Earl L Vandermeulen High School

Quality of music education is excellent. The music director and music teachers are the best. Columbia writing program was poorly implemented at the lower school. It appears they sacrificed grammar for writing. Science program is good. Student should be well prepared. School could do better job of communicating about science fair, academic contests & math camps. Appears that same students are hand-selected to participate in these events. The administrators seemed more concerned about following policies and pleasing the school board. Although every child can participate in most sports, only a few select sports (i.e. track) get any press. Forget about swimming and other sports unless the team/child can win a state championship. A small district, but a lot of underlying small town politics that goes on behind the scene.
—Submitted by a parent

The base education that I received from this high school has remained with me through out my entire life time. The basics were always covered, but the wonderful teachers opened our eyes to the great possiblities out in the world. We always felt worldly, knowledgable and confident. that in this writers opinion is the key to dealing with the world and the very best education that could be provided. I thank thes staff and I recommend this school to anyone;

The academic programs are fantastic for AP and Special Ed, and anything in between. We chose this school because we were looking for a very small district where our children could go from Kindergarten through 12th grade and be friends with all the same people. We were very concentrated on making sure that the transition from elementary to middle school would not be traumatic because the district has only one elementary, middle and high school it certainly helped. Because the student population is so low, it enables every student to participate in any activity or sport he or she wants. To us, it was all about building and enchancing the self esteem not about winning the Intel award.
—Submitted by a parent

Port Jefferson is a very academically involved school with a strong focus on educating students. The setting is intimate and students get personalized attention. However, the downfall is that the school is very small and everyone knows each other. There are cliques and a small choice of friends are available. This school is great for shy children who are sheltered from bigger schools. Parents are somewhat involved. I would like to see more involvement however. Music is successful, but just like any small school, more students are needed. Sports is popular. Most children take part in at least one sports activity during the year. The track is beautiful and the grounds are kept immaculately. Clubs, such as yearbook or Amnesty International have some members, however the same students take part in all the clubs available. Overall, Port Jefferson is a nice school, but it is too small.
—Submitted by a student

They have very good academic programs with a menu of AP classes, given that the district has approximately 1100 students. Special education staff at the high school is very caring. They have a new principal that is new to the school but not to the district. Like any other small school, course scheduling could be problematic. There is full inclusion for any special education student along with resource room and direct consultant services; however, since the district's administration does not presently have a hands on philosophy I would suggest that parents oversee their child's programs. This includes the importance of heavy parental involvement in the planning of any child's post secondary eduction or career choices.
—Submitted by a parent

I agree the small is school great classes and relatively safe. but the students behaviors are out of control. You would not expect in such a small school all the cutting, cell phone use in class, disrespect to teachers and overall non compliance to the rules. Something needs to be done here to get back the order. Teachers and administrators are in charge, not the students.
—Submitted by a parent

This is a very small school. Overall the staff is very good. There are alot of classes offered for such a small school. Graduating class are normaly about 80-110. It is a safe school with no major problems. To someone looking to move to the area it is a good school to consider.
—Submitted by a student