We initially came to Paideia Academy (formerly St. Louis Charter Academy) from a parochial school, hoping to give our children a good education in a diverse environment. Initially, we had very high hopes for our years here. In the past 4 years, we have become increasingly disappointed.
Bullying went on for an entire year (our son was the target). Two weeks before school ended, the teacher was removed from the classroom. He learned nothing that year, other than the school was not safe.
Communication is sorely lacking. We just found out through casual conversation with a teacher that our son has been receiving occupational therapy for the past several years. We attend every parent-teacher conference. We speak with our children's teachers regularly. Why on earth would this have never been shared?
There are no weekly bulletins or newsletters to keep parents informed. School lunch menus haven't come home since the beginning of the year...but it's not such a big deal since they never stick to it anyway.
Because MAP test scores are low, they push summer school enrollment. However, the administration isn't prepared to answer any questions about curriculum, teachers, activities, or schedule. Instead, they send out notices that children who return their enrollment forms early will be invited to a skating party.
In spite of MAP scores being low, a teacher who did not hold a Math or Science certificate was teaching those classes.
A school-sponsored camping trip seemed like a good idea...until a child is burned and there is no first aid kit and no one knows what to do (cold water? ice? gee - I don't know - let's not do anything!). So I had to meet my son and a teacher halfway between camp and St. Louis to treat his burns. The first aid supplies I sent back with him were never used on my son the rest of the trip (he should have been rebandaged at least twice), and were not returned to me for more than a month in spite of repeated requests. Given that the supervising/planning teacher supposedly has so much camping trip experience, I am puzzled as to why he was so unprepared. Needless to say, when the next overnight trip came up (Chicago), we opted to keep our child home.
There is a lack of consistency in discipline. A child can be suspended for playing in the water in the bathroom, but another child will remain in the classroom after punching another student in the eye.
Class sizes are big, more than 22 children, in spite of the promise of small class sizes. If they can fit another desk in the room, they'll add another kid. Despite what is outlined on their website (which is quite outdated), there are no foreign languages taught. The students do not participate in a yearly science fair. There is no after school care. There are no organized sports teams. There is no drama. Art is little more than semi-supervised coloring time. We have been fed a pack of promises, none of which have been delivered on.
Letters to the administration requesting answers and a return call are ignored. There is no contact information for any of the Board Members or sponsoring organization (University of Missouri - Rolla).
And most recently, gym teacher decided that appropriate discipline for a third-grade child who was misbehaving was to tape his arms to his sides with athletic tape and tape a sign to his chest saying "I will keep my hands to myself." This child was then paraded to several classrooms before being returned to his own room. The school's response? To send a letter home saying that a "teacher placed a student in an uncomfortable situation" and they are "investigating to determine if disciplinary action will be taken."
Charter schools are good in theory. Find one that's better organized and better run than Paideia. I hear Confluence Academy is a good choice.
Edited on 5/9/09:
The Director, Ms Brenda Johnson-Pruitt, is unhappy with my honesty in this review. However, she has not taken any visible actions to correct or even rebut any of the facts or opinions listed above. A new principal has been hired - Mr Brad Mora - and he seems like a nice enough guy with good ideas, but I doubt he'll get to implement much; he'll probably get frustrated soon enough and go somewhere he can actually accomplish things.
Today was just another example of the lack of leadership and effective teaching at Paideia. The middle school kids had been working on a robot for a robotics competition at Rolla (UMR). Today was the competition. Two days ago, the kids had a working robot, although it didn't include the arm/pincher thing that it needed to complete the course. Their science teacher not only blew up one of the motors trying to reprogram something he shouldn't have been messing with, but then he took it apart yesterday and promised to have it rebuilt for the competition today. (Don't even get me started on how inappropriate that was.) When we arrived in Rolla this morning, the robot was still in pieces in a box. He spent the morning working on it, while the competition was supposed to be going on. The kids were getting time docked, minute for minute, because it was supposed to be ready for the start of the competition. My son was crying. I felt so bad for him, because he had been so proud of the work they had done, and to see it in pieces just crushed him.
My dad was w/ us, and he tried to talk to both the Director and Mr Robinson, from the school board. What a joke. Robinson's too racist to listen, and Ms J-P had no idea why we felt the entire situation was all wrong. She kept telling me "We have a right", but couldn't answer "a right to what?" .....We took my son and left. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take his friends, who had no interest in staying either. (My dad and I were the only parents who went.) They were upset and embarassed and disappointed. All their work for months....for nothing. What a waste of time.
And I fail to understand why Paideia rented a charter bus with TVs and a bathroom to take kids from both campuses to this event.....when they don't have enough books for all the kids in classes and have to share between classes? Talk about priorities being out of whack.
It's such a shame. Paideia had such potential, but Johnson-Pruitt has managed to run it into the ground. Unfortunately, she's great at taking credit, but can't accept responsibility for the consequences of her actions.
