Clay Charter Academy

My son is very happy at this school as are we as parents. They offer so many choices for classes and really engage the students. All his teachers are very friendly, and supportive. We are very happy with this High School, they made the transition very easy!

Definitely seems they treat certain kids differently. My son got hit and kicked on the bus and nothing was done to the student who is white. My black son gets caught play wrestling with another student at recess and gets suspended. Definitely a double standard. Was told any hitting or fighting is automatic suspension. So why wasn't the white kid suspended for kicking my son in the back.

Ever since the new principal took over it’s gone downhill. He’s dismissive, socially unaware/awkward, and is money hungry. Sure, running a private school isn’t cheap or free but on top of tuition there’s many, many, many other extras added on and strange things that have occurred. For example, he’s maxed out class sizes with lots of classes having up to 24 kids. This includes kindergarten! That is INSANE and that’s not even allowed in Florida public schools. I think teachers are very overwhelmed here. There’s been many teachers leaving and that’s never a good sign. I feel bad for the teachers, I really do. They’re trying to max out every single grade. They’re constantly asking for donations/money for things that we’ve seen no work being put into. They’ve been collecting money for a cafeteria. Where’s it at? They BEG parents every year to fill out the title one sheet to give “our students more opportunities”. Where are those opportunities at?? We have 1 guidance counselor for the entire school and that just started THIS YEAR! Where’s the rest of that funding going? Where did it go in the previous years when we didn’t even have the 1 guidance counselor? Sure seems odd. The funding goes to the school but our kids don’t actually see any of it so are we really helping our kids out by filling that out? No! They’re getting even more money and none of that is being put back into the kids. Anything nice done for parents (the parents that spend their money to have their kids go here) isn’t even paid for by the school. They want donuts for grandparents day? They ask PARENTS to provide them. They want teachers to have a sweet treat? They ask PARENTS to provide it. They hand out some random treat once a year in the car line to parents? Those have been donated by PARENTS to the school too!! Everything is about money and each year it’s becoming more and more. Throughout the year they do many donations for charities (which is great! We support them)! However, I can’t help but wonder if this is just another quick scheme for them to get a tax break. So sad. There’s also barely any after school programs for kids unless they’re in 5th grade or higher. They recently added a dance class for girls under 5th grade because the principal has 2 daughters that can benefit from that. But nothing for boys under 5th. How strange! My daughter and son won’t be returning to this school. For the price we pay I don’t believe they’re getting a good education or experience. Very disappointed.