Bnos Bais Yaakov (Far Rockaway)

amother

Chambray

Thu, Dec 28 2023, 3:15 am

Moved somewhat recently. My impressions:

BBY more "frum" I think it's true. TAG more diverse, really modern families are more likely to end up in halb but you get a mix. For example they have a tech program about limiting phone use because there are kids that applies to. However there are also kids who are scratching their head trying to figure out how to get credit for the tech challenges when they don't have access to tech in the first place. They seem to try to group kids from similar backgrounds into the same classes but you'll still get mixing.

BBY is bursting at the seams. They wouldn't even give us an interview even though we had and exercised some good "pull." They were like no matter how much we love you at an interview we literally can't fit in more desks so please don't waste both our time.

The people I know in both schools seem very happy overall. I got a couple of reviews from tag that the academics were tough for the middle kids - the high performing kids were doing great and the low were getting help but the middle were struggling. I do not know how that compares with BBY, the people I know going to BBY seem to be learning a similarly intense amount.

Ateres Miriam seems to be going for a warm fuzzy vibe. I like that it seems to be their identity. Tag has a lot of very strong programming but I'm not sure the kids have that sense of mission like "I'm proud to be a tag girl and this is why." It's a good school but it's just... school.

I can't say much more about Ateres Miriam because I only know a few people who go there and the main reason is that the other schools either didn't accept them or didn't work out for them.

We ended up in tag and I'm happy with that. One thing I love is that they're very responsive to communication and concerns. Even though they have a zillion kids, when I call a principal she seems to know exactly who my kid is and how she's doing. Things are run in an organized way, drop offs and pickups seem efficient and safe.

I do wonder if we're missing out on some warm fuzzies from Ateres Miriam. But my kids have good friends and they each have at least a couple of teachers that they click with. So I can't complain.

There's also bais yaakov of the five towns which opened when my kids were already settled in tag so I don't know much about it.

amother

Aquamarine

Thu, Dec 28 2023, 8:21 am

As an original parent at BYAM since it started I strongly disagree with the statement that our school only took families that couldn’t get into the other 2 schools. Rabbi Neuman is very cautious who he takes in and why they’re applying. I can’t speak for the school, but as a parent it’s an incredibly warm school that is small enough to truly care about each girl. That said, there’s no drama classes, or technology classes. There’s no “needing the latest brand name” stuff, and the girls are not nebs in the least.

amother

Chambray

Thu, Dec 28 2023, 9:05 am

amother Aquamarine wrote:

I did not say the school only has kids who didn't get into other schools. I just said the PEOPLE I KNOW who go there chose it for that reason. That's like 3 families. No idea about the other idk 100 or so.

For what it's worth, I got into both AM and TAG. We chose tag mostly because at the time am hadn't started their high school yet and I had one kid close to high school and wanted the option to continue in the same system. There were a couple of other factors too, like DD was in advanced math and at the time am didn't offer that, but this is the type of thing that is individual and you may have different priorities.