PS 4 Duke Ellington School

Paola: When I first saw the building I was excited for my little girl to attend this school. It's a beautiful structure, the inside and the classrooms are look amazing, compared to any public school I ever attended as a child. But once the school year began, my heart broke to find out that my child was not safe at dismissal. For one the teacher was gone at exactly 3 o'clock. Leaving my child's kindergarden class unattended. It was my first day picking her up and I was lost, I didn't know exactly where to go, I was more heart broken to find that none of the staff members know anything. If you speak to them they are rude, do not look you in the eye while talking to them, and I have not seen one person in there smiling, other than one security guy out of the 2 that I've seen. I have 5 people on my list that can pick up my child, not one had to sign a sheet that said thaty child was picked up by any of them. My husband came to pick her up once, to find out she was given to her grandmother, who I did not know was gonna pick her up. My mother tried picking her up once before dismissal and the staff were very rude. I was on the phone translating for her, because even tho the school is located in an area where the majority of students and their parents speak Spanish, they refuse to speak my mom in their native toungue. Another time my mom tried picking her up and she was already dismissed to a lady I did not know, who is friend of her paternal grandmother. In the classroom my daughter seems to be ok. Bur she misses her pre-k school allot. There are mornings that I have to force her to get out of bed. Her teacher and I have barely had more than 5 sentences spoken. Since the school year began 3 months ago.