Nameless

I am trying to be as fair as I can about this school. Learning: You will be taught something in your class and then take a standarized test in which your child will not recognize what is being taught in it because it was taught differently or not in all in school. Then, they will take the standarized test to determine if you are allowed to come back. I've seen a situation when the teacher said everything was going well but the standarized test said they were struggling and told not to come back the last week. So, this gave them no chance to intervene. The cirriculum is often different than other classical schools and thus, if you try to transfer, it is more difficult to do so. The math curriculum at the elementary level is slow paced compared to other classical schools (only learning how to do some double digit addition at the last weeks of school at 1st grade). But then I hear they drown the high school students in homework. Maybe they aren't prepared for it?Teaching: I met some great teachers here but none are really appreciated by the administration anyways. If a great teacher asks for a raise? No. If a faculty wants fairness if their child is buliied. No. These are real life examples I have heard of. Good teachers are always leaving. Social support: I have went to another school in which the faculty and parents are so much more supportive. I used to have a supportive dean but she left due to a disagreement with the other administration. The supportive attitude or lack thereof, trickles down. SPecial Education: this is a private school so there is none. If your child is a bit difficult to teach, they will be asked not to come back so do not consider it. Safety: While I was there, a child threated to bring a gun to school but oh, he wasn't expelled until the other parents starting to pull their kids out of the class. Surprise, all the siblings of that family were friends of one of the heads of school. There was another incident some years back but instead of calling the police, a police friend was called so not to scare people. I knew of someone physically bullied but was told it wasn't bad because the bully was a girl and the victim was a boy. Family engagement: there are many events but none of these parents really care about you after you leave. There is no reach out at all from any adminstrators as well. There are some good teachers but they aren't there long. The education isn't even well matched to other classical schools.

I was a student at Harbor Leadership Academy for 6 years. I graduated back in 2018. That school and the people there basically saved my life. I was diagnosed with autism at age 13. And I didn’t know how to control that or how to live with it. The people there showed me how to do both of those things. They have systems that made going to school there fun. If not for all that I might not be here right now. I’d be nothing if it wasn’t for this special school and their amazing staff. Thank you Harbor for your love and support.