1751 Washington Avenue Extension
Rensselaer, NY 12144

Bell Top has a warm, friendly community atmosphere. The principal is very knowledgeable in curriculum and instruction, has great leadership skills and genuinely knows and connects with all the children. This school has addressed anti-bullying so well and creates a positive school climate by teaching character education and celebrating it by honoring students for their achievements as role models within the school community. The teachers are very professional and hard working, always looking to meet the needs of ALL children and help them grow and succeed! It's truly an amazing place!

They have failed at educating during corona so severely I withdrew one child and am moving to find a new school for my other children. Until 4th quarter, my child had only 1 virtual class a day. 2 days a week were worksheets and pre-made videos, half of which had such poor quality the board could not be seen and the teacher hard to hear. During last quarter they suddenly changed course and made live video instruction daily. Myself and other parents I've spoken with feel this was likely a last ditch effort to cover for the number of children who would have failed the year otherwise. Neither the superintendent nor the principal respond to concerns or questions with anything than formulated, stock non-answers.I am unsurprised. When my children were in the middle school, the principal routinely blamed all problems on the teacher's union, insisting they somehow prevented the school from either giving teachers more support & guidance & learning in technology or using it in the classrooms. This was a few years ago. I spoke with some of the teacher's union heads locally. Obviously, this was untrue. That principal was switched to another school the next year because of performance concerns.Moving bad teachers between schools is fairly common in this district.The music program, as others have mentioned, is pretty good. But college preparation, both as a parent and based on below-average 4 yr college acceptance rate for graduates, is middling at best.The school has gone quite downhill in the past decade.

I’d like to say first how this review will discuss things like racism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, and more.This school really isn’t good. There are many reasons, so I’ll try to cover the most important ones.Bigotry and discrimination in this school is by no means uncommon. On almost a daily basis you can hear people using a variety of slurs. Kids who are LGBTQ are ostracized. Kids who are not white are by no means treated the same way, and are actively subject to bullying from students. Teachers do nothing about this bullying, or any bullying really. You can report it all you want, they’ll say that they’ll do something. They never do, though. I once asked to speak with my Guidance Counselor because someone had called me the f slur. They said “oh, we’ll be right back with you! She’s at lunch.” They never got back to me.Ableism is very common, especially it seems among Special Ed teachers. Quite recently I was walking down the hall to see one teacher yelling at this special ed kid. He was saying stuff like, “Stop crying, you’re so sensitive. You’re spoiled.” The kid was asking them to stop, but the teacher continued to yell at them.If you have a daughter, do not send her to this school. Misogyny is everywhere. I know last year there was a boy grabbing girls, and nothing was really done about it. These days people do that plus spread rumors. If a girl yells or cries, a sexist comment is quick to follow. It’s impossible to get through this school without experiencing tons of misogyny.Teachers will regularly misgender LGBTQ students, as will other students. LGBTQ issues are not taken seriously. Teachers will purposefully misgender students, even ones who are not transgender, if they suspect they could be trans. This recently happened to a friend of mine.Classroom experience is disorganized. It’s very hard to find what you’re homework assignments are. Teachers do not respect IEP plans or 504’s. Except Mr. Crall, Ms. Walkley, and Mr. Hutson (there might be a few more that I don’t have as teachers) do that and try to make sure all students are given their best chance.I know there are worse places out there, but seriously I cannot recommend this school. Not only is it not too good at teaching, but if you have a kid who is a part of any minority they will be exposed to an unsafe environment.Please don’t send your kid here. There are better places.