P.S. 196 Grand Central Parkway

My son attended K class. Always crying in the morning, never happy after school. Teacher sit him next to a fan and my son got sick of course. Complaining to a teacher didnt help, raising voice to her did. At one time a teacher scream to my wife telling bad things about our boy. As a father, I must have did a few phone calls to a principal and after we got together her response was, lets forget it , its June, what is a big deal. We moved to Forest Hills , especially to a 196 district just for a good school. What a big mistake. Surely helps to log in to google and check reviews before moving. After all we did good out of bed situation, we have moved our son to Our Lady Queen of Martyrs and we are fully satisfied.
--Submitted by a parent

Used be a good school, somehow it is been changed!!!! Almost no homework or just reading. no checking homework or just few check marks on her homework notebook. No more reading response writing either reading log. At PTA meeting, teacher asked me to teach my child's weakness-Big time writing! What's going on this school???? BIG Disappointment!

Except Ms. Berman, all of the teachers my son had for the past three years are incompetent. His current teacher is incompetent + lazy. I found 5 mistakes in the math sheet marked "excellent" by his teacher. She never corrected any mistakes in his schoolwork. Did she ever review her students' work? She did not even know the format of a state test. How can PS196 retain such incompetent teacher? DOE needs to wake up when they do grading.
--Submitted by a parent

This school was a total nightmare for my son. The staff was selfish and only cared about test scores. Their playground was a flat blacktop where students could not take two steps without bumping into someone. Mean while, there was a beautiful park next door. The lunchroom was noisy and dirty.
--Submitted by a parent

Unfortunately, the school seems to be trying to follow an Asian model with lots of homework, overemphasis on testing, senseless book logs and very few school trips. Kids need more fun and exposure to the amazing cultural resources that we have in NY all around us. The school concerts are elitist showcases for the kids of Tiger moms who have been practicing their 5 minute long classical pieces to perfection for years. Kids that have no formal training are not allowed to participate. Whatever happened to an old fashioned talent show where the kids have fun and anyone with any type talent can have a couple of minutes to shine. Just an aside...The Theater arts program was a lame attempt to infuse fun and culture into the school, but turned out to be insane. Principal is obviously a frustrated b'way performer/director and subjects the kids to 3-4 hour long rehearsals in the hot auditorium without snacks or water. Towards the end it was 4 days a week until 6 or 7pm. Some kids don't even have speaking roles. Do not let your kids sign up for those plays---torture!
--Submitted by a parent

This school is such disappointment. There are a lot of post on this site that make it seem like the school has competent caring and interested teachers. You can see by the rapid succession and short duration of time that the posts are being planted by the PTA or the school staff. Don t be fooled. The school has a tremendous number of incompetent employees and burnt or teachers. I ve found the staff to be completely uninterested in my child education or personal growth, but rather interested in behavior problems and test scores. The teacher was missing work in my child folder, had averaged grades up in correctly and give my child lower scores then she deserved, when I pointed out the wrong averages she reluctantly changed the grade on the report card, but did so with such a nasty attitude.
--Submitted by a parent

Good reading program, helps develop love for reading
--Submitted by a parent

Well balanced curriculum--art, music, theater, science, math and language skills. Great afterschool program too!
--Submitted by a parent

The teachers and staff are excellent and dedicated to the students and community that they serve.
--Submitted by a parent

it helps kids to develop more skills, provide good educational enviroment.
--Submitted by a parent