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Does anybody have any insider information about Katonah-Lewisboro School District? We are considering moving to the area but are concerned about recent changes, i.e. one elementary school closing, declining enrollment and recent Superintendent resignation. Also the High School rating on Greatschools.org went down from 9 to 8. Does anybody know what is happening with this school district? We were under impression that it was a high performing SD with good reputation. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Ranked #244 in the entire country and #38 in the state of New York. Take that for what it's worth. But it is a great school and great school district.
This is a comment from another post that sums up the school closing pretty well:
Quote:
Originally Posted by bmwguydc
It was the projection of declining enrollment, to under 3,000 within five years, and under 2,500 within ten years that prompted the board to investigate the measure to more efficiently run the district. Refocusing resources on education, rather than building maintenance and utility costs would also allow for full-day kindergarten, and enhanced educational opportunities. Redistricting for transportation and elementary school assignments would be part of the plan, but long-term that should not have any negative effect on property values as I don't think that this would negatively impact educational achievement in the district. Then intention is to be fiscally responsible, as the areas served are not home to a large housing boom, as most of the available land has been developed, as the area is bound by limitations due to the reservoir water shed, etc. It's not a case of an area that is going to have expansive housing tracts developed to attract young families, where enrollment will spike during the study period.
Since the K-L district spans a large geographic area, the concern would be transportation, depending upon which school is closed. However, many of the people I know who used public schools in K-L were driven to school, or drive their children to school.
If the goal of redeployment of resources is met, this could also help to keep taxes in check, especially in Katonah. And, at current funding levels, more money would be available to enhance educational opportunities at the remaining schools. I don't see the proposal as anything that would be detrimental in the long-term, though there could be growing pains as the district adopts new policies and elementary school boundaries.
The school closing will strengthen the district. I don't have any info about the superintendent besides what the articles have said. We just moved here last fall and we absolutely love the town. Everything that happens revolves around families. The Museum of Art has great exhibits and constantly has activities, stroller tours, kids classes. The village library also always has events for kids and music classes every single week and some events for the parents too! Next week is Chili night, Captain Lawrence Beer is donating beer for the event and the local wine store is donating wine for the evening. Every week there is something happening. And once summer comes around Caramoor comes alive with it's music festival.
Sorry I got off on a tangent there, but we aren't concerned with the district. We will find the right superintendent for the district and the few kids that get moved to a different school will settle in quickly and the district will continue on doing an even better job for our kids than before. And yes, from what I know it will be full day kindergarten, which is great.
I would guess that the drop in greatschools rating is due to the drop in their scores on the state tests due to the new test NY rushed out last year. Most schools' scores dropped by 20%. However many high schools' ratings did not drop, so I don't know why KL's would have. Nonetheless, I wouldn't take that too seriously.
I'm sure some will disagree, but the US News rankings are pretty generally considered to be based on some wacky criteria and I wouldn't put much weight in those. I find the greatschools ratings to be the best out there, to the extent that one can come up with a number to quantify something as subtle as school quality. But any rating should be taken with a ton of salt.
I would guess that the drop in greatschools rating is due to the drop in their scores on the state tests due to the new test NY rushed out last year. Most schools' scores dropped by 20%. However many high schools' ratings did not drop, so I don't know why KL's would have. Nonetheless, I wouldn't take that too seriously.
I'm sure some will disagree, but the US News rankings are pretty generally considered to be based on some wacky criteria and I wouldn't put much weight in those. I find the greatschools ratings to be the best out there, to the extent that one can come up with a number to quantify something as subtle as school quality. But any rating should be taken with a ton of salt.
I think all of the rating systems are wacky that is why I said "take that for what it's worth". But I'm not sure where you are coming up with this idea that greatschools rating system is so great. It's very generic. From their website:
"What do GreatSchools Ratings tell me?
Our ratings provide an overview of a school's test performance by comparing the school's state standardized test results to those of other schools in the state."
That's it. They go by grade and gender and ethnicity. Just like US News. No site is using vague criteria like "school quality" to get these scores.
The ratings are all over the place and just because some random site said it went down to an 8, dma gave the explanation of why it might do that.
You need to go to the school and visit and talk to people and parents and get an actual feel for what the school offers and what the people are like. That will tell you more than looking at 100 different sites and test scores.
You need to go to the school and visit and talk to people and parents and get an actual feel for what the school offers and what the people are like. That will tell you more than looking at 100 different sites and test scores.
That I totally agree with. I laugh at all of the inane posts on this site about the "best" schools since I wouldn't dream of sending my kid to many of them given what I know of how they actually function. A score isn't going to tell you much and the only way to really get a sense of a school is go get a sense of the school. That said, the greatschools.com ratings always correlate to what I know about schools, whereas the US News ones don't at all and have some noteworthy aberrations.
What I wonder is how one can possibly predict the future performance of a given school district over a period of 12-15 or so years that you may have kids in the system. Going to get better? Worse?
What I wonder is how one can possibly predict the future performance of a given school district over a period of 12-15 or so years that you may have kids in the system. Going to get better? Worse?
As long as the families in an already-good school district preserve their affluence and are willing to prioritize funding of academic programs, then it's nearly impossible for a district to get worse.
Usually declines, when they happen, are caused by some kind of economic event where lots of people simultaneously lose their jobs and incent them to either sell their homes at well beneath what was paid for or vote to allow mass subdividing of properties to multifamilies without a matching upgrade in the school system. Another development is the aging of the population such that too many seniors no longer want to pay for school programs.
None of these are happening to Katonah yet. IBM has been retrenching its workforce in NY and this has had somewhat of an impact in Northern Westchester but not to the extent that it would cause a decline in the community and school district. That said NY and America are facing some major demographic changes in the years to come and towns and villages must continuously find ways to attract tomorrow's families to their communities.
Thank you all for your comments, they are very helpful. Of course, school rating sites are just a reference point, but strangely enough school districts like Chappaqua, Scarsdale, Bronxville, Blind Brook pretty much stay the same year after year. K-L's rating stayed the same for many years, but for some reason last year it dropped whereas Somers rating went up. It may not mean much, but that is the reason why I wanted to hear from parents whose kids are already in this school system. We actually visited LES last year and loved it, but then came these news about closing and restructuring. You always worry when changes come. Full day kindergarten is very appealing as my child will be entering K in September. Thank you hgeb for your comment. I am glad to hear that you are happy with the town and the school. This is exactly the info I was looking for. If there are other parents with kids in K-L district who could share their experiences with KLS that would be greatly appreciated!
Does anybody have any insider information about Katonah-Lewisboro School District? We are considering moving to the area but are concerned about recent changes, i.e. one elementary school closing, declining enrollment and recent Superintendent resignation. Also the High School rating on Greatschools.org went down from 9 to 8. Does anybody know what is happening with this school district? We were under impression that it was a high performing SD with good reputation. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
As I posted earlier, much of this could have been caused by IBM's retrenching which has had an impact in the region. It's not just the KL area and schools that are feeling the impact. That said Katonah Village has a lot going for it and can give more focus to becoming a bedroom community to NYC by offering more of what commuting families want.
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