J B Nelson Elementary School

Outstanding Experience at AGSAs a parent with multiple children who’ve gone through AGS over the years, I can confidently say this school is something special. Each of my kids has felt excited about learning, supported by caring teachers, and truly safe at school.What stands out most is the consistency of excellence—even through changes in leadership. Current administrator we’ve had has been approachable, dedicated, and clearly committed to what’s best for the kids. Their leadership sets the tone for a warm, respectful school culture. I know when my children are thriving—and they’ve thrived at AGS. I speak for many parents when I say we’re so grateful to be part of this amazing school community.— A thankful AGS parent

I am writing this review not out of anger, but out of heartbreak and profound concern. My child was the target of a racially charged incident at school—a moment no parent ever wants their child to experience. What makes this even more painful is the complete lack of urgency, care, or communication from Principal Chris Milka and the school’s leadership.I was never contacted by the school. I only learned what had happened when my child bravely told me after coming home visibly shaken. I had to initiate the conversation with the school myself—an unacceptable failure of responsibility and protocol. To make matters worse, I later learned that the parents of the student who used the racial slur were notified only by email—not by phone. This shows a deeply disturbing lack of seriousness in how the school handles racial bullying.This is not just a communication failure. It is a moral failure. When a school leader demonstrates more comfort with quietly brushing racism under the rug than confronting it head-on, they send a dangerous message: that the well-being and dignity of all children are not equally valued.What’s worse is that this is not an isolated incident. I’ve listened to multiple Batavia school board meetings where student after student has bravely spoken out about the racism and discrimination they’ve experienced within the district. It’s clear that this is a deep-rooted and systemic issue in Batavia School District 101—one that has gone unaddressed for far too long.There is a clear and urgent need for stronger leadership, racial equity training, and accountability. Until that happens, I cannot in good conscience recommend this school—or this district—to any parent, especially families of color. Every child deserves to feel safe, seen, and protected. That is simply not happening here.

Former student it's far behind any other school in the area Batavia School District is years ahead good luck to students attending!

Moose heart is not a great place for kids to be at because the food and the teachers are bad. some of the family teachers are really mean and the teachers a really mean to us kids. They only care about our grades and don't care on how we are doing and they really don['t care on how we feel they only care about what they can do to us. And the school note and point card shouldn't have because moose heart is really trying to take advantage of us .

Vanguard Gifted Academy is the definition of a great school! Here, the teachers count down to the start of the school year - not summer break - because they are so highly engaged with the children and enthusiastic about the important roles they play in their students’ lives. Everyday at school, my children are immersed in their lessons - no sitting at a desk and filling out worksheets here. Instead, the children display their deep scientific knowledge of the human body by using math and engineering skills to build a blueprint for a larger than life human body cell that visitors can actually walk through! They work together as a community to problem solve and artistically create a large simulation volcano. In kindergarten, my child studied Ancient Egypt; writing in hieroglyphics and crafting a sarcophagus for a mummified doll. Truly, the academic experience at Vanguard is unparalleled. What I like best, though, is that even though the curriculum is impressive and challenging, the kids are never in competition with each other. The emphasis is on community building and appreciating others as individuals, on trying hard and understanding that mistakes are not only acceptable but part of the learning process, and that perfection isn’t the goal but rather joy in the process. Gifted kids can come with some quirks and the teachers are lovingly understanding and work on social emotional skills to help the children grow in more areas than just academics. We were lucky to find the school 5 years ago and I know my children are in wonderful hands. When my child was at a public school preschool, I continually received feedback that she was withdrawn and wouldn’t join the larger group and the teachers suggested she repeat another year of preschool. Instead, I had her tested for giftedness, was shocked at the outcome, and researched schools that could accommodate her. Finding and choosing Vanguard made all of the difference in her learning experience. She was engaged and thriving because she was finally being challenged and was among her peers. The kid who supposedly needed to repeat preschool was now in Kindergarten at Vanguard independently reading a novel with a Lexile measure of 570, creating a PowerPoint to support her social studies presentation, and able to decipher every state in the US based solely on shape. More importantly, she was happy to go to school and was cared for by the teachers. Vanguard Gifted Academy is truly a great school for gifted children.