Irwin Altman Middle School 172

My son is going to this school, it is amazing

It's a very good school. Teachers care about the students and always encourage them to do their best. There are a lot of people to reach out to if you have any concerns. Bullying is highly tolerated. I would definitely recommend this school to anybody.

Lunch aids are very unsupportive, rude, and don't care about the students. Bullying is not highly tolerated.

My children have blossomed both socially and academically. There are after school activities such as photography, music & chess that are not only free, but highly engaging. My children want to participate every year. It opened up their minds to the arts and has helped them develop a passion for photography and the arts. Further, most teachers are kind and compassionate. They will call not only when there is a problem, but even when your child does a good deed or when they feel they should audition for an extra-curricular activity. Upon reading the other reviews - I do agree with the overcrowding as the classrooms are at max capacity (30-32 kids), but this is in most public schools in NYC.

I was extremely excited to register my child to this school. I was excited for the road ahead! While entering the building a parent came that was exiting. Their child graduated and they were just picking up something. They told me I wish you guys luck, they are truly racist here. We were coming from the city, from a prodomintently All white school. We never experienced racism before so I just brushed that whole comment off. I truly forgot about it. I met the principle, my disposition was happy remember I was excited. He then asked me where we were coming from. Then he said he knew our elementary school principal and asked me his name. I “excitedly” told him his name and talked about how great the principal is. We had a great relationship with him. Then I realized the principle did not know our old principle.. (perplexed I was).Obviously our records WOULD show were we are coming from. Is it that unbelievable that a black family could be coming from that more affluent area...Then day one in English class. A white teacher whispered to my child in class. What’s your address:/.Then next thing you know we had someone unexpectedly at our home investigating. I asked other parents “not like us” if this happened to them as well. Since they too were new to the area but NO it did not! Then the first quarter in. The assistant principal gave my child’s academic records to a complete stranger over the phone. No one else is on the Blue cards but myself. She never even met me, and she gave information over the phone. Hypothetically, speaking. What if... we relocated to run from an abusive relationship. What if we had a restraining order against the person who called / was trying to locate us (which we did). Yet, we never received an apology! Instead, it was a combative and defense argument. The assistant principal had a very entitled and wrong and strong attitude. I could have taken this situation all the way up to their superiors, in addition to news channels but I did not. A simple sincere apology would have been nice but I guess I wasn’t deserving! For the most part we encountered good, caring teachers. Yet, with that experience above and in every single grade there was one teacher that seemed very “left” with us. Made the middle school experience uncomfortable and made me worry if my child was being targeted.