Burton Street Elementary School

Not a good experience for any of our children. I have to echo the reviews that the special needs group at this school, and even our teacher, would do nothing to help a child diagnosed (by choice...outside of the school district) when simple suggestions were provided by therapists the child was already working with. It is as if the "Caz" opinion is the only opinion they will listen to regarding this issue. The anti bullying policy in Cazenovia, including Burton Street, is essentially: "if we close our eyes, nothing is happening." Such a beautiful area, it is a shame. Our kids are now at private schools, at great expense to us.
—Submitted by a parent

I have two children who that attend Burton St. They do offer programs for kids struggling with reading & writing. My children both had Mrs. Conway, who teaches 1st grade, and we couldn't be happier with her. She is a great teacher. I did not really like the way the principle handled several issues. I felt like she could have been a lot more proactive. I also am not to fond of the cafeteria staff. As a parent who volunteers frequently, I have had some interaction cafeteria staff them & found them to be rude at best(especially the large one with blonde hair). I would not let the cafeteria staff deter you from enrolling your child here though. It's a great school overall.
—Submitted by a parent

My two children have attended Burton Street for the last 3-4 years and we have found the majority of teachers to be excellent (caring, helpful, etc.). We also had requested some testing for our son (at our pediatrician's suggestion) to see if he had a learning disability or was quite capable but was just not applying himself... and the staff was very supportive during that process. The kids look forward to school and the community sports programs that are abundant in this area.
—Submitted by a parent

Poor discipline and teachers are cruel to students. The previous entries must be from staff to increase the score. There are several parents protesting on the bullying policy that states: "Love the bully and believe in the words he or she says as truth!!!!!!!!!! "Love your bully and say I love you". That is abusive to teach this. The school is very tight knit and back stabbing. Very unsafe school and a lot of mind games.
—Submitted by a parent

My daughter attends Burton Street. The level of care, education and attention provided by the staff is excellent. Those who complain have no idea what an inferior or underperforming school looks like - Burton Street is definitely not one of them.
—Submitted by a parent

As a parent of a 3 children, we are currently looking at moving out of this district. Our youngest child has special needs and felt (and were told by many faculty) that the special ed teachers would much rather have the kids take a nap or go home then do any work with them. The regular ed teachers have been good, but the special ed program has a LONG way to go.
—Submitted by a parent

We lived in Cazenovia for several years and moved there for the schools however we were very dissappointed with the blase attitude the staff had for children already exceeding grade level curriculum (reading years past level) and were even told that by third grade most kids 'level out' with their peers. That would be the case if you didn't teach them anything new in all that time! We moved as a result. Fine for average kids but like a prior reviewer said, not good for kids who are gifted or have special needs,.
—Submitted by a parent

We moved to Cazenovia from a larger school district and love the smaller, community atmosphere here at Burton Street. It's easy to connect with other parents and the teachers through the many volunteer programs and extracurricular activities they offer. Their reading program has enabled my son to excel! I couldn't be happier!
—Submitted by a parent

We absolutely love Burton Street School, and Caz in general. We moved here from an area of the country where private schools were the only safe option. Here the public schools are of equal (or higher) quality than the private school our son went to prior to attending Burton Street. Our two children are thriving at Burton Street. It's a safe environment with excellent teachers who care about the jobs they do. No, they are not perfect people but if you approach them with respect we have found that 100% of the time they will work with us. The principal does a great job rolling out character education. She uses the school psychologist role to implement a lot of anti-bullying initiatives, which is entirely appropriate.
—Submitted by a parent

The school overall offers a nice program for average kids but has no program set up for kids that struggle or are gifted. Another issue is the principal is not proactive in teaching character /moral education or following through with uncontrollable kids. There are a lot of very serious discipline issues that are never taken care of. The principal could make a world of difference if she said NO to bullying and followed through with professional character education classes for all teachers, parents not just students. My daughter will be in the middle school next year.
—Submitted by a parent

I am a parent of four and one is in the middle school, two are still at Burton St.. I feel it is a great school with incredible programs and teachers.
—Submitted by a parent

This school has many discipline problems and the principal is not involved in correcting this serious problem. There is a lot of bulling and the principal will not do anything about this. I Class size is small and there is an open door policy for parents which is nice. My daughter went to this school and we had to move to FM to get away from all the bulling.
—Submitted by a parent

i love the district but my only concern is the lack of secruity that the chidren have when coming and going within the school walls. seems to me that chldren are often assumed to be where they are supposed to be when infact they are not. i also feel the district is less ambishous when it comes to children with special needs or when a parent brings a concern up, they are slow if even willing to helo.
—Submitted by a parent

My children have attended Burton Street school for almost 4 years. There is a wide variety of programs to meet many different interests. The art program is very strong, plays and concerts for little performers. Many sports opportunities are available. Parent involvement is very strong especially within the classroom. The community is very proud of their schools and programs. If you have a child requiring special education services, the program is improving greatly under a concerned and informed principal and a new special ed director. However, they have only been in the school for one year. Teacher training with the goal of better understanding exactly how special ed kids differ from other children would vastly improve their well intentioned efforts.
—Submitted by a parent

Our son went to kindergarten at Burton street and he had a great experience.(We moved for husband's job that summer after he finished school year) Very attentive staff and small class sizes, no over crowding. We will miss Burton Street Elementary!
—Submitted by a parent