I strongly dislike the atmosphere in this school. The administration might be responsible for the…read moretoxic atmosphere.
Firstly, this is a closed school, which means parents are not allowed in the school at all. If parents even linger a bit too long (in their view) standing by the door, watching their kid go to his/her class, the lady at the door yells at them to hurry up and clear out.
I asked the principal if I can come in to view my child's class. He said that as an exception to me, he'll let me come and sit in on the class for 10-15 mins, if I also read a book to the class. I think he simply should've let me do the visit, without asking me to volunteer in return. That's what good schools do. I didn't mind coming in to read and would actually enjoy that, so I agreed to do that. When I came in to do the reading, my chid's teacher said that the principal doesn't allow class viewings. So I did the volunteer work for them, but they didn't hold up their part of the bargain. One thing I can't stand is manipulative people who say they'll do something and then do something entirely differently.
The administration feels like a clique, and are more interested in maintaining power over, rather than providing the best service possible to the community. They get 1.5 stars. I called the school early in the year, to ask a question, and the secretary rudely yelled into the phone, 'What school?!' And then immediately hung up. I called back. She again yelled right off the bat, 'What school?!' Based on that question, I thought she may be serving several schools at once, and so I said 'Daniel Webster.' She then hung up on me again. Needless to say, I didn't call her again with any questions. Later, in conversations with other parents, I found out that the school secretary has insulted several other parents with the things she said to them, or treated them in a hostile manner. I told the principal that this has happened. And that it creates a negative environment for the kids and the parents. He ignored my email. If this school was any other business, and a staff member treated customers this way, they probably would get fired, or at least reprimanded. And if a customer complained to the manager that a staff member has repeatedly insulted customers, and the manager simply ignored the customer, this business would have many one star reviews online very quickly, and would go out of business.
The curriculum is dumbed down. I don't understand how this school is getting high reviews on some sites. Unless the other schools are even worse. (Which is very possible.) They are doing the same exact assignments in my child's Kindergarten class, as he has already mastered in pre K. Some of the stuff they are given, many kids learn when they are 3. Makes me wonder if the school deliberately gives assignments to kids that are below their level of intellectual and academic capacity, so that more kids can pass/ get better grades, just so the school can look better on paper. That would be a self serving thing to do, wouldn't it? Because the lack of challenge in the curriculum does a huge disservice to the kids' education in the long run.
I had a discussion with the principal and my child's teacher, to discuss the fact that the assignments my chid gets are far beneath his academic capability. The principal told me that by law the school has to give each student assignments that are at their level, and perhaps the teacher can give him more challenging work. In that meeting the teacher seemed to agree. Months passed and I saw no changes in his homework assignments. I spoke with the teacher about this again, and this time she refused to give him more challenging assignments. She said something along the lines of that she already had about 30 students in the class and doesn't have time to check extra assignments. Again there was a discrepancy between what the principal said would happen, and then what actually happened. At least with used car sales people you know who you're dealing with. You just don't expect this kind of nasty attitude and manipulative behavior from elementary school staff, (who deal with kids!) in NJ, US in the 21st century. Not in China, Afghanistan, or Cuba 40 yrs ago.
Our tax dollars pay for this education. I don't pay taxes every year to be yelled at, lied to, not allowed to visit my child's classroom for even 10 mins, and have my child held back academically.
With that said, some teachers are very nice, and seem to be doing as good a job as they can. I would give them 4 starts. The community is excellent in this neighborhood; the parents care. That positively influences my child's experience in the school and raises the level of the school in my eyes. If it wasn't for these factors, this would be a 2 star review.
But I would not want my child continuing on to middle school here (Roosevelt middle school), where the administration is absolutely horrible, significantly worse than this school. I would rather move.
