342 E Hollywood Ave
Salt Lake City, UT 84115

Went here as a teen, started in 2018, I had a learning disability and severe depression and anxiety. I set a 504 plan in place and it was hardly followed. Reinstated it a few times and tried to change it and still had push back from the teachers and staff. Ultimately dropped out and moved to online schooling when I had a teacher not allow me to leave class while having a panic attack and berated me in front of the class. Despite trying to work with staff to accommodate, no issues were solved and nothing was taken as seriously as I needed it to be. Definitely not a one-off experience either as at the time several of my friends, many with more severe disabilities than I, were in the same position. A handful of the teachers I had were very helpful and encouraging or supportive but that was highly overshadowed for me as a teen by the negligence of the majority of my teachers and staff.

The teachers here are amazing! Hillside is one of the schools in the valley everyone wants to work at, so there is fierce competition for positions. I was nervous about sending my daughter because my own experience in middle school was so bad, but she has truly loved it. She is in the MELP program, and in the same set of classes as many of her peers, which helps with making friends. She has been challenged, but not over-burdened with homework. Nearly everything she has brought home has been designed to help her remember what they learned in class, and hasn't been busy-work. The community also really comes together for extra-curricular activities. I'm amazed by the outreach surrounding their theater program. (I feel that nearly 50% of the school is in the musical, and they have all had an excellent experience from the lead to the ensemble.)

We’ve submitted multiple reports regarding bullying. For a school with “zero tolerance” they seem to tolerate quite a bit. My child has been physically harmed and yet nothing has been done. Aside from placating words I don’t feel that the administration actually cares to stop bullying in their school. Trying to get a 504 or IEP is nearly impossible.

My experience at Innovations Early college isn't the best but i got to live through it. One of the best parts is the freedom we get to work at our own pace. We have our own independent study time that lets catch up if were behind. I would say that the teaching style is not what people would like. For ex in math class , were assigned patterns to do the classwork. Isn't the teacher supposed to explain the lesson. That would be much better and i bet we would also learn better. Science is great. English in also great. But history , like what's even the point of having history class without a teacher teaching. They just make us read alone and do our work alone. C'mon guys! it feels too independent, and if you fall behind it can be hard to catch up. I also wish there were more fun activities and classes, like sports or clubs, so students could connect outside of class. . Having more fun activities would help everyone connect and feel more excited about coming to school. Overall its a 3.5-4/10.