308 E 49th St #2C
New York, NY 10017

We were proud when our child was accepted into PPAS and were hopeful for their artistic development going in. Early on, we were impressed by the performances and the conservatory training. Then things started to go downhill.The culture of this school is one of unchecked drama. Students create social cliques and gossip rages with no programs in place to get ahead of it. All of this starts at the top— Leadership and staff are unequipped with curriculum or social emotional learning content to manage these behaviors. Students are admonished for participating in interpersonal and group drama (our child’s class was regularly called a “bad group”) while being given no support to manage their emotions, leading to maladaptive coping strategies. There are no safe spaces for young people to express their feelings. This also leads to overactive parenting as many families felt the need to step in, adding fuel to the fire.Academics are generally weak, with dated, non-inclusive curriculum taught by majority white teachers. Though some teachers are caring, they often seemed overwhelmed (the entire grade is 25 kids). Once a ten-page research paper was assigned over vacation and then was never graded, This kind of instability has a negative effect on morale. The school also struggles for funding so everything is on a shoestring which leaves the excellent stage work feeling threadbare.For us it came to a head with remote/hybrid learning, which was poorly handled. Daily assignments were taught on Khan Academy, students in school were being reprimanded about incidents occurring outside of school and in their Zoom classes, etc. Communication was also poor- when we emailed a teacher about our child’s anxiety/panic about taking dance class on Zoom, we received no reply. We finally made the decision to pull our child out and go to another middle school. The change was like night and day. When we communicated our decision the school shut us out entirely, not returning emails or seeking further feedback on what went wrong. Though the transfer was the exact right thing for our family, we are still sad about how much was missed academically and how much was learned about managing negative emotions in just two years. Considering what the school could be for young people with an interest and talent for the performing arts, it’s really too bad what it actually is.

We’ve had a wonderful experience at PS 111 in Hell’s Kitchen. The transition to the school was seamless when my daughter joined in 3rd grade after being accepted into the Gifted & Talented (G&T) program. After learning more about the school and the many opportunities it offers, we decided to move our son to PS 111 as well.The school provides several affordable and free after-school programs, which has been a huge benefit for our family. Through partnerships with organizations like YOSL, my children have had the opportunity to learn violin and cello. There are also creative partnerships with a local theater, giving students exposure to the arts.PS 111 also does a great job building community. Families are invited to events like movie nights and monthly “Family Fridays,” where we learn more about what students are working on in class. There are also many opportunities for parents to volunteer. The PTA is very active, and the principal clearly cares about the students and is always accessible. It’s truly a supportive and engaging school community.