Veritas Laboratory Academy

I use to attend this school in the early 2000s. I was held back for my behavior and education. Now that I'm grown and have children myself i see where Fieler dropped the ball. Fieler can not handle children with a disability instead they will hold your child back. The school does not have the resources for children that suffer from behavioral issues. They definitely will suspend your child with no type of plan. They do not give children IEPs or anything. I would not recommend Merrillville School District to anyone.

I was a student at Ambassador Academy and I enjoyed the school, and was taught a grade level ahead then what was needed. The teacher are wonderful as well as the staff. Ambassador Academy now has a 2 and 3 year old day care and from there goes up to 8th grade. I do recommend the school.

In February, our daughter sustained a head injury on campus: a pencil-tip puncture wound. Staff judged it minor. We learned of the injury when we picked her up at the end of the day. When we took her to a clinic, a clinician had to perform a deeper inspection and cleaning of the wound to ensure no foreign material remained inside, and then close it with Steri-Strips. We asked for a written standard operating procedure for injury and illness response.We were told the administrator was developing that policy with the Board and that it would follow shortly. The handbook did not arrive until May 27 with no injury-response procedure at all. The school does not appear to be building well-rounded, actionable policies and then holding itself and its staff to them. It appears to be improvising - putting out whatever is in front of it and seeing what sticks - with no mechanism to follow through on commitments or to hold anyone accountable when they are not met. That is not an oversight but absence of a process. On June 18th I arrived to pick up my daughter early only to find that the only CPR certified personnel was not in the building. The attending personnel were not made aware of where he went and were concerned for the safety of the children because they would not be able to render aide. The Board's own follow-up acknowledged a communication gap. We want to be clear: a gap in knowing "who is certified and who is responsible for these children right now" is not a minor communication issue. It is a safety failure. Essential operating tools such as toilet paper and paper towels were made aware at the beginning of the summer program where the admin was made aware of repeatedly and failed to follow through. In a recent conversation with a member of the Board, the explanation for the school's problems was that parents have not stepped up to volunteer or serve, that some parents have not paid tuition, and that staff have not implemented the administrator's policies and are withholding information from him. We were also told the administrator created opportunities for staff to raise concerns - while staff describe those opportunities as not having occurred as described. And the administrator's absence on June 18 was explained three separate times, including in writing, as a trip to deposit a check, with the framing that he is now "being scrutinized for leaving." June 24th we emailed the board of our concerns, they have yet to follow up with their investigation.