Pierre Van Cortlandt School

PVC is a terrific school if you have a child who is above average as a student or an average learner. It may be great for struggling learners, too, but I don't have any direct experience with this. This year, the school featured wonderful learning oppostunities in math, science and literacy, and compared quite favorable to the "gifted programs" in Manhattan. The students seem happy and the small size of the district really gives everyone a tailored learning experience. We also enjoyed the FRE afterschool program that included chess, lego robotics, math olympiad, theatre and art. The school day music program allows the children to take two instruments or chorus for free.
—Submitted by a parent

As a parent with two children at PVC I give the school an average rating for a number of reasons, mainly because I think they have the potential to do much better than they are doing. The school is in a small district, only 3 schools total, and has been very fiscally responsible which is great. The facilities are pretty good and the administration runs a tight ship. The kids are fairly diverse and have a lot to offer. The only program that I would consider exceptional is their music program otherwise they provide a solid average education in a supportive, caring environment. I think their biggest problem stems from a lack of a unifying vision for the district as a whole. Too many competing forces, pushy parents, state mandates, teacher unions are all pulling at the administration and the result is mediocrity. Consistency is spotty throughout the district in curriculum and teaching. There are no mechanisms built into the system to enrich higher achieving kids and stretch them, you have to rely on individual teachers most of whom I've found are satisfied when their students achieve proficiency. In general it's a solid learning environment but certainly not an exceptional one.
—Submitted by a parent

I think that PVC is pretty good compared to other schools i have seen. PVC has a BIG issue with helicopter parents who are under the impression that their kid is a prodigy. Not only do many parents think that, they take action about it too. If a parent on the school board has a kid doing lots of athletics, guess what? Athletics spending goes up while academics spending goes down, as it has a lot recently. This really irritates me about PVC. Why are after school sports valued higher than extra curricular activities like Math Olympiad, Destination Imagination, yearbook club, etc.? Everyday we always hear about how various extra curricular activities are scraping for money with bake sales and fundraisers while the football team just got thousands of dollars of equipment. Can we fund things that actually mean something on a college application? The problem is the parents, not the teachers.
—Submitted by a student

For all those people who think that this isn't a good school is completely wrong. Before I went to PVC i went to a different district and the curriculum here is much better along with the teachers. If anything I would say that there is too much parent involvement because their kids do something wrong, and their child could never do ANYTHING wrong.
—Submitted by a student

Teachers don't return calls and are gone at 3 pm exactly, progress reports come too late (at end of reporting period), classes are too large, and insufficient attention is paid to kids who need organizational help and learning assistance. It's fine if the student is self-motivated, but if not, the staff is ill-equipped to deal with it. Also, lack of late busses interferes with extra-curricular involvement when children don't live within walking distance of school and both parents work. Disgraceful inability to prioritize by Board of Education. High taxes and little to show for it. Very mixed staff abilitites. A few are great, most are merely ok, a some are downright poor.
—Submitted by a parent

High parental involvement which leads to the lack of school administration involvement. Too many parents are pushy resulting in overstressed students and teachers. Teachers are great educators but have been driven to the edge by uneducated parents with no respect for the education system. I have watched parents come in and dictate to the administration and teachers as to which assignments students should complete. This district is bad news.
—Submitted by a former student

This is a pretty good school. The teachers are pretty good but not the best. The classes are good but teachers often give just a 'free class' and doesnt teach anything. There are good days and bad days, some days the children learn alot and sometimes they dont. the teachers are not so good. The are ok music programs, there is music class and band. You take one or two art classes a week. There are many sports avalible such as swimming. Parent involvement is pretty poor.
—Submitted by a student