Dam West

Our time at Polten has come to an end but I have to share how amazing this school is. How wonderful all the staff are. This school is all about building. Building stong connections, community and amazing kids. I could have not asked for a better school. From the bottom of my hear thank you to the teachers, principle, vice principle, nurse Ginger, all the elective teachers you guys really made my kids experience for elementary school the best. You will be missed!

This wazwaz academy seems like its en route to even more failure, unfortunately. The school has a monthly budget deficit of at least $80,000, which has sadly opened the way for very aggressive fundraising at the expense of good quality education and teaching calibers, favoritism at the expense of fairness, and corr-u-ption at the expense of Islamic-aligned practices.

If you value your child’s emotional well-being, in my view, this is not the school to send them to. After spending four years at CVA, I finally have all three of my kids out of there, alhamdolelah, and it’s been the best decision ever, and I can see the difference. Hence, I can safely say that having someone teach my kids Quran and Arabic online (or in the Masjid) covers any advantages this school may have had over other non-Islamic schools, in my opinion. But the disadvantages of sending my kids to CVA were, unfortunately, endless, from my perspective, raising concerns over transparency, accountability, and care for children’s mental health. And, in my experience as an educator, I found the principal’s leadership to be the weakest I have encountered in a school setting.Transparency: In May 2025, we received an email from the school notifying parents that CVA’s Early Childhood Education had been placed on a 9-month probationary notice, right before CO DHS sent official letters to parents about this licensing update. The email didn't specify what happened, which was very concerning. Pulled one of my kids, who we had registered to join as a result.Accountability: From my experience, the school leadership does not value parents’ feedback or complaints. Over the past several months, for example, I requested multiple urgent meetings with the leadership to discuss emotional well-being and safety concerns regarding my kids, and all were ignored or deferred. A few years back, my child told me he saw peers engaging in inappropriate behavior in the bathroom. I tried raising this with the leadership, but I never received a response. Mental health: When a 7-year-old A-student in 2nd grade gets suspended three times in about two months, this is a source of concern for me over the school’s disciplinary approach, especially if he moved from blowing flying kisses to his teacher to feeling down and hating school. When I met with a senior staff member to discuss how the extreme disciplinary actions, in my view, were not helping, and asked if he could meet with the school counselor, I was told the school had no counselor (yet it was working on expanding buildings). Suffice it to say, the only thing that cheered my son during that phase was when I asked him if he wanted to move to another school. Only then, he beamed, and I realized my child’s mental health was compromised in this school from my perspective, and I moved him to another school.