159 Congress St
Brooklyn, NY 11201

This school has proven to offer zero support and motivation to students to help strengthen their goals. The majority of staff aren't provided with tools which enable success. This seems directly related to the principal's hands off attitude. The lack of mentors & resources that should be offered are replaced with ethical dilemmas. Students aren't prepared for the next year's work or college! For Juniors, there is a bare minimum foundation to encourage students to attend college. Bare minimum information on different colleges, what they offer, and very little about fasfa help and possible internships. Students need to research and sort this out on their own or with their parents. As for the uniforms? It is NOT Enforced. As for safety, the "School Safety Officers" sit draped in the lobby chair and fail to ask for identification of anyone entering the building. They just ask to sign in any random names and they are allowed entry into the school building. Adding, during dismissal, they remain hovered in the school doorway due to the cold weather, instead of patrolling the designated areas (perimeters) of school buildings &surrounding areas during the morning and afternoon dismissal interacting with students to create a cordial space. Look at surrounding schools where the school safety agents' actually perform their duties as per their job descriptions and create a respectful space for students. The environment needs supervision.

Both of my kids attend the school and absolutely love it. There is very strong parent engagement. My kids have made really great friends and they feel like they are a part of a loving, diverse and special community. The teachers work very hard to ensure every child is learning.

As an upcoming 8th grader at this school I’d say for as many good teachers, there are twice as many bad teachers, this school prides itself on diversity while only having one Asian teacher in the whole middle school. The new principal and vice principal are constantly making unnecessary changes without feedback from students that make the school feel more like strict private school rather than a fun learning environment. I’ve made so many friends at this school but there have been a lot of bad moments as well. During school shooter lockdowns which happen frequently the school barely communicates with parents and instead of fixing problems that actually matter they decide to implement things like teachers escorting students to lunch and having to “earn” the right to eat lunch outside of the school, to be honest and frank this school would’ve been a great decision a couple years ago but now with the overwhelming amount of rules it isn’t worth it. You light think I’m just a petty student but these things are real issues that are happening right now ESPECIALLY with the mis-communication with parents during school emergencies!!