Academy Street Elementary School

Both the education standards and extra curricular activities are high level. There is great pride in the community and school system.

The staff at this school is incredible. Every single teacher that my children have had has gone above and beyond my expectations. They provide feedback to me when my child needs extra guidance in a particular area and generally are very open to communication and input from the community. They also have a very active PTA that organizes some wonderful activities for the children throughout the year. Very pleasant experience here.

Anyone who rated this school with high marks is obviously a teacher in the district. These teachers would be fired if they worked in any other field. Poor attendance, inappropriate conversations (does my kid really need to know your last pregnancy was an accident?), poor work ethic (you can actually work in the month of December...not just show movies), and a principal who backs up the teachers no matter what they do.

One of the highest taxes on Long Island - this school is marginal . The focus is on sports and fundraisers. The school abuses the emergency phone system at all hours of the day and night to remind you to buy more garbage from the PTA. The principal, who is highly paid, records messages for the PTA for these phone calls, I would think she would have better things to do then push cookie dough and wrapping paper . But no. When you need her for school related issues, she is never in the building though. It's been a very disappointing experience. Only one decent teacher per grade level ... No discipline , bullying, ... For what we pay here I expected much much more . The parent involvement is ok, but true to form , it's a popularity contest amongst them all. Each having their own reason and interests. Only the parents of the PTA or who head activities get picked " secret ballet " for class parents, and surprise surprise their kids get picked as " student of the month " . Some of those same kids Have been the biggest discipline issues that the school has. So they love to reward bad behavior ... Very sad.

Anyone who considers this a great school has low standards. We had no problem with the teacher, who controlled her large class well. Our main issue was with the curriculum. Our daughter was an early reader, but her enthusiasm was quickly replaced by vacuous complacency. Instead of challenging her, we were told our daughter could just 'relax while the other kids catch up'. Here, 'no child left behind' means 'no child gets ahead'. There was too much emphasis on sports teams, and too many extra-curricular & social events that threatened to interfere with family, worship, and other activities unrelated to school. And oh yes, academics. For a school in such a highly-taxed district, there were too many fundraisers. This school needs to examine its priorities, and get back to basics.