Ps 11 Purvis J Behan

A beautiful, close-knit, nurturing school with a meaningful academic program. Truly different from the rest.

I am writing this review to express serious concerns about my experience with **P.S. 9** and the way the school handles student support services and communication with families. My experience as a parent has been extremely disappointing, particularly regarding the lack of timely support for children who may need additional learning assistance.One of my main concerns involves the process of requesting accessibility services for my child. I formally requested an IEP evaluation for speech services because I believed my child needed additional support. Initially, the school determined that my child did not require any services at all. However, in the middle of the semester, the school reversed its position and acknowledged that my child would in fact benefit from services. Despite this realization, my child still never received the support that was identified as necessary. This delay and lack of follow-through significantly impacted my child’s educational experience and raises serious questions about how the school evaluates and delivers support to students who need it.Equally concerning is the way families are treated by school leadership and staff. In my interactions, communication from the school has often felt dismissive and unprofessional. The principal in particular has been extremely argumentative, combative, and disrespectful in conversations with parents. Rather than working collaboratively with families to address concerns, interactions often become confrontational. Parents deserve to be treated with respect when advocating for their children’s education.Additionally, the tone and language used by some members of the staff can be demeaning. The way adults are spoken to during meetings or discussions does not reflect the level of professionalism one would expect from a school administration. Schools should create a welcoming and supportive environment not only for students but also for families. Unfortunately, my experience has been the opposite.Overall, my experience with P.S. 9 has been very disappointing. The delays in providing accessibility services, the lack of clear communication, and the unprofessional behavior from leadership have made it extremely difficult to advocate for my child’s educational needs. I hope the school administration takes these concerns seriously and works toward improving both their special education processes and the way they engage with families.

Our child had an awful experience here, finding none of the teachers very engaging, almost no fun projects and after school activities were fine but not nearly the variety and fun of other schools. The primary teacher was quite bad - his performance rapidly dropped over a few months and anytime we tried to ask the teacher about it, she displayed a total lack of interest or any familiarity with what he was actually doing. Worksheets and quizzes that made it home often were confusing, filled with typos, and in some cases directly contradictory to what was being taught. Tests had questions incorrectly graded, work was often (mis)graded by other students and never checked by the teacher. In all, our child significantly backslid over a few months, we felt completely ignored and blown off about any of our concerns, and our child's love of school and learning evaporated. We brought our concerns to the administration and they addressed some of them, but when we finally made the decision to leave mid-year, they had no interest in hearing or discussing our concerns. In addition to our concerns, we heard from many other parents that had similar issues with he quality of the instruction. Additionally, parents invovled on committees through the PTA frequently resigned their position, as they were blocked by the school from affecting any change (fundraising, field trips, etc. )

We are in PK and could not ask for a better experience. We love our PK teacher. They just got accepted as an IB school and are applying a new curriculum that incorporates dance, art, Spanish and lesson plans around self and community. The PTA is very involved and making great strides.

Parent of pre-K student. The school has been drastically improving on all levels for the past 4 years and the results are already visible. Great experience as a parent, our kid is learning in a nurturing and supportive environment. The PS 270 team is professional, available, personable and genuinely cares about the kids.

BWS is such an amazing environment for our kids. We joined when looking for a preschool for our then 3.5 year old (what Waldorf calls "Early Childhood"). We're now in our 3rd year (Kindergarten) and we're totally in love. The thoughtful approach to every subject, including art, music and physical growth has really blown us away. I'm excited to watch my daughter continue to flourish in the grades program, with such a hands-on approach to learning with your hands, head and heart for all subjects. Our little guy has also started once a week "caregiver and me" classes at, which have been great for his development and to get to know other parents. I'm so glad we found this community.