Gateway Christian Elementary School

School has been gutted of funding and community support by loss of attendance due to large presence of charter schools in area. School is not supported by district effectively to address behavioral issue, safety or special education. Teachers and staff fight hard for students here, get burnt out and then leave. If your kid has an IEP, I suggest changing zip codes, as SLPS does not have Special School District and does all their IEPs in house and support isolation of students with disabilities instead of integration. Lack of resources increases disparities among marginalized youth, students are actively going through trauma while in the building itself and there is only one counselor and one part-time Social Worker who have way too much on their plate. Probably one of the most violent places I have ever worked, and its an elementary school. School has been unable to get a PTO to form over the years, hindering their ability to involve parents and community.

My Pre k grand son was a very happy young boy After being bullied and kicked in his stomach he has definitely changed he actually hate when morning come My grand son has waited to get a iep for speech from the day school started I found out today that my grandson has been in a class of 22 students half with anxiety anger and mental illness My grandson is loving this class set up is doing more harm than any good He has never received service why is he in a class with children urinating on themselves scratching faces and kicking him in the stomach

My kid joined this school in the upper grades, only after the recent transition to charter. Overall, the experience from the student side has been positive. The upper grade classes are now larger than in the past here (+/- 20 kids) and there are lots of other new kids in our grade. The academics have been good. I don’t always feel my kid is being challenged in each subject, notably math and science, but they are very good at motivating the kids to do the work and cultivating good work habits, something that was needed in our case. And the art/music/culinary classes are among the best around, from what I’ve seen.The struggles are definitely there with regard to bullying and creating a community atmosphere among the kids. It was a surprise to us as the community part seems quite strong among the school long timers, particularly the parents, but at the student level it’s been up and down for my kid. The diversity at the school seems quite lacking. I imagine it has improved a lot since becoming a charter, but in a city where whites are 50% or less of the total population the school is surprisingly white in staff and the majority of students. It has been uncomfortable at times for my kid who is looking forward to feeling less like an outsider in cultural/racial terms at the next school.Still, the teachers have been really incredible during a time when student behavior seems much more extreme than usual with kids acting out their pandemic frustrations. Overall it’s a great school that seems to be striving to improve.Communication with families has been another thing that the school does well overall. There are emails weekly to more than weekly and updates about what’s happening in class often. I have been less impressed with the school alerting parents when there are bullying or other incidents at school - it has always come to me from my kid rather than from the staff.We are happy with our choice to have joined the school. We would recommend it to anyone who was aware of the issues above. The school asks for a lot of parental involvement, so the opportunity to influence the school’s focus is there.

We have been very happy with our decision to join the LPA community. Our son is in first grade, and we have seen him grow so much academically this year. One of the biggest things that stood out to us, and one of the main reasons we chose LPA was the overall happiness, positivity and energy we felt from all the teachers and staff. With every interaction, whether it was the moment we walked into the school on our first tour, or simply calling the school and asking the office staff a few questions, meeting our son’s new teacher, or walking the hallways during morning drop off… all staff members are kind & helpful, and genuinely passionate about teaching our children. Our son has made many new friends, and feels at home at LPA. We look forward to creating lasting relationships and memories within this wonderful school community.