Sarasota Virtual School

This was our first year in public school and we were blown away with this school. Not only do the staff love and care for the students, the culture is incredible. The PTO is extremely involved and puts a lot of love and energy into raising money for the school and celebrating students and staff on a regular basis. The school has many events, parades, and parties that give students amazing things to look forward to. As for teachers, we have only had one so far but she was PHENOMENAL. Mrs. Baird gives 100% to her students and genuinely cares about their success. She does a great job at making the class feel like a family, holding everyone accountable to the rules, building each other up, cheering each other on, etc. She goes above and beyond and we never once felt any negative feelings about sending our son to school. He came home daily telling us about phonic rules and how to use them. He talked about how they learned how to set boundaries, be a good friend, and be a great citizen. My son also speaks very highly of Mrs. Sutherly, Officer Mark, Mrs. Achille, Mrs. Staley, Mr. Samuel, and Mr. Bill! I highly recommend this school!

its full of cheesy tucks. dont go pls

This is a really darling school physically. It depicts a stately Florida heritage with its older architecture and natural oak landscaping. I suppose if they were to repurpose this, then, it would be to sell the property, demolish the school building and cut these oaks down, therefore desecrating the concept of heritage and greening our schools.Despite enrollment, it begs the question: what is the real meaning of repurposing? Is it a Selby Garden scenario of self gain and this on behalf of community loss? I would think enrollment is only half the cost when it comes to repurposing. The other is the community, something SCSB should consider in depth The concept of repurposing should be understood in terms of both education and the environment, as well as in terms of community input.

Ashton is a terrible school, in my opinion. I felt like there was a lot of favoritism and, unfortunately, some very mean teachers. They use the “behavior loophole” to justify certain teacher behaviors and unfair treatment of students. Teachers may smile to your face, but their attitude can immediately change in the classrooms.A science teacher, whom I will not name, would say that she was “being sarcastic,” when, in reality, the teacher seemed to be targeting certain students and ridiculing them. Why would a teacher be sarcastic?If you are an average family and do not want your child to feel like just a number, I would not recommend Ashton. We had the worst experience there, and I would not recommend it to anyone.The teachers at Ashton seemed to have very few classroom management skills beyond marking a child down for behavior simply for talking. Other than that, they would send the child back to sit there for the entire year, ignore them, and not give them opportunities to participate, even when they were raising their hands. Basically isolating the student. They would also give behavior marks a week before school trips and then use those marks as a reason to prevent students from attending trips, such as the Orlando parks or other activities. Things seemed too calculated and this was year after year which made me think that this is a general culture at this school.In my opinion, if the principal is professional and genuinely involved, they are less likely to allow these kinds of things to happen and not support this behavior, or at least teachers are less likely to feel free to treat students however they want. The environment is very cliquey. If you are not part of their clique, you are basically just a number and invisible or targeted and your life will be miserable. My child wanted to stay even when I begged her to leave because she had friends there. But we definitely did not fit their socioeconomic standards. I work full-time, and I’m not involved in the PTO or a donor. My child was a straight A student, but she was targeted so much that she started doubting herself. So even if your child is not being targeted, I personally would not want my child around people who have the potential to do the things they did. They also gossip a lot about students.

Great experience overall. Really nice small school. Very nice teachers. Lots of fresh air.

I’m extremely disappointed with my experience with NewGate School.I paid a $1,000 re-enrollment fee because I was committing to sending my daughter back to NewGate based on the program and classroom structure that had been presented to us. After I paid the fee, the school significantly changed the way the classrooms would be structured, including combining students into a much larger mixed-age classroom setting. This was a major change from what I understood I was enrolling my daughter into.Because of that change, I no longer felt the school was the right fit for my daughter and made the decision to enroll her elsewhere.I understand that the school considers the $1,000 re-enrollment fee non-refundable. However, I asked them to reconsider and refund the fee because the circumstances were substantially different from what they were when I made the decision to re-enroll and paid the money. I was not simply changing my mind—I made my decision because the school changed the structure of the program after I had committed.Unfortunately, NewGate chose to enforce the non-refundable policy rather than work with us or make an exception given the circumstances.There was also confusion surrounding the enrollment/tuition paperwork and the FACTS account, which had not been fully finalized at the time.What bothers me most is not just losing the $1,000. It is the feeling that once the money was paid, there was very little willingness to consider the fact that the school itself had made a significant change that affected our decision to stay.I would encourage parents considering NewGate to ask very specific questions about classroom structure and make sure they are comfortable with exactly what they are committing to before paying a re-enrollment fee.This experience left me feeling very disappointed and, ultimately, I no longer felt comfortable continuing at the school.