Central Park Village

Kindergarten through fifth grade was pretty good. Not going to count it against the school for Covid procedures, even though that was extremely miserable. However, sixth grade is an absolute nightmare! This is the year where they try to get the students prepared for middle school. What does that mean? That means that the kids are responsible for carrying around all their schoolwork and their backpack all day every day in folders in our responsible for keeping everything organized and turned in on time. I definitely support this! However, the lack of transparency to the students and to the parents for knowing what assignments are being given out, and when they are due is non existent. My son has been struggling all year to keep his grades above an F, which is never like him throughout all the years he’s been attending the school. To get me wrong, I have held my son accountable for his lack of accountability, talking to friends, simply not staying on task, but when I’m trying to work very closely with the teachers, it’s like pulling teeth to get answers from them. It is literally becoming a second full-time job trying to stay on top of everything school related on top of my regular 9 to 5. My son is confused, frustrated, to the point where he is in tears almost every night, and I can’t get a straight answer from any of the sixth grade teachers to figure out what we need to do.

I have proudly taught at John Jacobs Elementary since 2017, when I first moved into the neighborhood. Over the years, I’ve watched our “tiny but mighty” school grow into an A+ School of Excellence—a reflection of the incredible partnership between our students, staff, families, and community.In a city with many school choices, we are especially proud that families continue to choose John Jacobs. Our staff is made up of passionate educators whose dedication truly shines in every grade level. We offer a rigorous, research-based curriculum along with a variety of programs designed to meet the needs of all learners, including Project Potential (gifted services), Literature Lab for reading intervention, push-in and pull-out resource support, and self-contained classrooms. Our goal is to meet every student where they are and support their growth toward grade-level success.Collaboration is a cornerstone of our school culture. Teachers work closely across grade levels and programs to ensure students receive the most effective instruction and support. We engage in weekly data meetings, ongoing site-based professional learning, and monthly district-led professional development to continually refine our practice.Beyond academics, John Jacobs offers opportunities for all students to get involved through sports, family events, community activities, and fundraisers that strengthen our school community.Although I no longer live in the immediate neighborhood, I have chosen John Jacobs for my own child, who will be starting kindergarten next year. That decision speaks to the trust and confidence I have in our school. She is already excited to become a Jag!

The amount of fights I have heard about are unbelievable. The fact that this school brushes bullying off like it's some excuse is awful. I seen so many kids get harmed from just attending to this school. Ever since I seen my child go to this school, they have been less engaged and they are now having eating problems because they are too stressed about being perfect just so they could meet the level that the teachers want them to be. They treat them horribly. An another reason why this school is terrible, is that ever since my kid transferred here, they started throwing up almost daily from the lunches here.

do not recommend this school. The office is extremely disorganized, staff lacked professionalism, and there was very little focus on the actual students. There were repeated issues with confidentiality, communication, and failure to follow proper procedures or court paperwork.Despite both households specifically informing the school that information was not to be shared between us, the nurse repeatedly called me regarding my stepdaughter’s siblings on their mother’s side and would share information from conversations she had with their mom. This created unnecessary conflict and showed a complete lack of respect for privacy and confidentiality.The school also failed to properly verify identities during pickup. Staff repeatedly attempted to have me pick up children I was not authorized to pick up, even after being clearly told multiple times that I was not on their emergency contact list and was not to handle pickups for that side of the family. There were also concerns about court-ordered paperwork not being followed correctly.The office staff seemed unfamiliar with both district policies and basic state education and court-related procedures. Communication was inconsistent, staff were often rude, and there was little accountability when concerns were brought up. After dealing with ongoing issues and lack of professionalism, we ultimately decided to pull our children from this school.