Washington Elementary School

I first fell in love with Washington school.People and most teachers are friendly.HOWEVER<once my child showed any unnormal characteristics a painful battle began. Although my child needed and didnt get speech therapy My child was punished almost daily for behavioral issues.. Even though most were PREVENTIVE time outs..Teachers arent fortuntellers>i thought not anyway.The whole semester not one good thing was said about my child,Until June when one parent made me feel good about my child and then a Art teacher praised my child, So hopefully this wont be a bad year< however its up to how the teachers see the kids and then what they are told from previous ones.. Not all kids are perfect BUT They should be given a chance to grow and not be labeled.
—Submitted by a parent

I'm shocked to read the reviews here about Washington School. This school was built 117 years ago and it is on the smallest piece of land of all 5 elementary schools in Bergenfield. Should they have had the foresight in 1892 to build a gym and cafeteria? Any bond put out to the town to expand has been beaten down time and again - so you are looking for things in this school that would be impossible to produce. If you want top notch facilities, pay for private school. Did you do your homework on the elementary schools here? None of the schools have a cafeteria and only the larger or newer one's have gym. Yes, they teach to the testing, but you can thank your former president for that. This school had the top NJASK scores in the district. Enough said. School, teachers are excellent and my son is thriving.
—Submitted by a parent

if you want to send your child to a school that has no gymnasium, nor even a cafeteria, for grades k-5, then this is the school for you. Oh yeah, while it lacks these important things, you will have the privilege of paying the highest property takes in the United States which is what NJ is famous for.
—Submitted by a parent

This school is seriously lacking in facilities. No gym, cafeteria, auditorium, computer or science lab; however, I do give the janitorial staff an A+ for trying to keep it clean and maintained despite the building's 100+ age. The school places extremely high emphasis on the NJ standardized testing, in which it is up to you as a parent whether you feel that this an advantage or a disadvantage for your child's learning. Your child will shine here if he or she is a naturally bright student and shows a lot of that 'responsible little adult' attribute; however, it is an unfortunate situation for both child and parent if the school feels that your child is not measuring up to their inflated expectations.
—Submitted by a parent

A safe and caring environment where academic excellence is the main goal. The school is extremely well run and provides students an excellent opportunity to grow and prepare for the higher grades. The availability of resources is an issue as they have no cafeteria, or auditorium but make up for it by making excellent use of the space available. The town runs an afterschool program in the school which offers working parents a safe place for their child to stay until 6:00 PM. Homework help is provided in this program.
—Submitted by a parent

The quality of the academic programs are fine as long as your child doesn't need to be evaluated for any learning disabilities. That is a whole other unfortunate battle. Extracurricular activities aren't available to the lower grades for whatever reason and the parental involvement is probably at an all time low except for maybe 5-10 parents out of more than 260 students.
—Submitted by a parent