African Road Elementary School

Posted August 18, 2009

I have two daughters, one went to ARE k-5 and the other k-3. As a certified teacher myself, I am rather picky about the experiences my children have. I have to say that the teachers we have had (9 total) have been pretty darn terrific. Vestal has a bit of a reputation for hiring young teachers to save money, but the kids in this neighborhood are a pleasure to work with. I have always found our teachers responsive to my concerns. I have also volunteered in the school and very impressed by what I see. The teachers are caring, enthusiastic and hard working. PTO runs a very well organized program of volunteerism which includes after school activities. This is a superior school, with superior test scores to prove it!
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Posted June 17, 2009

I just moved to the area one year ago, taking my son from a private Montessori school into a public school system for the first time. I was worried but have been very pleased with African Road Elementary. His teacher is extraordinary--as a parent who helped to staff 'centers' once a week, I got to watch her in action and was consistenly impressed. She worked hard to tailor her teaching to my son's special skills and need for more challenging work. She communicates effectively with parents through notes home and even by e-mail. The principal, Ms. Mitchell, and secretary, Ms. Ellis, are also fantastic--helpful, concerned about the kids, cheerful under stress, on top of things--I really couldn't be happier. Now, I'm just hoping for another super teacher next year.
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Posted August 16, 2007

My daughter has had an excellent experience thus far at ARE. She has had absolutely outstanding teachers and has flourished as a result. That said, I know there are definitely some teachers there who should not be teaching - I just have not had the 'pleasure' of encountering them. I find my own ability to get involved as a parent limited by the school, PTA, and other parents - many activities are scheduled during work hours and they frequently do not provide enough advance notice for me to make arrangements to participate. I also find many parents up in arms and making a lot of noise about things that they really know little about -jumping to conclusions and making assumptions without doing research. They seem to be in attack mode - no wonder some people feel the principal is unresponsive! I can't really blame her!
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Posted August 10, 2007

African Road Elementary has poor leadership. The more veteran teachers are very rigid and stuck in their ways and the newer teachers with prompting, are headed in that direction. Very little opportunities for parent involvement in classrooms. Principal and teachers seem almost afraid of parent involvement. Students are smart, coming from an educated community, so test scores will always be good. 'Us against them' (teachers/parents) attitude can be felt across the board. Overall not progressive in their thinking, which is somewhat surprising since there seem to be quite a few younger teachers.
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