Park Avenue School, Amityville NY

Original Research by School Decision on Park Avenue School

Park Avenue School serves grades two through five in Amityville, a small waterfront village on Long Island's south shore. The school sits within the village fabric along Park Avenue, part of the Amityville Union Free School District, which has faced considerable financial strain in recent years that is worth understanding as context for any family considering the school.

The school enrolls a substantial student body for its grade band, with a diverse student composition. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the neighborhood's economic profile. The student body is predominantly Hispanic and Black, with smaller populations of Asian, white, and multiracial students, plus a small number of American Indian students. Data on English learners and students receiving special education services was not available.

Academic performance shows proficiency rates that are below the midpoint among districts in Suffolk County. In mathematics, third-grade proficiency is around half, declining noticeably in fourth grade and dropping further by fifth grade. English language arts follows a similar downward trend across grades. Fifth-grade science proficiency is notably low. These patterns suggest students are facing increasing difficulty as material becomes more demanding across the upper elementary grades. A parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand what support structures exist for students who fall below proficiency, particularly in math, where the gap widens significantly from third to fifth grade.

The district itself is navigating serious financial challenges. Starting in fiscal year 2022-23, Amityville entered a period of significant fiscal stress, designated so by New York State. The district conducted substantial staff layoffs in early 2024, affecting more than two dozen teachers, teacher assistants, monitors, and security personnel. Northeast Elementary, the district's only school with a pre-K program and home to special needs and Head Start services, faced proposed closure in 2024 but was kept open after the state provided one-time funding. These circumstances reflect real instability in staffing and program continuity, and a parent should be aware that budget pressures remain an ongoing concern for the district's future.

The broader Amityville community is in transition. The village has a compact downtown centered on the Long Island Rail Road station and is undergoing revitalization as part of a state Downtown Revitalization Initiative announced in late 2022. Housing values in the zip code are mid-range for the region, with rental costs moderate by Long Island standards. The village is adding new mixed-use and luxury residential developments near the transit hub, though the neighborhood retains its small-town feel with local parks, the waterfront, and a walkable commercial corridor.

Starting in the 2025-26 school year, New York has implemented a statewide bell-to-bell ban on personal smartphones and internet-enabled devices. At the elementary level, this means devices generally cannot be brought to school. This represents a direct change in the daily school experience and something families need to understand as part of the operating environment.

Park Avenue School offers a traditional public elementary program serving its immediate neighborhood. The school participates in state testing, and those results are available for review. Families considering the school should connect directly with administrators about targeted support for students below proficiency in math and language arts, staffing stability given recent district layoffs, and the school's approach to closing achievement gaps in upper elementary grades.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 351%

School 51% · District 50%

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 440%

School 40% · District 40%

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Grade 528%

School 28% · District 27%

▼ 24 pts below state median · ▼ 22 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 346%

School 46% · District 46%

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 437%

School 37% · District 37%

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Grade 533%

School 33% · District 33%

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Science

Grade 526%

School 26% · District 26%

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 574%

School 74% · district not reported

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 22 pts below county median

This schoolAMITYVILLE UNION FREE SCHOOL DISTRICT, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income42%Higher-income58%16 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income36%Higher-income42%6 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income31%Higher-income39%7 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income24%Higher-income42%18 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income46%Higher-income65%19 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income38%Higher-income47%9 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income24%Higher-income37%13 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income31%Higher-income57%26 pp gap