Ruffner

Overall we've had a good experience with this school. The teachers are amazing and there are a lot of opportunities for community building here. The main issue is that some of the parents need to parent their children better. Also there is a huge learning disparity across the board in the classroom ... I know this comes from ESL and children not being read to, etc ... so the challenge is always laid upon the teacher to teach to those who are so far behind while also trying to keep the higher achievers busy so they don't become bored and/or not learning what they need to learn.

Bad. I attended my child’s school a lot and I don’t like what I see.

It was an ok school but the principal Mr. Mario lumzy is the issue. He has no care for his parents or students. He is inconsiderate of families especially single mothers who are actually working and struggling to survive handling things alone. He does for who he wants to do things for. I have proof. He makes it so hard for a child to attend the school but will allow 27 elementary kids to be in the care of one teacher in classroom but won’t let a non problematic child who he didnt even know attended the school attend the middle school. My child has been on the honor roll since she has been there. My child failed the math part of a test when her math teacher was out dang near the whole year and that’s what you go off to determine her getting in the middle school. He is awful and I will be pushing the issue to get him removed from the principal at this school. Yes I have time when it comes done to my kids he made it hard for me imma make it hard for him. When he talking or response to emails he sounds like an automated service response. That lets me know he just saying anything. But he just doesn’t know he will not hear the last of me. I do not recommend anyone going there. He does nothing for bullying nothing but pretends.

Great school that's tailored to meet the needs of all students

Awful place for children, especially queer children. Performative ally ship for financial gain. No effective leadership or governance system. My child was locked out of the classroom with no repercussions against his teacher who refused to open the door. Cliquish behavior among the teachers which trickles down to students. Parents are aware and afraid to speak up due to possible maltreatment to their children. With tuition and fundraising, we spent close to $60,000 over 3 years. Our youngest was locked out of the classroom. When we reported this, we faced ad hominem attacks against our family. Our concerns over my child’s treatment were minimized. We then realized that it was easier for AWS admin and teachers to accuse our family of things that did not occur, rather than to reprimand an employee for negligent, unethical behavior that did occur.Even though we were told by admin and head of COT my children could stay until the end of the school year, we received a termination letter by admin at pick up two days later. I delivered two whole children to this school. Our children's school year was completely upended through no fault of their own. AWS has left a financial burden on our family. We requested a refund from the board to cover services my children need and were denied. We are currently paying $1600/monthly to correct the damage done to my children by AWS. This includes therapy for both children and academic support for my youngest. They had more academic skills when leaving Kindergarten than they did in February 2024. They are in second grade. The school had us believe that school activities should not be in the home in the younger years. I now believe this is a facade to cover up for the fact that students in my youngest’s class were taught no academics, and the lack of oversight of teachers in general.Children should be in a safe place and thrive and not be intentionally harmed by adults who have so little integrity, ethics, emotional maturity, and not harmed by those who use performative allyship for financial gain.

I'd like to say a big THANK YOU to all the awesome fellow teachers I work with at St. Barnabas! We always come together and support each other and put forth 110% for the children!Go Raiders!