Woodglen Elementary School

Clarkstown Schools offer a summer program called playgrounds for kids entering Kindergarten in the Fall. (I believe it goes up to 2nd grade). The program runs from 9 am to 12 pm M-F. While I was concerned that it wasn't run by teachers, but "Camp Counselors." (Translation: teenagers) It turned out to be a blessing. My daughter met some new friends that she will be attending Kindergarten with this fall. She learned lots of silly games like Fish & Minnows & Going to Kentucky. These may seem insignificant, but really it's about socialization. She has become so much more outgoing in these last few weeks. And best of all, at the end of the program they had a talent show. My very shy little girl who just stood in place at her last dance recital, actually danced a whole routine to "Surfin USA!' She smiled through the whole performance and memorized all the moves in front of a full audience. While, I wasn't impressed with the camp agenda at the start, I have to say in the end it worked wonders for my daughter. My shy little girl, now seems like a social butterfly as she urges me to schedule playdates with all her new friends! I am now a lot less anxious about 1st day of Kindergarten.

My daughter has been a student at Woodglen for three years so far and I've been very pleased with the environment, teachers, administrators, etc. I love the diversity of the school and that there is representation of different racial & ethnic groups and children of different socioeconomic status. Class sizes have been very reasonable and when they approach the upper threshold of size, each class gets a full-day teacher assistant.

The principal has children attending the school and within the district. Inherently there is a conflict. There is such great fear to stir the soup that underlying problems get completely ignored or whitewashed. Parents will hover over the teachers so as to be certaint that their own children are treated well, even if it means that other children get marginalized. The level of teaching with few exceptions is substandard. The level of empathy for children with special needs is completely missing, and the level of apathy is overwhelming. When you walk into the schoool it is like everyone is putting on a show, rather than digging into the nitty gritty of why there are problems in the first place. I would not entrust my child to that school and would recommend that if you don't live in the Woodglen district, you don't plan to move there, as entrusting children to that school and that principal is a mistake when there are better within the same district.

This school doesn't meet the needs of the children. As well, the teachers are more afraid of what the parents think than what they need to do for the children.