431 Smith Ridge Rd
South Salem, NY 10590

The system in this school does not work. If a student falls behind, I've only found two teachers that actually help them get back on track effectively. The teaching is mediocre at best, with a few exceptions, such as the social studies teachers. The curriculum is horrible for students; I've seen students have breakdowns multiple times a day due to the lack of social-emotional support. Even when they try to support, they overdo it and it just makes the students uncomfortable. In addition to that, the constant change of principals does not help the students form bonds with the administrators and gives them fewer options to go to when feeling down. For special education at the school, at the base levels it's fine, but when you get more borderline with special education, they severely mess it up, which can completely destroy a student's experience and leave them with a bitter feeling every day Safety, oh safety, where do I start? Maybe in 6th grade where swastikas were everywhere and threats were being made towards the school? How about mental safety where students are bullied by other students and then are punished for saying or doing anything back, while the person or group (which is following the leader) does not get punished? If you're not in a certain group, you will be harassed and bullied, which makes many students just go along with whatever anyone says, leading to more hate and bullying. The n-word is constantly thrown around, and even when heard, no punishment is taken out. Meanwhile, students making fictional characters from any background and then portraying them get punished. Let's talk about 7th grade where the vents were so broken that when smoke from Canada came down to New York, it flooded the school, and multiple students had severe medical issues due to it. Yet, the office was perfectly clear of smoke as they closed the doors, knowing this would happen, giving no warning, and oh wait! They didn't let students in! On another note, how about transportation with buses that the drivers can't even see out of or the wasting of budget spending money on an electric bus instead of on air conditioning. Half these rich kids already have cars before they can even drive. Also, don't believe anything the administration says as they will lie and promise things you will NEVER receive. The punishments at this school are out of hand, with students getting detention for defending themselves. With all of this, I could go on but ive run out of characters!

The school rating is 9/10 @ greatschools.org but it is 7/10 @ Zillow!!! OMG!!!

My daughter has been enrolled at MPES since kindergarten. She is the youngest in her grade and has exceeded any expectations in terms of academics and my only wish is in the ASA as the activities are rather limited. I was hoping more would be available in terms of athletics but the after-school activities are not run by KLSD as far as I am aware. Parents have option to sign up for various activities and must pay for the classes or activities and I just wish the activities and some of the instructors for ASA were a little more engaging but I only stating this based on kids’ comments who have signed up (including my daughter who has done probably 3-4 different ASA activities now. In going back to MPES regular classes, I truly don’t understand why Spanish is not taught as well as other subjects (even if only for 15-20 minutes a couple of times per week) because it seems illogical to wait until middle school to incorporate the basics on Spanish or other 2nd language at this age where kids will certainly absorb far more now In elementary than I believe they will or will have time to in terms of the heavy learning schedule later on in JJJMS. We all ought to have exposure to so much and I am grateful for the math, grammar and reading skills which have been impressive in this school with the to notch teachers and their assistants, I do wish some of the schedule would allow for a more even level of diversity in subject content and there was some type of aptitude testing to allow for students to focus electively on their passions and strengths in taking their individual skillsets toward various educational opportunities. I would love to see more opportunities in creative expression in art, music, writing, etc. Again, teachers here have simply astounded me in their absolute passion for what they do- they are truly amazing and caring and my daughter has LOVED her teachers every single year! We feel blessed to have her in this district!