1239 Kelso Pl #FH9CZP
Colorado Springs, CO 80921

Our family’s experience with Da Vinci Academy in the D20 district was deeply disappointing and honestly heartbreaking.After our son’s school choice application was accepted, my wife and I were excited about the opportunity for him to attend. Because our son has an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis, we simply reached out early to ask about support services and whether an evaluation process could begin ahead of the school year so we could properly plan for his needs.Communication from the school was extremely poor from the beginning. Emails often went unanswered, and when we finally secured a Zoom meeting with staff, the interaction felt cold and unwelcoming. Rather than discussing solutions, collaboration, or learning more about our child, the atmosphere felt dismissive and negative from the start.What happened next shocked us. Only about a week later, we received a call informing us that the school was revoking our son’s registration because they allegedly did not have the staffing to support his autism-related needs as a choice student. This decision was made without ever meeting our son in person, without conducting an evaluation, and without any meaningful attempt to understand who he is as a child.As parents, it felt like our son was judged based solely on the mention of autism rather than being treated as an individual deserving of consideration, dignity, and opportunity. We were not asking for extraordinary treatment — only to begin a conversation early and advocate responsibly for our child.The entire experience left us feeling misled, excluded, and deeply concerned about how families with special-needs children are viewed when they seek support proactively.I sincerely hope the district reevaluates how these situations are handled in the future, because no family should feel pushed away simply for asking questions about services their child may need. Autistic children are not welcome at The Da Vinci Academy.

I plan on switching to another school near my home soon. Staff assumes each student is automatically in tip top shape and brushes off those who need more support. I have two chronic medical conditions that make it so I feel physically unwell frequently and henceforth induces regular absence. Staff quite literally told me to tough it out despite the fact that doing so poses severe risk that could lead to dangerous circumstances for me such as falling and getting hurt along the way or fainting. I just last month started going to therapy and instantly got diagnosed with two mental illnesses. I can’t help but think that DCC is to blame for the worsening on my physical and mental health. Oh, and if you have any hobbies or sports you like to do that aren’t related to DCC forget it. They expect their students to do sports for the school, clubs for the school, work for the school, and absolutely nothing else. Not to mention the fact that over half of the work we’re given is busywork. Don’t count on teachers to teach; roughly 50% of my classes are self taught. All in all, DCC has some major cracks in their system that make it so if you aren’t surrounding your life around academics and have no obstacles in your way, you won’t succeed.

After some really bad experiences regarding a schools response to my daughter’s individual needs this school has been a godsend. I’ll never be able to fully express my appreciation of thier support to our entire family through some difficult times, not to mention thier support of my daughter in particular. I hope we never have to attend another school as I have a second grader up and coming here as well. This school is a shining example of the direction schools need to be looking in how to better serve our students in today’s challenging and complicated environment.