The Mandell School

The Mandell school has been a wonderful environment for our daughter to thrive academically, socially, and culturally. The teachers are by far the best in NYC! Gabriella Rowe is doing an incredible job, and her team of administrator are continually striving to raise the bar. Our daughter loves going to school!
—Submitted by a parent

My daughter's 6th grade class is more diverse culturally than at her public elementary school. It is a self-styled "middle class private," which gives financial aid to those who need it. The teachers are dedicated and the courses are challenging and varied from drama, chorus and wind instruments to the core English, Math, Science History, and languages. They have gym almost daily and twice weekly community service after school. We have been extremely happy here so far and our daughter is flourishing academically and socially.
—Submitted by a parent

shaking my head at some of these negative comments as a parent there. a) in terms of student body this is one of the more diverse private schools in Manhattan (at a minimum). Kids are from all different cultural and ethnic backgrounds and they teach kids to be incredibly sensitive to others and the larger community- it's a huge theme of the culture. b) it is far from unstructured, although "recess" as referenced in another post is rarely a bunch of kids in a single file line walking calmly around a playground (not sure why would one even post such a ridiculous comment). c) both our kids never once uttered "I don't want to go to school today" and always loved their teachers, the school and learning. Most of the negative reviews are clearly people who have never gone here.
—Submitted by a parent

Mandell is a great school. My son can't wait to go to school. The staff is extremely professional. The head of school cares about the children and the quality of education. I am happy Mandell has expanded and iam also a proud to be a parent at the Mandell school.Excellent education and excellent facilities.
—Submitted by a parent

It's frustrating to see people posting here about our school based on little pieces of mistaken or out-of-context information. The students, in fact, are seen outside during the day: the younger grades each walk to Central Park for one recess period, and our library and technology and invention labs are in a building down the block. Sounds like this neighbor just doesn't like having a drop-off and dismissal near his building entrance. As far as the Dominican Republic, we have a service mission to an orphanage every year that is very meaningful to our families and the children there, and integrated into the school's overall mission of raising "good citizens." I am a very critical parent, and an educator myself. Since I enrolled my first child in Mandell four years ago, I have been nothing but impressed with every aspect of the school. The teachers are masterful and creative and the parent community is a wonderful, down-to-earth group of people. For some reason, people seem resentful of our Head of School's seeking attention for her institution. I see it as trying to build her school. Either way, she cares deeply about the students and the input from her talented educators.
—Submitted by a parent

I live in the building where this school is located, and I really wonder how much teaching goes on there. The children are outside all day engaged in unstructured play, which basically means running around and screaming like banshees while the "teachers" sit around on benches ignoring them. I'm not talking about a daily recess period. They're out there over and over again throughout the day. I suspect it's an easy way for the staff to keep the kids docile and happy to go to school. But I wonder if parents are aware of how unstructured this environment really is.

The Mandell school is amazing. We are starting our second year and my child loves school, loves his teachers and his class mates. He can't wait to go everyday.
—Submitted by a parent

Mandell's only goal is to profit from wealth people. They give off the image that they are a good school dedicated to giving children the best education. If this is true does the owner even have an Education Degree? Everything they do is just to profit, sadly even taking a trip to the Dominican Republic. How many dominican children will you find at Mandell School or even latin? Unfortunately parents are not experts in education so it's easy to be fooled! Parents find another school!

We have been at Mandell since they started their Kindergarten. We love this school and find it wonderfully diverse - in terms of learning style as well as other differences. No place is perfect, but Mandell is a great combination of nurturing and academically challenging. They put the kids first and it shows.
—Submitted by a parent

this school is filled with nothing but white kids which makes me extremely concerned!i higly think that the staff should present their school more to be a more mixed school