North Amityville Public Schools - Amityville and Copiague School Districts

The hamlet of North Amityville is split between two school districts. The western area of the hamlet of North Amityville is in the Amityville district and the eastern area is in the Copiague district. 

Most of our school district boundaries were established in the mid-1800s. The landscape of our communities changed – from farms and fields to streets and homes – but school district boundaries largely stayed the same, with a few exceptions. 

 

This 1873 map shows the present communities of Amityville Village and the hamlets of Copiague and North Amityville. The colors denote the school district boundaries at that time. Amityville in green and Copiague (formerly East Amityville) in pink. Today, both school districts extend north to the Southern State Parkway, which is similar to the boundaries shown from the 1800s. From Atlas of Long Island, NY published by Beers, Comstock & Cline, 1873.

 

Amityville School District 

Prior to 1872, it was known as Town of Huntington School District No. 23. After the Town of Babylon separated from Huntington in 1872, it became known as Town of Babylon School District No. 6, before the name Amityville Union Free School District was adopted in the early 1900s.

Amityville school class, circa 1933.

 

The first Amityville school was a private school built around 1848 on Cedar Street. The two-story public school built in 1878 still exists as a business building at 162 Broadway, opposite Avon Place. That school was discontinued in 1895, when Amityville’s first high school opened. As the only district school, it served all grades up through high school, and later became known as Park North.

From around 1874 to 1895, the district also operated a small school on Albany Avenue, just north of Sunrise Highway (which did not exist at the time) known as “Colored School No. 6” (the “No. 6” designation was a reference to Town of Babylon School District No. 6). At the urging of Civil War Veteran Charles D. Brewster and other district residents, the Albany Avenue school was discontinued and the Park Avenue school became the sole, integrated school for the district. 

Amityville High School, circa 1915, commonly referred to as Park North. The building now houses the district’s administration offices.

 

Park Avenue Memorial Elementary School and Amityville Memorial High School were both named in memorial honor to local veterans. The Edmund W. Miles Middle School was named for a long-time Amityville educator. Mr. Miles was an elementary and junior high school principal, and was chairman of the mathematics department at Amityville High School.

School District Mascot – Warriors 

School District Colors – Maroon and Grey

  • Park North Elementary School (originally Amityville High School) – opened 1895, closed 1972 and became district administration offices 
  • Northeast Elementary School – opened 1952
  • Northwest Elementary School – opened 1952
  • Park Avenue Memorial Elementary School (originally Amityville High School and, later, Park Central) – opened 1924 
  • Edmund W. Miles Middle School – opened 1962
    • Edmund W. Miles (1917-1979) was a former elementary and junior high school principal, and later chairman of the mathematics department at Amityville High School. 
  • Amityville Memorial High School – opened 1952

For further reading: Amityville’s 1894 School House, by William T. Lauder and Charles F. Howlett (available at the Amityville Historical Society and the Amityville Public Library)

Amityville Union Free School District, Central Administration, 150 Park Avenue, Amityville, NY 11701 · www.amityvilleschools.org 

 

Copiague School District 

Prior to 1872, the school district was known as Town of Huntington School District No. 22, after the Town of Babylon separated from Huntington in 1872, it became known as Town of Babylon School District No. 5, before the name Copiague Union Free School District was adopted in the early 1900s.

The Copiague Union School, circa 1911. In 1925, the first of several brick additions was built onto the front of the wooden school. The wooden portion was replaced around 1959, and the school is now Great Neck Road Elementary School.

School bell donated to the East Amityville School by Susan C. Morris in 1889, displayed at Great Neck Road Elementary School.

Early district schools were one-room structures on Montauk Highway, in the mid-1800s. A school bell donated to the, then named, East Amityville School in 1889, is now displayed in front of the Great Neck Road Elementary School. In 1911, a two-story wooden schoolhouse was built on Great Neck Road, which was later expanded to become the current Great Neck Road Elementary School. 

Two schools were named for local educators. Susan E. Wiley was a beloved teacher from 1925-1952, and Walter G. O’Connell was an elementary school principal and the first principal of the junior and senior high schools.

scudderThe Copiague School Annex (later known as Scudder Avenue School), circa 1951. 

School District Mascot – Eagles 

School District Colors – Royal Blue and White 

  • Great Neck Road Elementary School – opened 1911
  • Scudder Avenue School – opened 1950, closed 1979 (demolished 1985)
  • Deauville Gardens East Elementary School and Deauville Gardens West Elementary School (originally one school named Deauville Gardens Elementary School) – opened 1958
  • Susan E. Wiley Elementary School – opened 1963
    • Named for beloved kindergarten teacher Susan E. Wiley who taught at the Great Neck Road School from 1925 until her death in 1952. 
  • Copiague Middle School (originally named Copiague Junior-Senior High School) – opened 1958
  • Walter G. O’Connell Copiague High School – opened 1967
    • In 2000, the school was named to honor the high school’s first principal Walter G. O’Connell. He left the position of principal in 1972 and worked as an English teacher until his retirement in 1979. 

Copiague School District Central Offices, 2650 Great Neck Road, Copiague, NY 11726 · (631) 842-4015 · www.copiague.k12.