P.S. 49 Dorothy Bonawit Kole

My child has been a student at ps 49 since 3rd grade. She is now in 5th. The teachers are terrific. The principal is exceptional despite his lack of ability to communicate well with parents. He is great with the children and for pushing them to be all they could be. And that is what is most important.
—Submitted by a parent

My daughter started going to this school last September all I can say is the school is all I expected. excellent all around. Don't listen to what others say about the lunch lady. She is also excellent at what she does she loves all the children at the same time keeping things in check in the lunchroom. If she's yelling at your child its because their being loud and disrespectful and therefore need to be called out on it.
—Submitted by a parent

This school gives to much homework for the 3 grades and the test are crazy.i email to a certain teacher every time I email she doesn't response to me at all.But I think this will be her last year going here.
—Submitted by a parent

Special needs parents BEWARE: there is a paraprofessional that works in this school that exploits special needs students by claiming they "hurt" her so she can get out on disability. She also speaks to them inappropriately. Principal knows about it, does nothing and your child gets a bad name. This current principal does not care for special needs students. He cares about test scores and making his school look perfect. If your child needs a special ed. setting, especially self-contained, LOOK ELSEWHERE!
—Submitted by a parent

This school is awesome!!!! It has so many things for the students to do. This school is great!!!!

My daughter has been in the school for two years now. She loves her school, teachers and classmates. This school has an amazing teachers and educational program. Non of the Queens schools offers so many trips ,activities and cares for your child that is way this school should be graded high.
—Submitted by a parent

My daughter attend this school since she was in Kindergarten, the teachers are very young but most of them with a lot of experience, some school staff are rude, some are very nice. That's true, the school is very crowed since the last two years. They used to have more programs for the students, overall I think the school is good, my daughter loved it and she never complain about bulling or anything like that. Now we are moving to L.I. and trying to find a good school as well. My daughter is so sad
—Submitted by a parent

I graduated in '05 and all I must say is that many of the teachers are inexperienced, some try their best.but are almost terrified under the dictatorship of the principal who has control of every aspect of the school.

I transferred my child to PS/IS 49 from another school because she was not academically challenged enough in her old school. This school exceeds my expectations. She absolutely loves it. So far, I love it as well. VERY glad we made the switch.
—Submitted by a parent

The school has become too overcrowded. There are children without desk who sit at one large table with backpacks on their chairs. The classrooms are not set up in an orderly manner. Any grade can be on any floor so you can have say, Kindergarten and Fourth grade right next to each other. The older kids have to carry their supplies from one class to another and sometimes their backpacks the whole day. This is from grade 4 and up. Sometimes the backpacks are heavy. I weighed today's backpack at 13 lbs! Teacher quality is fair at most. The staff is rude. The lunch room aide screams at the kids for the slightest thing and than punishes the whole class for something one or two children did. The punishment can range from not going out into the school yard to play to cleaning up everyones trash in the lunch room You are better off walking to the school because if you drive, you will search for parking and sometimes park 4 blocks away. That's on a bright and sunny day. During the winter it's worse. The academics are fair at best They have a strong art background which is nice to have the children learn but math is fair, and their reading is selected only from classroom books.
—Submitted by a parent

If the first day is any indication- this school stinks!!!! Full of pompus staff who seem to think they are doing us a favor by doing their jobs!!!! Every family gets a letter about start dates and needed supplies. Would it take a lot of effort to put 3 or 4 lines explaining how the process works ? especially for the nubies ( our little 4&5 years olds entering kinder) hmmm: at this time you will bring your child here if it's dry, here if it's raining - you must separate at this point, will not walk the child in, we will not tell you who the teacher is or what room they are going to- oh , and by the way- we don't want want the supplies on day one ( so dozens of parents aren't toting big heavy bags while standing panicky amidst the chaos). Unless the entire staff turned over this year there is no excuse for the lack of organization- a diheartening embarrassment!!!! One plus- there's nowhere to go but up !!!!
—Submitted by a parent

Great community school, with strong academics (especially elementary grades) and amazing music program. This school is very into the arts (music and fine arts), because of the principal. Wonderful teachers, strong leadership and very active PTA. The school is now K-8, and is yet to graduate its first class, so let's see how school evolves in next couple of years. Hope it stays great, since there is increasing problem with overcrowding. Overall, despite not being perfect, I would recommend this school highly for elementary school.
—Submitted by a parent

I was so glad to see the 2-star review by another parent. I rated this school 1-star sometime last year and somehow my review disappeared. I agree 100% with her/him that the teachers are excellent, but the staff is far from it. It started from the first day we went to enroll our child in the school, we got a very smug look from the staff like they were too good to talk to us. The principal is an extremely arrogant bully. Not towards the kids, but just ask some of the teachers. (I personally know a few that refuse to work there because of him.) Don't get me started on the Lunch lady. Many people I have talked to say she should be fired. Anybody gets slightly out of line, she screams and makes them stand against the wall. She is constantly screaming. It's a lunch room full of 5 & 6 year olds. Of course they're going to be a bit rowdy. Someone once remarked, "You're nerves would be frazzled too if you had to deal with this every day." My response, "So quit, and let someone who can handle it run the lunch room." Other parents whom I have warned not to send their kindergartener there have come to regret it. I'm glad I took my child out. Very happy and doing much better at new school.
—Submitted by a parent

This school is wonderful, has great staff and wonderful teachers. The atmosphere is always inviting and everyone is a cheerleader for their school. My son's academics are strong within high percentiles and I'm very happy that every child is challenged individually.
—Submitted by a parent

Great teacher wonderful principle. They really do care.
—Submitted by a parent

My daughter has been in the school now for 2 years. At first, she struggled to stay on top because the school has very high expectations and unfortunately she did not get a good foundation from the private school she came from (OLH). With the dedication and support of her teacher (Mrs Mollin) and us she survived her first year and loves the school! She worked very hard and saw the rewards!!! Mr Lombardi is a great principal and all of his staff is outstanding! This year, my daughter, has Mr Schumaker and she loves him as well. She wakes up happy every morning to go to school and returns home just as happy. I'm so glad the school goes to 8th grade now. What a dumb mistake I made to not put her here from Kindergarden. This is an outstanding school!!!! Thank you.
—Submitted by a parent

P.S. 49 means the world to our family. This is what it comes to our minds when we think about the school: peace of mind, safety, creation and implementation of new approaches in education and in discipline, everyday commitment/dedication to help improve our children/parents and community's lives. My 2 daughters were attending this school. Now only 1 attends it, the 8 year-old one. She is 3rd grade and loves her school. My middle- schooler and 12 year-old daughter is in 7th grade. She did her 6 years of elementary in P.S. 49. To know that she was leaving the school was a great challenge for her to accept. I am very at eased now knowing that she has adjusted well to the middle school that she goes to and her performance is as excellent as when she was in P.S. 49. Whenever she has the opportunity; she visits it. P.S. 49 is an excellent school with a great principal, staff, teachers and students. A school which is always on the change, on the move!
—Submitted by a parent

getting stronger and stronger! very happy to see how my son excels.
—Submitted by a parent

Great principal, very involved. Match and reading programs are excellent.
—Submitted by a parent

I recently put my daughter at this school and so far my daughter has shown me all that she has learned. Mr. Lombardi and his staff are excellent. The PTA members are on top of all things that have to do with our childrens' education. I am beyond happy with what I am seeing so far at PS/IS 49. Great job and I look forward to hearing and seeing new things at the school. My daughter loves Ms. Bruno (Kindergarten teacher) - great job Ms. Bruno.
—Submitted by a parent