Hannah Senesh Community Day School

Hannah Senesh Day School has made a huge difference for our son who has grown tremendously over the three years he has attended. The school stresses self confidence in kids and provides an unparallelled level of education in core subjects: math, history and writing. Subject presentation is very interesting and resembles the style of teaching at top colleges in the country. We feel very fortunate to be a part of the school.
--Submitted by a parent

Hannah Senesh is an amazing school and the best choice I could make for my kids. I have been a parent in the school for 9 years now, and I m still blown away by the level of care and commitment of the teachers, and administration. The school grew and matured over the years and is now housed in a beautiful new building. Bigger building but the same warm community feel.
--Submitted by a parent

This school's administration has little patience for what should be most important: students. The primary concern is solely raising funds and appeasing select board members. The current assistant principal (who will become the principal next year) talks down to her staff, offers them only disrespect and lack of concern for anything. They refuse to offer teachers personal days (don't be surprised when numerous teachers are 'sick' Fridays and Mondays), and give teachers a very hard time when they call in sick. The situation is so bad teachers have formed coalitions against signing next year's contract. Furthermore, when on prospective parent tours, the admissions coordinator barges into classrooms without knocking and asks interrogative questions. She unapologetically interrupts learning daily (remember, the school's primary concern is raising money). When there are student-related issues, it's quite obvious that students who have wealthier parents are catered to, while other's problems fall through the cracks.
--Submitted by a teacher

We have been at Hannah Senesh for seven years, and it has exceeded all our expectations. The quality of the teaching is for the most part exemplary, and the level of parent involvement in the school is greater than anywhere I've seen. The kids are happy and engaged, and want to be there. The level of academic achievement is impressive, and the creativity of the teachers greatly contributes to it. The art and music teachers are terrific too. The extracurricular activities are fine, but because the school is small, there aren't enough. As the school grows, I expect this will change. Levels of Jewish observance vary throughout the student body, and students are given the tools they need to build on their families's own traditions. Students start learning Hebrew in Kindergarten. Hannah Senesh has an excellent record of student admissions to the city's specialized high schools as well.
--Submitted by a parent

While a great school in terms of creative expression, this school is a work in progress. Too little guidance for kids with greater than absolutely minimal learning delays or issues, and little support or conceptual ideas about guiding really gifted kids etc.......although great teacher concern. Most of the parents are not too observant or non-observant, but want their children to know the ropes. Noisy, disorganized and fairly undisciplined ...some kids obviously seemed to need more protection, quiet and structure, while others do fine.
--Submitted by a staff