Ps 234 Independence School

This National Blue Ribbon Award school is a gem in NYC public education system. It is a small school with warm culture where families are warm and involved. The school uses Singapore Math curriculum, with sufficient learning support for students with their own pace. Teachers are loving and energetic. Parents receive daily messages through Apps or text for school trips, events, math exam reminder and activity photos. Principal has a real open door policy. The school have specialty classes of chess and Robotics to all the students. The music program here is out of the world, as the principal was from Special Music School. Students from elite private, G&T, charter and zoned schools have been transferring here with a waiting list. There are field trips almost every month to museums, central park, etc. PTA is doing a great job fund raising and spending it wisely.

It's a great community and wonderful educational institution . Very sincere and dedicated teachers . All teachers are very loving and committed to their job . I love the management , PTA and staff . We are very lucky our child studies here .

This school is lacking in many areas. Don't be fooled by the new exterior. The biggest problem area of all is leadership which is very poor. The principal hides many issues such as bullying and other events that happen in the building that she continuously keeps from the parents. Teachers here don't take the time or even care to make subjects more interesting. Zero effort in class just for show when parents come around for 30 minutes twice the school year to sit in class. Repeating a lesson to them is an absolute hassle and the blame falls on the kids all the time. They don't strive to help, they want to leave as soon as possible. My kids came in 2017 and since being very excited about the teachers back at the beginning we have seen a huge decline in all the years up till now 2023. The music teacher has been replaced 3 times and the current one is still completely horrible, lacking any skill to teach at all. Students watch cartoon movies in class constantly! She gave a 20-minute recital with minimal effort on her part. It lacked substance and was a complete letdown and a waste of time to come in mid-day work hours. Years back at the beginning a recital concert was an hour long and the students learned a lot, that's back in 2017. The Art teacher has also been replaced 5 times. In the beginning, there used to be some type of art show but now Art at this school is none existent. The (PTA) keep asking for money and contributions but where it all gets spent is a complete mystery because they offer nothing of value for many years now! I absolutely would not recommend this school to anyone.