P.S. 165 Robert E Simon

This school has established a well known Dual Language Program.
—Submitted by a parent

New school for my 3rd grader and must say I love the email communication from Mr. Duran and my child's teacher's constant communication. It's an indication that they care for our children and their education and success.
—Submitted by a parent

My eldest was at 165 in the Dual Language G&T from 2nd grade on and is now at MS54 Delta. My other two children are also at 165, one in G&T and the other in general mono-lingual. Both are doing rather well. Even though G&T has been phased out, we still sent our youngest to 165. Parental involvement has been improving slowly, which is all the more reason for involved neighborhood parents to send their children to the school. Test scores for both Math and English Language Arts have also improved since we started at the school in 2005. Although the principal has changed recently, our experience with the teachers has been exceptional and one of the main reasons why we have stayed. Our children have excelled both academically and socially.
—Submitted by a parent

My children have extremely dedicated teachers. They have a good balance between academics and other activities.
—Submitted by a parent

My son has been in the dual language G&T class for 4 years now. I have mixed feelings about his experience there. First, the principal, Linda Chen, is wonderful. She is very warm, attentive, responsive, and her genuine love for the children is clear. She worked diligently to preserve a struggling G&T program, creating bridged classes so that too small classrooms would not have to close. Second, my son has had a couple of truly fantastic teachers, namely Lilly Barrett and Ms. Chanlatte. They are gifted teachers. The negatives include pockets of mediocrity in the quality of teaching. In one grade he had a fabulous experience with his math teacher, but this year has been awful. He was bored and the math teacher seemed to stop teaching once they had taken the statewide math test. My son has also felt unheard at times when he complained about other students being aggressive.
—Submitted by a parent

My daughter has been in the Gifted & Talented, Dual Language program since kindergarten. She absolutly loves it. I find that the curriculum is innovative and creative. She is now in the 3rd grade and has been able to participate in a extra language class in which she has also learned french. Other students learned chinese as well. Huge level of parent involvement. As a working mother i am not able to be as involved but i am able to get great information regarding school activities and changes via the parent coordinator, Principal & Vice Principal. I have to say that school safety & security has improved over the last three years.
—Submitted by a parent

PS165 is a great school, my son has been going there since Kindergarten. The teachers has always been helpful especially Stephanie Lucas, Lilly Barrett and Mr. Pergament. We hope that this year will be another success. School safety and security is a major concern of ours.
—Submitted by a parent