PS 81 is housed in well-kept, red-brick building designed in the Georgian architectural style and accented with tall Palladian windows. It has a large blacktop playground shaded by mature maple trees. In the northernmost corner of the Riverdale section, the school is just a few blocks from the Yonkers border. It serves a mix of children, both well-off and poor, from 60 different ethnic groups and speaking 22 different languages, including Arabic, Russian, Hebrew, Korean, the African language Twi, and the languages of Uzbekistan and Pakistan. Teachers believe that building citizenship is particularly important in a school that serves many new immigrants, and the theme of citizenship permeates the school. For example, children "caught" being good get special awards, and 5th graders serve as big brothers/sisters to younger students. Every morning, children and staff stand, hand over heart, facing the American flag, to recite The Pledge of Allegiance. "It sets the tone for the school," said Principal Melodie Mashel, whose own children attended the school years earlier. The teaching is solid, test scores are high, and the children are engaged in their work.

"P.S. 81 is neither progressive nor academically superior. The so-called "accelerated" classes are meaningless, because the curriculum is not even slightly challenging, and no other activities... read more