At a Glance
A zoned Bronx elementary where engaged parents and steady score gains meet real teacher-morale and absenteeism headwinds.
Best suited for
Families zoned for the school who value an engaged parent community and a clearly improving academic trajectory, and who are comfortable engaging directly with school leadership on staff morale and attendance — rather than expecting those pieces to already be settled strengths.
Overall Rating
Rating = average of NY State ELA + math proficiency, grades 3–8
Bands are Motley's thresholds on a 0–100 scale, not New York State performance levels.
How this is scored→What stands out
- PTA fundraising of $56 per student — more than double the district average of $23.69
- Zero suspensions across three consecutive school years
- 100% of teachers report feeling safe at school
- 97% parent-teacher trust — unusually strong family-school partnership
- A clear, multi-year upward trend in both ELA and Math proficiency from a 2016 baseline
Things to consider
- Teacher-principal trust at 69% and instruction-quality ratings at 79% both run below district norms — worth asking staff directly about
- Chronic absenteeism at 62.7% is high and affects every demographic group
- Both ELA and Math proficiency sit about 9 points below district averages
- Grade 4 scores (29.9% ELA, 38.5% Math) lag well behind Grades 3 and 5, suggesting a specific weak point in the grade band
- Overall score of 1.9/4 is below the District 11 average of 2.25
Based on 2025 data
School SummaryDistrict 11
P.S. 097's 1.9/4 overall score sits below the District 11 average of 2.25. The top performers in the district — Icahn Charter schools and Bronx Charter for Excellence — are all charters that draw students differently through lottery. Among zoned district options in the area, P.S. 96 Richard Rodgers scores noticeably higher, so families with realistic zoned alternatives may want to compare the two side by side.
Academics
ELA proficiency is 47.4% and Math 47.5%, both roughly 9 points below district averages (56.7% and 55.6%). The trend matters more than the snapshot: ELA has risen from 35.3% in 2016 to 47.4% in 2025, and Math from 39.9% to 47.5%, with a pandemic-era dip in 2022 followed by steady recovery. One thing worth flagging — Grade 5 scores (61.9% ELA, 56.7% Math) are substantially stronger than Grade 4 (29.9% ELA, 38.5% Math), so the third-grade-to-fifth-grade arc looks healthier than the fourth-grade year.
Culture
Families are clearly bought in: 97% parent-teacher trust, 95% parent-principal trust, and 93% parent satisfaction all signal a strong home-school relationship, backed by a PTA that raised $56 per student — more than double the district average. The classroom environment is calm by every measure available — 100% of teachers report feeling safe, and the school has recorded zero suspensions for three straight years. Underneath, though, teacher voices tell a harder story: just 79% rate instruction quality positively (vs 92% district-wide) and only 69% trust the principal, suggesting staff dynamics and leadership culture are ongoing questions. Chronic absenteeism at 62.7% is high and cuts across every demographic group roughly equally, which is something any family considering the school should understand.
Community
The student body is genuinely mixed — 40% Hispanic, 23% Black, 22% Asian, 13% White — and lines up reasonably well with Pelham Gardens' profile as a working- and middle-class, family-oriented neighborhood. About 15% of neighborhood households have children, and roughly a third of adults hold a bachelor's degree. The school's 68.9 economic need index (meaning most students qualify for free lunch) is higher than the surrounding census tract's median income of $90,004 and 13.1% poverty rate would suggest, which often means the school draws families from a slightly broader radius than the immediate block.
Neighborhood
Pelham Gardens is a stable, middle-income corner of the Bronx. Homes are typically valued around $646,000 and 56.5% of households are owner-occupied — a notably high rate for New York City. About a third of adults have a bachelor's degree, the poverty rate is modest for the borough at 13.1%, and 15% of households include children, pointing to a neighborhood built for families putting down roots.
The school is reachable by the 5 train — Gun Hill Road is about a 9-minute walk, Pelham Parkway about 12 minutes, and Morris Park about 20 minutes.
Academic Performance
ELA Proficiency
Students scoring proficient or above on the NY State ELA exam.
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Math Proficiency
Students scoring proficient or above on the NY State Math exam.
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Historical Trends
The dashed line marks 2023, when New York changed its grades 3–8 state tests. Scores before and after it aren’t directly comparable.
2020–2021 data unavailable due to COVID-19
Source: NYC DOE School Quality Reports
Survey Results
NYC School Survey (2025) · 226 families responded (40% rate)
Racial & Ethnic Diversity
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
PTA Fundraising
Source: DOE Local Law 171 disclosure
Discipline
NYSED Student & Educator Database (2023-24)
Economic Need & Special Populations
How to get in, step by step
Pre-K
P.S. 097 Bronx also has Pre-K classes. They're a separate application from kindergarten, made on MySchools.
Pre-K application
Applications typically open in the winter and close in the spring, with offers in late spring; the city announces exact dates each year.
Kindergarten
P.S. 097 Bronx has an attendance zone. At elementary level, in-zone students get a guaranteed seat. Every family still applies on MySchools: the application confirms the zoned seat, and ranking other schools doesn't cost you it.
Kindergarten application
- Opens
- Wed, Dec 9
- Closes
- Fri, Jan 22
- Offers
- Tue, Mar 30
The DOE’s published dates.
- 1Check that your address is inside the zone — zones change, so confirm it before you sign a lease.
- 2Apply during the kindergarten application, even with a zoned seat.
- 3Rank this school along with any others you'd take, in true preference order.
Open houses and tours
We haven’t seen open-house dates for this school yet.
From the MySchools admissions calendar, checked weekly.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Is P.S. 097 Bronx a good school?
- On Motley, P.S. 097 Bronx earns an overall rating of 48/100 — the average of the school's New York State ELA and math proficiency, grades 3–8, shown out of 100. Its state test results run below the District 11 average.
- What grades does P.S. 097 Bronx serve?
- P.S. 097 Bronx serves grades Pre-K to 5.
- How do students get into P.S. 097 Bronx?
- P.S. 097 Bronx admits by zone — children who live in its attendance zone get a guaranteed seat.
- Is P.S. 097 Bronx public, charter, or private?
- P.S. 097 Bronx is a public school in NYC Community School District 11.
- What neighborhood is P.S. 097 Bronx in?
- P.S. 097 Bronx is in Pelham Gardens, Bronx.