.

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Westbury itself encompasses multiple school districts. Westbury, East Meadow, Hicksville & Levittown.

IMHO, you want to definatly stay away from Westbury. My 8 y.o. daughter currently goes to an elementary school in the Hicksville district and I think that the eduacators there are great. We are moving though, but in September she will be starting an elementary school in East Meadow scohol district with a Westbury address. Levittown schools are good too, only thing about those houses are they have no basements, some have no garages, and the taxes in Levittown are high!!

I totally agree with the poster who said to drive around the neighborhood and see what's out there. Drive by the schools when they are getting out and see what is going on. Just remember kids will be kids, and some of their parents don't care what they look like when they walk out the door!!

Visit greatschools.net They have all the information that you need on community dynamics. Don't base your decision on test scores because sometimes they are tainted, but it will give you a good indicator at times.

Lastly, when you are in these neighborhoods, look around at the dynamics. Are there a lot of younger couples with kids, or mostly older couples with older kids. This might give you a good indicator on what the neighborhood might look like in years to come. If there are a lot of elderly couples that would be selling there house in the next 5-10 years, you don't know what the market is going to be like, so you don't know who is going to buy the houses.

Good luck in where ever you decide to move ! !

*******DISCLAIMER: I did not mean to possibly offend anyone with what I wrote in this post. This post was not intended to start any arguments or drama.