Lopatcong Elementary School

Terrible. This school is run more like a prison than a school. They don't consider the age and needs of the children at all.

This school is a terrible disappointment. My family member attends this school and he is not having a good experience for years while in attendance. The school needs to uphold IDEA laws. Children are not being given appropriate accomodations for learning disabilities. The school lacks a full time guidance counselor. Bullying is a problem at this school with both other students and some teachers who do nothing to stop it or tell the child who is being bullied "It's your problem". This is unacceptable. The school lacks full time special education teachers or resource rooms. I do not know why this school shows no budget for special education from Warren County. This is just not a good school. They fail to include students at their own IEP when old enough to speak for themselves. It seems these teachers are tired of their jobs and do not have the patience to understand what it's like for children with learning disabilities who need more time to complete things. Children with learning disabilities need access to special education teachers as needed. This school does not prioritize this. Their lack of budget exemplifies this fact. Many, many times my family member has been deeply upset and crying due to the atmosphere at this school. His self esteem has been hurt due to this school experience. They need to seriously review the competence of the teachers. The state should intervene. There are students who cannot sit still for 7 hours. So they get anxious and fidgety. Let the children have fidget spinners or take frequent breaks. There are many therapeutic accessories for students with ADD/ADHD to use to help them. Why does no teacher seem to know about this or utilize them? There are visual coding resources available for students with visual impairments but thus far none of this has been offered. The IEP meeting is not professional. They put the parent on the defensive instead of showing compassion. Instead of the school itself taking the initiative and identifying students who are struggling they instead ignore it. Criticizing students or making them feel ostracized is not helpful which is how they have handled things. This school is in desperate need of full time special education teachers. You cannot mainstream children into 2 classrooms and give them no individualized teaching on 1:1 basis and expect them to learn. Children who have a learning disability need accomodations. That is their legal right. That is the law. This school has severe issues.

My experience with GES has been a positive one so far. The teachers are always willing to listen and assist when necessary. My child has learned so much the past few years with no intervention. As with any school there are good and bad teachers. Don’t be afraid to speak up if there is an issue. I feel safe sending my so there and there is a good diversity of students.

We had three children graduate from this school.We could not be happier with the results.The teachers are caring first rate professionals, the support staff are kind and always available to help and the principal and asst. principal were professional and caring educators.We would highly recommend this terrific school.Fabulous learning environment.

SSPJ is a wonderful place to learn and grow! My children have been enrolled here for 10 years and have flourished academically and socially.