3 Willowbrook Lane
Ballston Lake, NY 12019

When you see National School of Excellence on the sign outside of the school you set high expectations for me as a parent. My two daughters have gone to Gowana and this school has lived up to my expectations. The addition of notebooks, tablets and chrome books shows that they really are trying to take education into the 21 century. Most all of the teachers use the parent portal to post grades, assignments and use e-mai to communicate. As a busy family it really helps keep us a parents engaged and on top of our students work before problems can arise. I am very glad I bought my home in this school district as it is large enough to have all of the bells and whistles but small enough for us to feel like we have a community. I look forward to my son attending Gowana in the future.

My child attended 5th grade here. Sadly, one of the 5th grade teachers is intolerant, childish and vindictive. My child has anxiety disorder which was worsened by their experience with this teacher. We are now dealing with the effects of having a teacher abuse their position and trust. We went from general anxiety to selective mutism because of their relentless and borderline abusive treatment and their unwillingness to listen. Imagine taking the time to write your child's teacher a lengthy letter explaining your child's issue and, upon reading it, your child being told in class (and publicly) that "your parents can't make excuses for you", and privately you (as a parent and as the person who knows far more about your child than someone who has spent only 3 months in a group setting with them) are mistaken, that your child is just "defiant" and unwilling to do the work. Get real!! This teacher would then call on my child incessantly (as many as 11 times in a row) and banish them to the hallway or roll their eyes when they could not speak up. During group work, they would encourage other students to get on my child for participation, causing them to put additional pressure (amplifying the anxiety in that situation) and call my child a "liar" for being unable to in that moment. Then doing nothing to help diffuse the situation or get children to understand that there is a legitimate problem and to treat others with some understanding and kindness. Basically doing all the things you should not do to someone with selective mutism and anxiety! We were set to meet with the principal regarding this matter when COVID hit, forcing the school to close. Unfortunately, we weren't able to but we have not forgotten. We have been dealing with the effects ever since. For the sake of other children with mental health disorders, we feel it is in the best interests of our community to spread awareness that bullying in the school is not reserved for only children. Adults can be bullies too. When your child experiences this from someone who is supposed to be a positive example and a trustworthy person to come to, this is especially damaging. We'd like to make sure our teachers are not only held responsible for their own behavior but are taught to deal with mental health issues in a mature and respectful way! I am sure there are great teachers at this school. Unfortunately this is not one of them. The principal was very kind. Unfortunately we just were not able to meet =(

This school is terrible today my friends smelled paint thinner which is known to cause cancer the last few days they smelt smoke and bad smells having to cover their nose the school is not whatsoever worried about the safety of students there was a student who brought in a BB gun the few months ago someone brought in brass knuckles and another nunchucks the school could’ve bought a metal detector for the front door but instead they used all the money on weight lifting and gym equipment all they care about is sports,money and themselves not ever the students