Oak Elementary School

Principal and staff are rude and unwelcoming of parents at the school. They will call the cops on a parent for walking their child to class. I would not advise any child to go to this school.
—Submitted by a parent

We have had children at Oak Elementary since 2004. Every year it improves. We've always felt like our school is awesome. As for immunizations, they do check those, but state allows some time for parents to get them done. So all schools would have this same issue. The teachers and staff care so much about all the kids. They know all of the children even if they aren't in their class. The work together to help each child and we've been so pleased with the success our kids have had here. The neighborhood is one of the nicer areas in SE Albany, aside from a few streets. We feel our children are safe. City wide transfers are hard to come by, they really try to keep kids in the school district they live in. So the comment that most transfer is false. We have over 300 amazing students at Oak Elementary!
—Submitted by a parent

This school has gone downhill quite a bit since 2009. Kids are allowed to attend school with improper immunizations because the office lacks to keep track of the ones who need it done. The school is not a good area of town, and the apartments right down the road have gotten worse as well, lots of drugs and "activities" going on. The teachers are slacking with making sure the kids are getting the proper education, simply pushing them through benchmarks when they are simply not ready. There is only one nice neighborhood in the area, and they take their students elsewhere. This school needs serious help.
—Submitted by a parent

Great school with excellent teachers and support staff. Stong PTA with a lot of parent involvement and support.
—Submitted by a parent

I am a parent of a student of this school. I transferred my kids to another school because of the principal. He was not pleasant to work with and very arrogant. Now that they have a new principal and she is awesome, my youngest wanted to go back to Oak and I have been so pleased. The teachers have always been great and they care so much for the kids. The teachers are so easy to get in contact with if I have a concern and they have even called me in the evening when something concerned them. Thank you Oak for becoming that great school again!
—Submitted by a parent

Oak Elementary is providing an excellent education for my kids. The principal and teachers really care about the students. The principal is friendly and always willing to meet with parents. His weekly newsletters and monthly 'coffees' are a perfect example of his 'open' communication. The teachers are always easy to reach. Great job of providing a quality education during budget cuts. I can't believe someone would write a negative review of this fabulous school. Keep up the great work!
—Submitted by a parent

Wow! What a fantastic school! Everything from greeting all students every day in a morning gathering to integrated thematic instruction to small group instruction using all available staff. Oak is truly doing incredible things during tough times in education. Kudos to the principal, teachers and all other staff for providing a wonderful education to my children.
—Submitted by a parent

I have a 5th grader and have nothing but good things to say about both the administration and teachers of Oak. Oak prides itself on using cutting-edge educational research which results in their Integrated Thematic Instruction program. This year they have moved to a small-group focused instruction model which, while somewhat controversial, is proving to be valueable in allowing each student to learn at his or her own pace as well as facilitating closer tracking of student achievement. The principal has monthly 'parent/principal coffees' which facilitates communication. Sure, there is always room for improvement, but Oak is doing an outstanding job with the resources available to them.
—Submitted by a parent

There is about 32 students per teacher at this school. They keep having budget cuts and the first to go is teachers. The principal at this school it not concerned about the children as much as he is about the budget(making sure he looks good on paper to the board). I do love the teachers there. There have been lots of changes in the past two years there because of the new principal some good some not. I had a fifth grader that has moved on to middle school, now I have a third grader. Many parents have had issues with this principals he has no personality and does not work well with parents.
—Submitted by a parent