98 Straw
Florence, MA 01062

My two children have attended JFK and both have had positive experiences. They offer wonderful after school programs, and the school is welcoming to families and communicates well! The teachers are caring and responsive.

My two children attended this school over a 9 year period. The staff is caring and responsive. We had one bad experience with a teacher, but the administration handled it well and of course a parent can't expect to love every teacher. They offer a cool gardening program that gets the kids outside, and they have a lovely playground and green space. My children liked their time there and we felt like the staff welcomed us in to volunteer often. Tracking salamanders was one favorite activity for my older son. The PTO is strong and supports many of the teachers financial needs!

We relocated at the beginning of the school year to Northampton. We called well in advance to set up meetings with guidance counselors, offering to complete enrollment paperwork, etc. However, we were told that we just needed to show up on the first day of school and hope that the classes my daughter was hoping to enroll in were still open. We showed up on day one and were received extremely coldly. Staff were rude, disorganized, and acted put out by our even being there. It took me reaching out to the principal to make headway on setting up an appt. with the guidance counselor to select courses, as she wouldn't return emails or phone calls. The high school doesn't have an Orchestra program and they don't offer volleyball. Moreover, many of their extra-curricular groups, such as Debate, are student-led without any true oversight or direction of staff to ensure a positive learning experience. The experience was so disheartening that my daughter ended up applying to year-long study abroad program. When we attempted to be proactive to ensure transfer of credit, our efforts were met with rigidity. They wouldn't even support my daughter in taking a college-level course to ensure she wouldn't lose required credit. Nevermind that my daughter is a 4.0 student perfectly equipped to handle a college-level course. We ended up having to work entirely through the local community college. Upon learning we had to unenroll my daughter from school while she studies abroad, they've even made that process as difficult as possible. I continue to receive daily calls indicating she is absent, despite having filled out the appropriate paperwork. Beaurocracy at it's finest to be sure. Normally, I would never write a review like this, but I feel it is important for families moving to the area to know what they are potentially in for. We've raised four kids, two of whom have already graduated from high school. After expexperiencing multiple public schools in three different states, we've never encountered an experience as poor as this one. Academically, Northampton appears to be acceptable; however, successful integration is hugely important to your entire family's happiness when you move. You want a school that will work with you, not against you and that will be supportive. Unfortunately, Northampton High School does not fit that description.