Silvermine Dual Language Magnet School

Both of my children have loved Silvermine! One just finished his first year of middle school and as a result of the excellent education he received at Silvermine has had high honors all year. My other son will be going into third grade, is performing well above average, AND is learning to speak Spanish. The teachers and the rest of the staff have always been helpful and super-responsive when I have had any questions. Low test scores overall are most likely due to this being a dual language program so it is not fair to compare it directly to other schools that teach English-only classes. I bet if they look at test scores in a few years, the student will be completely on par or above AND have the benefits of bilingual education.

The school refused to address a kindergarten teacher who blatantly showed her propensity to discriminate against someone of a different race. In a school with a diverse group of students, this is particularly concerning. I would recommend enrolling somewhere else.

I’m very disappointed in this school and the school district. An incident came about late last spring with one of the teachers where she was racially insensitive. I attempted to communicate this with the principal, Elizabeth Chahine as well as the person in charge of HR, Donald Burr. I just wanted to have a simple conversation so that it could be used as a learning opportunity. Neither individual wanted to take the time to even email me back and Elizabeth Chahine began screening my calls. In a world where we are constantly becoming more sensitive to issues involving race, I would think they would at the very least want to have a conversation. The fact that they wanted to sweep the incident under the rug and condone such behavior leads me to think that children of a certain skin color may be mistreated and/or discriminated against if they attend here. I would pick a different school.

Test scores are skewed considering the dual-language format. We are so please with how our daughter is developing in math, science, art, reading and also developing a second language. Mrs. Chahine, the School Principal, fosters a warm and well-rounded educational environment.

Excellent. The ratings are unfairly skewed to monocultural learning. My child is challenged, exceeding in her learning and enjoys going to school everyday and working with her teachers.