Ps 399 Stanley Eugene Clarke

I went to ps 399 and let me tell you that very few teachers if any are going to help your child if they are being bullied. I was bullied all through my elementary school years and teachers saw it. I had very few friends and instead of helping me ( I didn't speak much English and I didn't know how the other kids treated me was wrong because the teachers never said a thing so I didn't know how to ask for help) they either just kept quiet or acted antagonistically towards me. I remember when I was painting and a seniors pulled me aside to wash my hands because she somehow thought I painted an intricate design on my hands (I was wearing henna, it's part of Arab culture, needs time and professional to do it and not a 5 year old and needs hours to set). They kept taking me to the bathroom to wash my hands and the teacher just stuck her papers. The academics are less than impressive. This may have changed since I was there but we'd spend days if not weeks on one lesson. After school programs were the most time consuming and useless. I, as well as my younger siblings who attended that school, learned absolutely nothing and our state test scores barely changed despite the teachers constantly pushing the parents whose kids weren't in after school to go, regardless of how well they were already doing. Language is another thing that this school fails at. Instead of getting their own translators for students and parents who don't speak English, they decide that young children should do the translating and blame the child if the child does not know much of that language. I remember when a teacher pulled me out of class in the beginning of the day to go translate for an adult mother. This teacher expected a 6 year old to be a flawless translator. Keep in my mind that I was still learning English and the only Arabic I knew was the Arabic my parents used for me ( and parents are usually going to talk about dinner or when we're going outside. They're not going to be explaining how the enrollment process works or the different needs of a child. ). When I told the teacher I couldn't understand much of what the parent was saying, she took me back to class and at the end of the day when my father came to pick me up, she stopped us and told my father I needed to learn more Arabic and to take me back for a vacation to our home country because it was important for me to do this. It was apparently my job to function as a translator despite me trying to learn both English and more Arabic. I have not even gone into areas like club and activities. The teachers do absolutely nothing to engage with students and make the clubs seem more than just a chore. the teachers apparently force the students into clubs and the students have to say outright that they don't want to be in any clubs. I was forced into violent club and stayed there for years until I realized I could quit. Everyday was mind-numingly boring and exhausting and the teachers did nothing to make this seem like fun. Later, after I made one drawing, I was suddenly in a comic making club without asking for my permission or informing my parents (who were outside for an hour waiting for me until I told the teacher an excuse that I couldn't be in this club because I had too much to do and didn't want to go on stage, which was part of the club). After that, a teacher told me I had to be in a club if I wanted it took look good on my resumé. But, instead, I passed everyone else in academics in my middle school and most of that was because after I quit those clubs, I wasn't tired and exhausted so I had more time to do my homework and not count the time until bed time. All in all, I advise against sending a child to this school. This school made me hate learning and it wasn't until I left that I actually started to enjoy learning and school. it wasn't just me that felt this way about this school. My younger brothers and cousins also hated this school and recieved treatment similar to me. I don't want my child to be introduced to their first years of learning by going to a school like this that doesn't even bother to try. It may have gotten into shape since I was a student her but from what I've seen of just their academics, they have gotten worse in that area. I wouldn't test out the other areas by sending my child there. There are much better elementary schools in New York and this is not even in the top 10, at least in my opinion. Have a good day.

I love this school !
The teachers and office staff have always been very helpful.
The student body size is a plus for me .
There is always an excellent feed back on all matters on my child's weekly progress!
I would highly recommend to anyone,
Looking for small and reputable..