South Side High School, Rockville Centre NY

Original Research by School Decision on South Side High School

South Side High School serves grades nine through twelve in Rockville Centre, a walkable residential village on Long Island's south shore. The school enrolls a student body that is predominantly white, with smaller shares of Hispanic, Black, and Asian students; about one in five students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The neighborhood around the school is established and mixed-income, though the village overall has seen newer luxury rental development near the LIRR station and downtown, and housing costs remain high for the region.

The school operates within the Rockville Centre Union Free School District, which recently faced significant budget pressures. In the 2026-27 fiscal year, voters approved a budget that eliminated teaching positions and raised property taxes. The district cut or did not fill a substantial number of full-time teaching roles and teaching assistant positions, a contraction in instructional staff that reflects financial strain driven by rising property values and stagnant state aid. For families considering a move to the area, this staffing reduction is a material change to the learning environment and a factor in ongoing school operations.

State assessment data for South Side High School was not available, so prospective families would need to request proficiency results, course pass rates, and other academic metrics directly from the school or district to evaluate achievement levels across subjects. Similarly, the school's graduation rate and chronic absenteeism data were not reported in the sources consulted. Among districts in Nassau County, the comparison does not yield a clear position for this school on proficiency or graduation outcomes because those figures are missing. A parent interested in understanding how South Side compares to other high schools in the county on test performance or completion would benefit from asking the school directly for recent data.

The school's course and program offerings were not detailed in available sources. A visit to the school's website or a call to the administration building, located on the campus alongside the high school, would clarify what academic pathways, electives, AP courses, career and technical options, or dual-enrollment opportunities exist. The district operates five elementary schools and one middle school within Rockville Centre proper, so students typically feed into South Side after middle school within the same district community.

Rockville Centre itself is known for its pedestrian-friendly downtown centered on the LIRR station and for leafy residential neighborhoods. The village has a lively restaurant and retail scene, and the public library serves residents alongside the school district. Green spaces include Village Green Park and Mill River Complex Park. Health care, Catholic institutions, and local government are the dominant employers. A significant share of residents commute to Manhattan or work from home, making the area part of the broader Long Island suburban corridor.

Families weighing South Side should prioritize requesting academic performance data, program specifics, and the school's response to recent staffing changes, all of which the school is best positioned to explain in detail.

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Academic performance

How students graduate and prepare for what comes next.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

98.0%Cohort of 290 students · Class of 2021

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

1,253 schools plotted. 14 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Advanced Placement & IB

30 subjects offered · 2023-24

Each card is one AP or IB subject. The headline number is the share of students scoring 3 or higher on the exam — the threshold for college credit at most universities. The bar below each rate shows the underlying distribution across performance levels.

Score:12· no credit345· extremely well qualified

Math and Computer Science

Calculus AB

37 tested

64.9%

scored 3 or higher

Calculus BC

36 tested

66.7%

scored 3 or higher

Computer Science Principles

59 tested · Grade 9, Grade 10

78.0%

scored 3 or higher

Statistics

17 tested

41.2%

scored 3 or higher

Sciences

Biology

1 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

History and Social Sciences

U.S. History

1 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

International Baccalaureate

Ib Biology HL

25 tested

76.0%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Business and Management HL

88 tested

87.5%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Chemistry HL

16 tested

62.5%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Environmental Systems SL

104 tested

95.2%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Film HL

21 tested

90.5%

scored 3 or higher

Ib History Hl History of the Americas

229 tested

86.9%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Language a Language and Literature English HL

235 tested

91.5%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Language B French SL

37 tested

91.9%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Language B Spanish HL

14 tested

71.4%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Language B Spanish SL

113 tested

96.5%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Mathematics Analysis and Approaches SL

53 tested

88.7%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Mathematics Applications and Interpretation SL

137 tested

80.3%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Music HL

10 tested

100.0%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Music SL

2 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Physics HL

7 tested

57.1%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Physics SL

35 tested

91.4%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Psychology SL

41 tested

78.0%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Theatre Arts HL

6 tested

83.3%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Theatre Arts SL

1 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Ib Visual Arts HL

27 tested

92.6%

scored 3 or higher

Other

Language and Comp

1 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Literature and Comp

1 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Studio Art 2d Design

1 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

World History

1 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

New York Regents Exams

4 courses reported · 2024-25

End-of-course exams required for a New York Regents diploma. Each row shows the cohort size and the share of students scoring at the proficient level or higher.

Course	Students tested	% proficient
Social Studies	261	95.0%
Ela	258	96.0%
Science	162	77.0%
Math	29	48.0%

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.