Recommendation on towns/commute in Rockland county (or possibly other counties) (Ramapo: school districts, income)

[Praxis]

Hi all,

My wife and I have been thinking of moving out of Brooklyn to a nearby suburb. We have a 3 year old daughter and so a good school system is a top priority. I commute to work to Grand Central everyday, and I know staying east of Hudson would be better for Metro Nort. However, I don't think we can afford Westchester (on a 1 income family) so that's why we are looking at Rockland and maybe even further away.

Any recommendation would be helpful.

Thanks!

[havoc315]

Commuting to Grand Central from anyplace in Rockland, is difficult. The trains from Rockland are really NJ Transit, so they go through Secaucus and Hoboken, eventually bringing you to the PATH downtown or Penn Station.

The mass transit commute from Rockland to Grand Central, consists mainly of the Tappan Zee Express. (You should google the schedule-- TZ Express). Bus ride over the bridge to Tarrytown, then connect with Metro North. If you look it up, you will see the schedule and the bus stop locations. It ends up being a very long commute.
You may want to also consider far Northern Westchester and Southern Putnam, at least that puts you closer to real Metro North trains. And the pricing is somewhat similar to Rockland County.

Within Rockland, the "top rated" school districts are Clarkstown, South Orangetown and Pearl River. You should ignore post office names in Rockland, you really care about school district. Clarkstown, for example, includes Congers, New City, Bardonia, West Nyack. South Orangetown includes Orangeburg, Tappan, Blauvelt, etc.
Of those 3 school districts -- Pearl River is the smallest. If it matters to you, Pearl River is also the least diverse -- it is primarily working class white Catholic. A lot of NYC cops and firefighters.

Other good school districts include Nanuet and Ramapo.
Avoid East Ramapo -- Used to be a decent district (I went there 20+ years ago), but now anybody with any money living in the district uses private schools. The school district is virtually entirely underclass.

North Rockland and Nyack are the remaining districts. They are very racially and socioeconomically diverse. North Rockland is also a very large district. They don't rate as highly as the other districts, but that might just be an effect of the diversity on test scores.

Nyack itself is a very charming town. Most of the county will strike you as just one big sprawling suburb built in the 1960s. But Nyack is different, it's an old town built up before the rest of the county. (Generations ago, it was the commercial hub. Now, it's more of an "artsy" hub.)

Getting back to the commute -- as you look up the locations of the buses, etc. Remember, that for the most part, the county is pretty small. You can get from almost any point in the county, to almost any other point, in under 20 minutes.

[Praxis]

Thanks havoc. That's really helpful. How bad of a morning commute from Rockland county to the other side of the river to catch the Metro North (Tarrytown, etc)? If that's 15-20 minutes, I can deal with that as well.

Otherwise, I might have to look at Southern Putnam. I don't think we can afford anything in Westchester county.

[havoc315]

Look at the schedule for the TZ express-- it will list the bus stop time, and the connecting train time.

[Urrisgirl]

Traffic over the Tappen Zee in the morning is a nightmare. I commute to 42 and Third everyday (through Secacus to Penn). It takes about 1 hour 45 minutes door to door -that includes walking from Penn to East side. Evening is shorter because I get the Express train home. My husband swears by the bus- but he works much earlier that I do.