Benjamin N Cardozo High School

The best school for my children, the teachers are excellent and as parents I can be sure that our children are safe at school.and very grateful for everything my children have learned.

This school has left me with lasting trauma regarding my child’s safety. In 2019, my four year old son was able to leave by himself undetected during dismissal. I found him half a block away by himself looking for me. It was pure luck that I was walking toward him and didn’t come up from the other direction. He could have been abducted, hit by a car, you name it. The school has since changed their dismissal procedure. When I called the following day to talk to the principal, they swept my concerns under the rug. Abysmal handling of both safety and justified parent concerns.

My son is graduating fifth grade this year.We really liked the last principal, Miss Lee, She was very fair. The new principal Miss Ski has a bias against children that speak Mandarin. My son and two of his friends told me that he has heard the principal call these children “Mandarin” as if that is who they are rather than the language that they speak.

P.S 188 on the surface looks strong. Underneath, from a collection of reviews from other parents it is an emotionally damaging institution to place your child. They close the schoolyard first of all leaving students with not space to socialize after school. They are lucky if they get any time to go outside during recess since they consistently understaffed during lunch. With the exception of one teacher, there is a minimalistic culture of the bare minimum. There is also children with special needs that are disruptive and causing inequitable education experience within classrooms. Lastly in terms of being fair, the classroom per grade are not treated the same, be aware your classroom your may be left out of school trips and other events like their own school basketball games with their peers.

Please do not send your child to this school. The list of all that is wrong at this school is just too long to write. Students and teachers leave mid-year just to get away. I heard the kindergarten class had three teachers this year alone, each one stating lack of support from the principal as their reason for leaving mid-year. The building is literally being held together with tape in some areas, where the building experienced pipes leaking. There is writing all over the bathroom walls and cracks all along the foundation, none of which seems to be fixed despite running fundraisers all year. The school's principal cannot even write an email to parents without it being riddled with grammatical errors. My children spent only one year at this school, and it was one year too many. I had heard this school was great about a decade ago, but has since gone to shambles, both literally and physically.