140 Riverside Dr #5D
New York, NY 10024

This is a review of PS 191 MIDDLE SCHOOL. I have no experience with the Elementary school which I am sure is wonderful. My daughter is a bright, creative and well behaved 6th grader. She loves to learn and is an amazing budding artist. We enrolled her here because of their focus on the arts. I immediately had my daughter in the Arts after school which is the only redeeming quality of this school. The purpose of going here is to build her portfolio so she can apply to a specialized Arts High School. So, the after school and the arts program have been great... However the rest of the experience has been pretty awful. My daughter reports constant behavioral issues with most of the other students - generally disrespecting the teachers, slacking academically, and disrupting the class. Teachers are frustrated, arguing with and yelling at disrespectful kids in class. Nothing is done about disruptive kids, they just stay in class causing chaos. There is no homework. My daughter isn't learning much of anything. The academic standards are so low, that at this point, I just see the school as a total time waster for housing kids who are not even there to learn. It's quite sad. In my day, they would move these types of kids into a "special school' for disruptive kids. But now they just leave them where they are and lower academic standards for perfectly intelligent kids. I will be withdrawing my child as soon as I am able. The one redeeming quality of this school is Miss Hood, the arts teacher and the Arts after school program.

I graduated in 1972 from the Music and Art campus of LaGuardia. This was the best educational experience of my life. The teachers were devoted and fantastic. The students had common goals, to be the best artists/musicians we could be, and to become better. I made lifelong friendships and had the opportunity to pass on some of my learning experiences to the next generation of young musicians.