Sutherland Elementary School

at Barnard I would say that the teachers try their hardest to teach these students and make them a smart as they can be from what I seen when I came in the room.Its the children ,not all just some. And some of the students and only a staff member, when she would write the children up she would not hear the children story or try to argue with them. Other then that some children can be disrespectful and rude.

This has been a great school for my son so far. He currently is going into 2nd grade. The class sizes are reasonable, the teachers have been really helpful, and the administration is great so far! I loved having Mr. Sheldon as the principal because you knew if you needed to contact him at any time, he would be there. It helped make me feel safe and secure knowing that my questions would get answered no matter what.

I cannot recommend this school. The community is an insular one--good luck breaking in--and the kids who are not the super athletic types will fall by the side. All four of my children attended, and the first one had a great experience, but then again, he was an athlete and an outgoing boy. He received plenty of attention. Then my youngest three sons went here and were bullied and ignored. It got so bad that we transferred them out mid-year, and we were glad to take the financial hit. Complaints to the school about the bullying did nothing. The school says they practice a "Choose Kind" philosophy, but don't be fooled, as these are mean people. Finally, the school is lacking academically. When my younger children transferred, they were behind. My son had practically all A's at CK, but was behind in math and Spanish in high school. He caught up, thankfully, but he was not happy with his preparation. The principal dragged her feet in dealing with the bullying problems and had little to say about revamping the curriculum to meet contemporary needs.

Don’t send your kids here. The Principal does not care about the quality of education the kids are getting. My daughter’s teacher went on maternity leave, they did not have a teacher in place instead put a unqualified teacher aide in the class. Because this teacher was not qualified, they had 4th grade teacher teaching 3rd math and ELA. Neither the aide or 4th grade teacher have degrees. The 4th grade teacher was constantly rude to parents and posted a inappropriate TikTok video of the students. The work being sent home was all over the place and it was unorganized. Parents complained and nothing was done. My daughter ended the school year not covering all of 3rd grade math components. They took away the music and art teacher, and barely taught religion. When paying tuition….this is not quality of education you want for your child.

St John Fisher has many wonderful attributes. The principal is great and in tune with students and staff. Staff we have encountered have been friendly and caring. This is definitely a 'local' community school, meaning that many or most students are from the immediate area surrounding the school. I think many school families have old ties to the school and each other and it seems to show when it comes to parental and volunteer involvement. This would be the negative or minus one star. While I wouldn't use the word favoritism, it is difficult to describe what it's like as a parent. Many parents feel the disconnect and inability to easily get involved, and have thus given up. This is a shame and I was really hoping for something different as a school experience, as making the investment in Catholic education for us was making a whole family investment of being involved with our child's schooling and community. Overall we feel SJF is a great school, that is lacking in inclusion from the family and parental perspective. I have noticed comments about lacking in Catholic values, I don't believe that is necessarily the case. One and one, I have had only one experience with a person at the school being awful, basically, and everyone else has been wonderful....