Ps 59 Beekman Hill International

Engaging Administration and teachers that continually challenged my son while still keeping him interested. He looked forward to going to school every morning and loved talking about his day when he got home. Very modern amenities with high level of parent involvement.

Once second grade hit, it was obvious that the education of my child was going downhill at PS 59 Beekman School Int’l. There is more emphasis on activities not relating to learning the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic. One example of this was the highly anticipated "Bloomingdales Mentorship Program" by many of the school faculty and PTA. It is ongoing and takes much time away from classroom academics on specific days. When I asked my child what he had learned from it, he said "We ate ice cream and hung out in Bloomingdales for 2 hours". The PTA is always asking for money, but I’m unsure where it goes to benefit the education of the children who attend the school. Some great teachers that really want to do their best but their hands are tied by a controlling principle and board of education, both focused more on bureaucracy than students. There are very large class sizes, where overachievers get lost. The school website still says "Coming Soon" when you click on "curriculum/overview" and "last updated 3/23/2010". That summarizes how the school is run. No set curriculum/outline for the teachers to follow and for the kids to learn from. Supplementing from outside resources i.e. tutors is the only way to keep your child at grade level.

One child currently in 5th grade. PS 59 is above average for a NYC public school, but still a NYC public school. Large class sizes (25+ kids). Limited access to speciality classes (music once a week, science once a week, etc.). Bureaucracy -- they push the kids to do X number of push-ups. Why? Because the city says so. They pressure the kids with 8 weeks of Common Core test prep. Why? Because the state says so. Teachers do try, but many seem inexperienced and probably underpaid. In sum, if your child is an either an over-achiever who would benefit from expanded opportunities, especially in arts or science, you might want to look elsewhere. Similarly, if your child is challenged and needs extra teacher attention, you might want to look elsewhere.

I have two kids at PS 59 and we love it. Yes, the PTA asks for a lot of money, that's part of what makes the school great -- parents in K and 1st self-fund a TA + the PTA pays for some amazing programs/school has enough in its budget to offer classes beyond the 3 Rs: weekly art, music, gym, science, library (all in dedicated classrooms) + special music programs, chess and technology (not all programs offerered for the full year). Three complaints: (1) we've had years with okay class size (21 kids!), but this year is a bad one with 26 kids in K (2 teachers) and 27 in second grade, the rumor is that the school still had a wait list (true?), so why not clear the WL and add another K class to reduce class size? I don't see how a second grade teacher can effectively teach 27 kids and this is really what may drive us to the burbs this year. (2) the school has a lot of international kids/ex-pats which is a wonderful learning opportunity, but it also means that there are always kids coming and going. Add to that kids moving to scarsdale, etc. and its tough if you have a sensitive kid who doesn't easily make new friends. (3) If you're buildling a new school, why not put in 2 gyms?