Overall, SMSS is a good, safe school with caring teachers. As a plus, it has City Island's only academically-based (non-daycare) pre-K program, which is full day (8:15 am to 3:00 pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and most Fridays; 8:15 am to 1:00 pm on Wednesdays) and helps to prepare young children for kindergarten. As a minus, its school calendar is noticeably shorter than area public schools' (by our count, approximately 176 instructional days with 37 vacation days versus approximately 185 instructional days with 25 vacation days). The parochial school calendar is even more abbreviated when instructional hours are tallied, since St. Mary's students are released two hours early every Wednesday (when some public school students attend SMSS to receive their weekly religious education) and three-and-a-half hours early on the first Friday of every month (when St. Mary's students attend morning mass and then are dismissed). In addition, the children are often released two hours early on field-trip days, which causes a scheduling and childcare dilemma for parents with rigid work hours and not much time off. On a positive note, the students in the pre-K program are racially and socioeconomically diverse; sadly, this welcomed diversity nearly disappears in subsequent grades, as most of the City Island residents switch to the nearby P.S. 175 (overcrowded but free and highly regarded) for kindergarten. Overall, we feel SMSS is a good choice for pre-K. It is also a good choice for later grades for families who have reliable and flexible childcare and who do not have the option of sending their children to P.S. 175.

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