We were there from K-3 then left. DS was bored and just unhappy there. The elementary science program was great the first year but when they repeated it for 3 more years and we found our lower grade child doing the same lab on the same day as our higher grade child (who we realized at that point had done it each year already!) we started to look more closely at the whole program. The "little lacking in art & music" is an understatement. They are also terribly lacking when it comes to technology. The computer program for elementary was very weak. Compared to what we have going on in our public gifted school I see how much different it could be there. The kids also complained that they hardly ever got out for recess
It's a nice school with caring faculty but I think they could do so much more. There are NO other options on LI though, that's the problem. I knew a family that drove from the Bronx every day then moved to LI and a family that drove from the Hamptons every day. They were considering leaving after that year. We liked having DS with age peers but he didn't have too many intellectual peers there. It's a 130 cutoff and i think most of the students are in the 130-140 range.We felt it just wasn't a very rounded experience. I didn't know what we were missing until we left. Now we have science fairs, clubs, lots of family involvement, broader more intensive classes, technology, etc. It really was the BEST experience we could give the kids on LI though and I have no regrets and only fond memories of the school, students and faculty.
If you send them your testing info they will talk to you but not before. I called them and they were cold until I faxed DS's scores after which it was "Come on downnnnnn" lol And we had a tour and DS did a class visit for a day. It's true that there is very little parental involvement at the school.
The last year we were there the graduating class consisted of 9 girls. In the lower grades the classes have 15 students each, so there were 30 kids were grade.
It we had stayed for last year I think it would have run us about $30k for 2 kids. Feel free to PM if you would like
Good luck!
