Arthur R Ashe Elementary School

Honestly, I'm pretty frustrated with the health situation at Ashe. The school is constantly dealing with chronic absenteeism—rates have been hovering way above 30% lately, which is a huge red flag. It feels like there's always a bug going around because the kids just aren't in class. When my son is there, I worry about the state of the building; I've seen multiple board agendas mentioning the need for 'capital improvements' and facility rentals, which makes me think the actual school environment is struggling with aging infrastructure or poor ventilation. Dealing with the office on health stuff is a headache too; communication about when a kid is actually sick versus just absent is super murky. I want to love it here, but the wellness culture feels really neglected right now.

Honestly, I've been pretty impressed with how Ashe handles the flu season. My youngest is in 2nd grade there and the staff is really on top of reminding parents to keep kids home if they have a fever. The school feels clean when I walk in for pick-up, and you can tell the janitorial staff actually puts in the work. I also like that they don't make a huge fuss if a kid needs to take their time getting back after being sick—they focus more on everyone staying healthy than just perfect attendance. My only small gripe is the communication can be a little slow when there's a stomach bug going around the classroom, but overall it's a solid, safe environment for the kids.