Central Park Elementary School

This school has changed vastly over the past 5-10 years. When I was a student here, the majority of the teachers were enthusiastic, well-focused, and had a clear direction. As the other reviewers have shown, this is no longer the case. The school's minority population has increased a ton since I last attended. This isn't a bad thing, but as the other reviewer noted, this gives the school no clear direction. This school was once terrific, but I hear more and more horror stories mount as the years go by. Stay away.

As a former student here ,I had peace of mind knowing I could send my own child to this school with great expectations of a well rounded student.Unfortanataly ,I have been disappointed time and time again with these last two years. Ranging from my child being bullied to the same problems mention in the two comment s.The problem with the bully really put me in a tailspin, as it would with any caring parent. I had a child crying minutes before school because of a bully in her class. This is going to happen sometime in their youth, I knew this, but the way it was handled from us directly talking to the teacher and principal was to simple unexcuseable.The teacher and more importantly the principal were absolutely useless . What I pulled a way from that experience was that your child is on it's own in that school.BEWARE .
--Submitted by a parent

The Principal is divisive towards parents and the staff. There's several good teachers, but they lack motivation or direction. Central Park used to be a wonderful school, with strong participation from the teachers, staff and parents. Sadly, that's not the case anymore.
--Submitted by a parent

Test scores have plummeted due to a transition to a more challenging population of families. The population on free and reduced lunch and minority students has greatly increased. While a diverse population can be a rewarding experience, the challenge of educating the new students has caused a shift in the goals of the school. There are no goals to raise the scores of children who meet or exceed standards. The goals are only on bringing up the scores of children from the underachieving families. Central Park hasn t had a functional Gifted and Talented program for the past two school years. Central Park has very limited parent involvement and the PTA has little support from the school staff. Central Park talks about embracing diversity, but the school immediately bans anything they think will offend even one person.
--Submitted by a parent