I.S. 98 Bay Academy

Bay Academy's academic performance is well above district norms: 87.5% ELA proficiency and 92.8% math proficiency, compared to district averages of roughly 60% and 63%. Science proficiency is similarly strong at 86.5%. Math scores have stayed in a tight band of 89–96% over nearly a decade, while ELA peaked in 2018–2019 near 93% before dipping into the mid-80s and rebounding. By grade, 7th graders currently post the strongest results (96.4% math, 90.3% ELA), while 6th and 8th graders are also well above district averages across the board.

Day-to-day, this school runs with a notably calm climate: only five suspensions last year (a suspension rate of 0%, well below the district's 0.5%), and the discipline trend has actually improved from ten suspensions two years ago. Teacher responses are unusually positive — 100% rated instruction quality highly and 99% expressed trust in the principal, both well above the district average. Parent trust metrics are equally strong: 96% trust the principal and 95% trust teachers. The one number that gives pause is chronic absenteeism at 76.2%, meaning more than three-quarters of students missed 10% or more of school days, with Asian students showing the highest rate at 87.1%.

The student body looks notably different from a typical NYC middle school: 53% White and 32% Asian, with smaller Hispanic (8%), Black (2%), multiracial (1%), and Native American (1%) populations. About 11% of students have IEPs and the school offers ELL support. The surrounding neighborhood has a median household income of roughly $80,000, a 13% poverty rate, and a 52.8% homeownership rate, which mirrors the relatively stable, family-oriented character of the school's enrollment.

The school sits in the Sheepshead Bay/Manhattan Beach/Gerritsen Beach area of southern Brooklyn, where nearly 18% of households include children and 43% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher. The neighborhood skews toward owner-occupied housing, with a median home value just over $721,000, suggesting a stable, family-anchored community. Most families are middle to upper-middle income, though about 13% of households live below the poverty line, and there's real demographic mix even within this relatively prosperous pocket of Brooklyn.

The Sheepshead Bay station (B and Q trains) is about a five-minute walk from the school, with Brighton Beach (B and Q) about twelve minutes away and Neck Rd (Q) around sixteen minutes.