lofiunico

My family up until recently (the past 5-10 years or so) has been pretty involved in the Westbury area. My mom worked at the candle shop when she was in high school back in the mid to late 1970s. My paternal grandfather owned and operated his business in one of those offices along West Bellfort. Both of my parents lived on Spellman right past the intersection of West Bellfort and Chimney Rock. My aunt and uncle used to own the medical practice on the opposite corner of that intersection. They sold it and I don't really know what's become of it. I often get to hear my parents talk about the square. It's neat to see more of what I've heard so much about.

I know about this first hand, but I can't say that it is yet at the level in which you speak of it. Just driving through my neighborhood, I can see several of the smaller flat roof style homes closer to Beltway 8 on Kimberley and Queensbury are being demolished to build brick mini mansions, but there hasn't been much of a strain on Stratford itself if you ask me. I've noticed a few more young families in the area, so this could certainly be the case in 5-10 years, however the enrollment for the 2004-2005 school year was only something like 1900 students (and the change in the past school year including Katrina was less than 100 students). The Westchester high school is open as a charter school focusing on International Studies, but the enrollment there across both Middle and High School levels in somewhere near 700. It could surely house more, as Stratford was relocated there for the 2004-2005 school year due to construction issues alongside the original Westchester crowd. The majority of my neighbors are older couples or widows whose houses will eventually go back onto the market ithus creating ample real estate and possibly lower housing costs that will be more accesible to the 30-40 year old crowd. I guess I can informally monitor the progress coming back and forth from college.

I just graduated in May from Stratford HS. I went to Rummel Creek Elementary and Memorial MS. Overall, I would say that I enjoyed a pretty down to earth public school experience. Memorial MS was a little snotty, I'll admit. Everyone has insecurity issues in middle school anyway. Stratford is certainly a bit more balanced in terms of diversity than say Memorial HS. The snotty attitude is much less noticeable there. There are a couple of kids who do the whole $40k + automobile thing, but for the most part they stay within their own realm. Most people are firmly middle or upper middle class, but the apartments surrounding the school bring economic diversity. The education, while not without its problems, is top notch (especially in the Honors and AP Programs). I had 5 or 6 friends transfer from Memorial HS to Stratford because of a pervasive snotty attitude (plus there's a more noticable drug scene due to disposable income). In the same way, I had 5 or 6 friends who transfered from Spring Woods HS to Stratford because the school was not challenging enough. Hope that helps.