Hawkins Is
Saint Augustine, FL 32080

This school has been very good until last year. Now the teachers are clueless, my child hasn't learned much of anything because the minute they start to learn something it's on to the next thing. The curriculum moves way too fast for children this age. My child has been going to school here since Kindergarten, it used to be a good school.

Some teachers at the school do not support student growth. In fact, they stifle it. My child is objectively bright, with off-the-chart FAST test scores, straight A’s in advanced and accelerated classes. There are a few teachers who are excellent: advanced science, advanced history, and advanced language arts, but then there are the lazy ones — the ones who engage with students as little as humanly possible, aiming only to meet the bare minimum requirements. An assistant principal is not there for the kids, but to advocate for lazy teachers. My kid loves to learn, but dreads going to this school because of how lazy and dismissive some teachers are.The atmosphere is demoralizing to inquisitive young, growing minds that are being crushed by apathy, bureaucracy, and laziness.

I am a student, who is on track to graduate in May with 50 total credits between high school and college. I did not enjoy my time here at all. From my experience(and others), Matanzas High functions more like a basic education facility that is geographically isolated from my city, rather than a school that supports emerging adults like a real high school. The environment is heavily divided between the standard classes and advanced programs (AICE and a few AP classes), with very little actual integration or community between them. The environment often drains me for no reason. The leadership follows an "adult-first" model. Decisions are made based on administrative convenience. They lean heavily on favoritism toward certain families and students(mainly those in the Student Government Association) who give them money, rather than what is best for all of us. Discipline is awful since they often don't hold bullies accountable for their actions. Only a few teachers here actually care for their students, or have presence in the broader community of Palm Coast outside Matanzas. For serious musicians, like myself, the band program has become a low-quality operation focused more on using students for local gigs or concerts/MPA than on actual musical education or professional growth. They do not respect the legacy of successful alumni, and they often ignore individual needs—including medical safety requirements in favor of their own schedules.Even if you encounter great teachers who want to help you learn (primarily in AICE), it is not an institution that treats you like an adult. They often ignore seniors. Ultimately, I had to prepare myself for the real world through my job at Publix and the way my family raised me; the school provided almost no support for that transition. If you are a high-achieving student, Matanzas is just a place to get your credits and leave where you never look back.