Grabiarz School of Excellence

My son was a student at this school for two years. The level of education he recieved was disgraceful. The school is failing at providing students with an adeqaute overall education. How can we as parents expect our chidren to succeed when the schools we are forced to send our children are failing. The school itself is beautiful, however the pool is rarely open. There is alot of violence in the school as well.
--Submitted by a parent

I was a student teacher for the English 8th Grade students in the fall of 2005. I agree with Mrs. Saj that the violence was a problem with the students at the school. However, over the course of my observations and working with both students, teachers, and administration, I developed a respect for the school and have fond memories of being involved there. I went to SJCI for high school and saw as much trouble from my fellow classmates as I did with the students I was teaching to. Plus, I lived in the downtown area for a better part of my childhood, so the neighborhood didn't scare me as much as it would have a life-long suburbanite. If you would like for a child to get as good an education they would get from any other public school, then I would recommend Grabiarz.

I had to pull my child out of this school this year. The school building is nice, but there are a lot of staffing problems here. Half of the teachers are substitiutes, and the school has a lot of turnover in the teaching staff.
--Submitted by a parent

This school is awful for anyone who has special needs. Principal needs administrative skills.

This middle school is going into it's fifth year of operation. The school is designed with the future in mind. The staff seems well informed, and were very pleasant. The Principal is trying very hard to meet the demands of the state, city hall, the parents, and most importantly the children. The faculty at this school is working diligently to bring about change, to produce productive students. The collaborative approach is used often, the kids have AIS, and afer school activities, thanks to the Principal & the NWCC. If everyone can remember that in todays world it takes everyones help to educate our children, we would ultimately have the best school district in Upstate New York.
--Submitted by a parent

This school is beautiful on the outside, but a load a trouble on the inside due to kids coming from other neighborhoods. The level of violence and distracting learning environment, coupled with overwhelmed teachers and the students' inability to bring books home forced us to sell our beloved North Buffalo home and move to the suburbs. Our local Catholic school had closed and we were faced with either paying tuition and transportation to private schools or paying higher taxes elsewhere and not having to worry about the transition to a quality high school. I am opposed to forced busing and believe that forced busing is what ruined our neighborhood schools and ruined Buffalo neighborhoods. As two professionals with college degrees and hopes of the same for our child, we would never recommend sending your child to any school in Buffalo except City Honors.
--Submitted by Teresa Saj, a parent