Half Hollow Hills, Cold Spring Harbor - Top Schools in Suffolk
By Leader Staff
The Half Hollow Hills and Cold Spring Harbor School Districts were ranked as the "Best Schools and Districts" in Suffolk County, in the 2027 Niche Study on public schools across the United States.
The Half Hollow Hills (HHH) district includes Dix Hills and Melville, and earned an A+ overall grade. HHH ranked Number 1 in Suffolk County, Number 13 in New York State, and Number 59 nationwide.
The HHH district has 7,302 students in pre-K through 12th grade and a student-teacher ratio of 12 to 1.
The Cold Spring Harbor (CSH) School District, which includes the communities of Lloyd Harbor, Cold Spring Harbor and Laurel Hollow, placed a close second, also with an overall score of "A+."
The CSH district has about 1,600 students, and includes communities in both Nassau and Suffolk counties.
Other North Shore Suffolk school districts placing high in the rankings were Harborfields (Centerport-Greenlawn) which placed 4th; Commack which placed 7th; Northport which placed 8th; Elwood which placed 9th; South Huntington, which placed 13th; Kings Park, which placed 25th; and Huntington which placed 28th.
Niche based its district rankings on a thorough analysis of reported statistics - and millions of reviews from students and parents - and secured data from the New York State and US Departments of Education.
Half Hollow Hills has been in the news lately as Huntington Town Supervisor Ed Smyth (R-Halesite) is pushing for mass low-income apartment developments in Melville which could impose massive costs and negatively impact the quality of education in the HHH schools.
Smyth rammed-through a 400 unit apartment project earlier this year, to be built by Steele Equities.
He is now trying to force-through another mass apartment project, called "Cornerstone" despite a law in Huntington requiring a "Pause" after the first 400 units are built, to determine the actual impact upon the school district and on the ground water.
The Superintendent and School Board of Half Hollow Hills issued a public letter calling upon Smyth and the Town Board to respect the law, and "pause" any new developments until after the Steele Equities project is finished and occupied.
Smyth has received over $1 million in campaign donations and expenditures from the builders and developers' lobbyists.