Learning Spring School

247 East 20th Street

New York, NY 10003

15 Reviews

School District
Grade

K-8
Type

private

Find Homes for Sale in this School Zone

Reviews

Submitted by parent on October 07, 2024

At LearningSpring School, the facade of fostering healthy relationships crumbles under the weight of manipulation and stress, revealing a toxic culture that brings out the worst in students. The relentless pressure to meet unrealistic expectations creates a cutthroat environment, where competition trumps collaboration and grades become the ultimate currency. Teachers perpetuate the harmful myth that stress is a catalyst for growth, leaving students to internalize anxiety and guilt as they navigate an unforgiving academic landscape. In the graduate classroom, Sequoia, this toxic atmosphere breeds manipulation and selfishness, as students resort to underhanded tactics to outshine their peers. Claims of promoting meaningful connections fall flat when many relationships become fraught with jealousy and betrayal, leading to a landscape where trust is eroded and well-being is sacrificed for the sake of performance. Ultimately, LearningSpring School’s approach not only hinders emotional resilience but also exposes the urgent need for a transformative shift towards a more compassionate and supportive educational framework.
Submitted by other on June 08, 2024

I have worked at this school for several years now and I love the warm, supportive community. The students’ needs are always the top priority of the staff. While it is not perfect, I would not hesitate to recommend it to a friend who is looking for a job or a parent looking for a great supportive environment for their child.
Submitted by teacher on September 09, 2023

LearningSpring is a wonderful community in which students are prioritized and employees share the same values.However, the way that much of the staff is treated is shameful. While assistant teachers are the backbone of the organization, spending the most time overall with students and helping them intimately in both their social-emotional development and academic pursuits, they are paid poverty wages. In addition to insultingly low pay, assistants are frequently asked to lead large groups of students with no support due to short-staffing caused by turnover. This is a glaring equity problem.There are no opportunities for upward mobility for most staff, and administration consistently places students and teachers in unsafe situations with violent students in order to appease parents and board members. On top of that not addressing the children’s needs often just given them what they want affecting other students behaviors, causing them to become derailed off of their learning journey. Difficult students are usually parented by difficult parents. And the administrative side of the school gives them all they want while letting their staff and students suffer.Side note: Working here was like attending high school. All staff did was gossip about one another and very clicky most of the staff that been there for years are bully’s in disguise. If they don’t like something about you, they will bully you as a group. There is no community in this place anymore. This place doesn’t paid enough for all of the stress you experience there
Submitted by parent on April 01, 2023

I understand the major concern in this school is to build up social skills. I never complain that the curriculum is below my kid’s level.But I was upset knowing the school nurse gave my kid hard candies before lunchtime as a calm down strategy after he got hit by another kid. I suppose it’s an easy way to handle them.
Submitted by parent on January 16, 2023

If I could give this school zero stars I would. This school is a joke. The main focus is social skills. As much as they focus on this, my child has no improved at all as far as her social skills. Be aware, if you come from a different background, This school has called ACS on me for baseless accusations and have caused me employment opportunities.
Submitted by parent on June 28, 2019

It has been outstanding. I was ecstatic when our child first went, and still am several years later.
Submitted by parent on September 27, 2017

They focus more on social skills then anything else. Academically it is not challenging at all. I don’t think my child has learned anything from LSS. I worry that she may be behind when she goes to HS. The staff is all friendly and nice. They have helped a lot with social interaction but I wish that they would teach math, spelling, social studies better.
Submitted by student on April 24, 2014

Learning Spring is a better-than-average school. For some students, this may be home but for others it may be a cause for frustration. I would consider it to be a great school, because the majority of the students and teachers are very nice. One of the downs of this school when I went here years ago was the academics. Sometimes I was told to talk to my friends instead of doing my academic work. Plus, I was given easy school work out of a random selection. I could see that what I said in the last couple of sentences doesn't happen to the new Learning Spring. I believe that LSS is a great school and seemingly better than the years when I went there. I visit very often and see a nice improvement every visit in the teacher's social/emotional understanding of the student's needs as well as the student's happiness. Ignore my "downs" comment because that only happened 10% of the time when I went to LSS. Also, LSS's curriculum is core curriculum and will stay that way. Consider it as a choice for your autistic kid and you will see improvements.
Submitted by student on October 04, 2013

This school is a great school. I went to the school for eight years and was the best student in the school. I made so many memories and the school will never be the same without me
Submitted by parent on August 09, 2013

Unfortunately we had a very bad experience with this school. The staff is much less experience than you would expect for the kind of kids they enrolled. No matter what the Principal always is in the staff side, even you will hear unbelievable excuse from her so don't even bother to explain what your child says. Our child did not want to go to this school. Don't expect much academically ...we had an awful experience here, therefore I can't recommend this school...
Submitted by other on June 22, 2013

I'm a former student and when I was learning math at this school it was very hard. Now I know how to do math at the school that I go to now it's still a little hard for me
Submitted by other on January 28, 2012

Most of the kids in this school have very little verbal ability. Your child will not learn very much here especially in math, in fact when I graduated from here and went to middle school I had to catch up a lot in all my school subjects and had to be left back 1 grade to catch up. When I went there some of my friends and I used to joke about how bad it was and used to refer to it as a daycare for school age kids. In fact the only two good things about their new location is that it's a beautiful building that is near a playground. Source: I am a former student of this school.
Submitted by parent on July 26, 2010

If your child has autism and has some verbal ability, Learning Spring is a Godsend. The focus is on creating a positive environment for your child to learn and, with any luck, forge some lifetime friendships. At some point you realize that the most important thing for your child is to learn how to be independent and interact with human beings, not just objects. Learning Spring understands that.
Submitted by parent on April 19, 2010

Learning Spring is one of the best schools out there for children with special needs and/or Autism. It is the Harvard of Special Ed Schools!
Submitted by parent on August 11, 2008

N/A