School Districts and Young Children

What was your thought process in evaluating school districts if you have very young children?

Here's the specifics:
DD is 6 months old. Baby #2 is just a dream. The children they will go to middle/high school with aren't born yet.

When looking for a new home, how did you reconcile the ratings/test scores/etc. of middle/high schools knowing there is so much time before LO will attend? How do you know if an area will get better or worse?

It seems a lot of areas have great reviews for elementary schools but the results taper as you move to high school.

Re: School Districts and Young Children

We bought in an area we could afford with an average school district.

After we moved in, I think we made a great choice.

Most of our neighbors have lived here for generations, are grads of the district, went on to great colleges and honestly, IMO, a big reason our SD gets such a bad rep is because of the diversity.

I feel like we fit in more here and don't have to keep up with the Joneses either, which is VERY important to us.

DS has needed services from CPSE and they have been wonderful.

I also have worked with several people who put their kids through HS in my district who told me it's not the kids in house, during school who are a problem......a lot of times it's the negative influence from peers and from the outside.

I get it.

DH told me he hung out with kids growing up from an affluent district, often left alone and unsupervised for days on end.

The stories he has!!!

Re: School Districts and Young Children

My kids are 26 and 19. When my son was little I was a single mom and I struggled to move into a rental in a very affluent area with an excellent school district.
Turns out at that time that small, wealthy district had no money or resources allocated for special Ed. I didn't realize my son would need those services until 3rd grade when he was struggling to learn how to write. I was always in the gifted program and school on every level was a breeze for me, foolishly I assumed my son would be like me.
The district made tons of excuses, he has ADHD, autism, lazy, hearing impaired. None of which were correct.
Finally I had to get the ny state board of education involved to get services.
It left a very sour taste in my mouth for the district that is known to be so extraordinary.
I broke a long term lease I had which cost me a fortune and moved into what is considered an average district. He finally got the OT and PT he needed, plus teachers that were up for the challenge.
My son thrived there. He loved school, had tons of friends and graduated on the honor roll with a regents diploma.

Its easy to assume our children will be brilliant, good students, athletic, masters of the arts and so on but it's simply not the case. My advice is to find a district with great services and programs across the board that has a track record of passed budgets, a great library and sense of community.
Its also really important you pick an area you feel
comfortable in and hope the districts stays the same or a decade and a half until your kids are grown.

Good luck!

Re: School Districts and Young Children

Re: School Districts and Young Children

DH and I bought our house when we were expecting our son, who is now 4. School districts were a factor in that we wanted one that was fairly well-ranked academically and offered a lot of programs and services. But we also wanted to stay near my parents, who live in Seaford, where I grew up, so we were really just looking at Merrick, Bellmore, Wantagh, Seaford, Massapequa, and a little in Bethpage, and imo, all of those school districts are fairly comparable. We ultimately bought in N. Bellmore school district.

I think it's impossible to anticipate every potential need or preference of your child, as others have stated. But I also think it make sense to buy in a desirable school district if you can afford it, because you tend to build more equity in those areas. I have sold beautiful homes in less desirable school districts that just don't have the value one would expect because the buyer pool is much smaller given the reputation of the school district. If resale value is not a consideration, that is less of a concern. But I would tell any client that school district does drive home values.

Also, I don't think that areas tend to change that dramatically. Your 6 month old will be starting elementary school in 5 years and middle school in approx. 10 years. The demographics of most areas around here don't change that dramatically in that time span... an affluent area will still be affluent when your child starts school, a big district will likely still remain big, a top ranked district will likely still be ranked well. So I wouldn't be overly concerned with choosing a district that is currently considered "good" by most standards and then finding it has deteriorated greatly by the time your child is in school.

But I would not just consider school district alone. For me, while I wanted a generally well-regarded district that would offer a lot on different levels to my son, I didn't feel the need to be in a "top" district or the most affluent district. I also wanted a nice community feel, proximity to parks, beaches, stores, highways, a good commute, etc. School district is definitely a factor for most buyers who are even contemplating children, but it shouldn't be the only one, imo.

School Districts and Young Children

We just purchased a home on Long Island. Our children are 3 and 5 year olds. School district was one of the factors but not THE determining factor. We wanted decent schools, but definitely was not willing to sacrifice 2 very important things when deciding where to live.

Number one was commute time. We were not willing to travel too far into Long Island because both of us work in Manhattan.

Number two is price of the home. We didn't want to feel strained financially just to be in the top districts.

We ended up choosing a home within the Hewlett Woodmere school district. We have been living here for 6 months now and have no regrets. We love our new neighbors and my daughter loves her new school.