Schechter Manhattan, New York | Fees, Rankings, Address, Admission, Vacancies, Reviews & More

To make a very long, stressful, and emotional story short; I am severely disappointed in my experience with the Solomon Schechter School of Manhattan. I choose this school for my son based on their promise of providing a child-focused caring community. Based on this premise, when they advised me within his first week of school that they noticed some difficulty in his transition to kindergarten, I fully expected this was an issue that would be quickly resolved. In reality, I found myself isolated, lost, and ultimately abandoned. Their initial response was that my son only attends school for two hours a day. During these abbreviated days my son would only spend 10 to 15 minutes in the actual classroom and the rest of the day in the office of their school psychologist playing on an iPad they provided him. Their logic was to set him up for successful days, and I was assured this was not a permanent solution. This schedule lasted for months. Eventually I was told the only way he could attend full day was if I hired a private aide to attend class with him. Even though I could not fathom the additional cost of a full time aide on top of his tuition, I was willing to do anything to help my son. When I asked the school for recommendations and guidance of resources to find such support they offered nothing. I was told it would be best to get him evaluated privately or through the DOE as they do not provide evaluations or support services. After months of meetings with the principal and teachers who assured me they had exhausted every effort to help my son, the school advised me this was not the right placement for our family. In essence, we were kicked out. Although this was upsetting, this is not reason for my negative review. I write this review because after only one week of attendance in a local charter school my son’s new teachers assured me that with firm guidance and adherence to routine at school and at home, my son was going to be more than fine. Three months later, my son is excelling and we could not be happier. When we left Schechter we had no expectation that my son’s behavior would change at all, in fact I fully expected to return to the DOE for support services once I had more evidence of need in his new classroom. It saddens and scares me to think what would have happened had we stayed at Schechter.

Picking a school is all about fit. My son left another jewish day school after a bad experience and transferred early on to Schechter Manhattan. We couldn’t be happier with his educational and growth experience there. He’s in HS now and his teachers tell us how impressed they are by the depth of his knowledge and his thoughtful contributions to the discussion. He’s also become an active leader in daily minyan, and he’ll tell you it’s because he learned the meaning and power of prayer at Schechter Manhattan. At Schechter Manhattan he was taught how to THINK about ideas, not just spit out facts on tests and boring rote homework tasks. While there were times when he struggled in elementary school, the support from his teachers and the school administration were spot on. We were never left adrift. Thoughtful plans were developed with our input and everyone followed through. Looking back, I am grateful for the support I received from the division heads, Gary and Ben (now the amazing Principal and Head of School, respectively), who always treated us with respect and had faith in our son. This is a great school if you’re looking for a thoughtful education that looks to the whole child, and a wonderful parent community.