Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Long Island School For The Gifted

I am a new user and not good at searching so hope this hasn't been discussed before. We are thinking about this school. Can anyone offer us any advice on it?

Hopefully Wren will drop in and comment.

Thanks Austin, hope someone can give me any advice.

Just got back from Central America. Totally recommend it. There were 250 kids on board. DD4 loved the kids' club and it was a great real cultural trip for her. Think Disney in April will be the last trip there.

I am not totally familiar with the Long Island school for the gifted though know a woman whose daughters went there and loves it. Her daughters are grown now so it is not a recent review but she is a teacher, very involved in gifted education and I think is somewhat on top of it.

Ren

( I am a new user myself - my first post )
I have 2 in Long island School For the Gifted. I am very happy with it so far. They have the kids in class with peers for Language Arts, Social Studies, science... They start learning chemistry in kindergarden along with spanish.
There is pull out by level for reading, math and spelling. The teachers and kids are wonderful.
It is a drag that we pay a lot of taxes on LI, for public education and then need to send to private. My son is highly gifted, my daughter is gifted and the school is helping them excel and they are happy.
If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

I have the opportunity to move to vermont and I haven't found the same level of education. I don't know if anyone knows of comparable programs in Northern Vermont? i will probably stay because of the school.

Thanks for the input Wren.

Thank you so much for the reply ew8.
We are going to check the school out.
Yep LI taxes are so high and paying for school on top of it is crazy. This is why my husband doesn't want to move to LI. We live in Queens. It will be a bit of a drive but I feel like I would do anything to find an appropriate place for my DS.
We might try one year of gifted public to at least see how it is. But I hear 1st grade gifted is still 1st grade curriculum.
The Long Island School told me the IQ Test is valid for 3 years (could you confirm that), if so then we do have 1 year to play with before making the decision. And we could save 12K in the process! So your DD is also there? That is a lot of money. So far my other DS (2) is not showing any "gifted" signs.

ew8...
I doubt it but do they have any transportation from Queens?

hey tracy, the school is in hunington station.... could you take the train?

They have a monthly and yearly pass' which is way cheeper

The trains are much nicer then they used to be.... lol, I remember the trains of the 70's..... uugh!

I would love to move back to long island, but it's way too expensive

Hi Jenjoysoup,
Well I looked it up on www.hopstop.com and it said 1 hr and 30 minutes as opposed to 30 minutes driving.
I agree I would rather take the train if it were also 30 minutes. I do work from home so I think it is possible , my husband said he would do mornings and I would then do afternoons.
Problem would be if I had another seizure and can't drive for a year. Well then maybe my mother in law or father in law could step in. A big burden I would hate to as of them. UGH!! Dilemmas Dilemmas! Thanks for the reply.

traceyqns,

There is supposed to be a good district G&T in queens. A mom I know runs an AGATE chapter there. Contact AGATENY and find Debbie who runs the chapter. I know the principal is very accomodating, according to the Debbie.

Ren

Thanks For The Tip Wren! I will do that now! You know if your child is on the low end of the spectrum there are so many services. When my DS was a late talker and there was a question maybe something was wrong I was being thrown services left and right. Now that he is on the other extreme there seems to be no where to turn for help.

I will verify the IQ scores and how long they are good for. The School is in Huntington Station but its not too close to the train. The bus is provided by the local school system, my kids take the bus home. I have heard some people drive there kids to the furthest bus stop, I will have to check into that.
DS tested way off the chart and my DD is gifted also. I know he really belongs there, but I felt I needed to give her the shot too. We do what we can to scrape by, it is hard but I think its worth it. You always get people (especially in your family) that think you are crazy.
The ONLY problem with waiting is the there is only a certain number of spots available and then students get on a waiting list. My DD is in kindergarten and I know there are 2 families fighting for one spot that is opening for the rest of this year. They were unhappy with some other private schools on LI. They don't advertise what the waiting list is, so I have no idea how long or real the list is.
The school has your child come in for one day for a trial day, for both the school and you child. That is something you may want to peruse.

Thank you so much for all the information ew8.
This is all great to know.
What a great idea to drop the kid to the furthest bus stop.
Geez I never ever would have thought about that.
And I never even thought about a waiting list, I just assumed there would be a spot.
And they told me the IQ score has to be 130 or higher, do you remember if that is correct. My DS scored 132 at 4.9. We are thinking to test again for comparison.
I didn't know about the trial day either.
Thanks for all the great advice, I really appreciate it!

We took the drive from Queens yesterday and boy it is FAR.
We are crossing this one off the list.
Oh well back to the drawing board or back to public LOL!

The school is far from queens. It is a great place. I think the score was 130 or higher. I wish you luck, if I hear of anything in NYC area I will let you know.

My son attended LISG for during their middle school, which is 4th-6th grade, and it is absolutely true that the staff is very nice and the teachers (for the most part) were caring. I have many good things to say about the overall atmosphere of the school, but the middle school curriculum just could not accommodate a PG kid. My son was in the highest level math class and bored. The science class was a joke, with the teacher barely able to control the class and little to no learning going on. Social Studies was short on factual analysis and big on special projects like subject-related recipes and art & crafts, which would have been more appropriate for elementary kids. And the most disappointing thing was that my son just didn't connect with the kids, he kept saying over and over that most of them hated school and didn't want to learn. But even if he had cultivated a bunch of friendships, it would have tough to keep them going, as the student body comes from all over: Suffolk, Nassau, and Queens. It was not easy to schedule social outings and get-togethers.

I feel it is also important to note that during my son's second year, his social studies teacher (whom he had for two years) was arrested on child pornography charges. I absolutely do not hold the school responsible, as it was clear that they could not have known about this teacher's behavior in advance. But I was absolutely appalled at how the administration handled the aftermath. Parents were told very little information, and were made to feel uncomfortable if they wanted more answers. They didn't even inform parents ahead of time. All I received was a letter in my son's backpack saying that I might hear a teacher mentioned on the news and that the school was going to talk to the students about it the next day. And there I was thinking that someone had won a national teaching award! Instead, I found out what really happened when my 10-year-old son called me at work and said his teacher was on TV and had been arrested for a sex crime. The school found absolutely nothing wrong with that series of events. In fact, the overall vibe was: If you don't like how we handled things, leave. We have a waiting list of folks ready to take your place.

That said, it was an isolated incident, and it shouldn't be seen as a reflection of the rest of the instructors. But I think it speaks volumes about how the administration operates. Other teachers were fine, with a few stellar standouts (his language arts teacher was a true gem, the kind of teacher that changes lives). Overall, I wish we had found the school earlier, as most parents whose kids had been there for the lower school years were very happy with how the school handled early education. The fact is, though, that families tend to abandon ship in the middle school and high school years. A lot of that has to do with the fact that there are many secondary school choices for gifted kids on Long Island, but a lot of families also feel that the school just isn't able to do for older kids what they do for the younger ones.

Hi Valry just read this now.
I have gotten mixed reviews on the school even elementary grades. Some said overall their child had better teachers in public. And the consensus seems the administration is not very open to parents. I did hear about that teacher arrested. I wondered if the school does a background and fingerprint check as the public does??

does anyone have information on LISG about kindergarden? I am looking into it for my HG daughter. She is big into math and also very artsy so not sure she'll be happy- seems very traditional and academic. But thought the science looked good. Any other ideas for long island schools with gifted programs?

if anyone has questions about LISG feel free to PM me. I should be able to answer most of your questions.