Pioneer Technology Arts Academy

Here's a honest pros and cons review of this school. Pros: Good social studies and S.T.E.A.M. Teacher, Amazing lunch lady, Playground is big, Sometimes Events. Cons: BAD Students, Not a clean school, Some teachers are usually rude, A weird teacher is sexist, No Security at all, And Don't drink the water fountain. Overall It's a bad school which is my opinion but there is to many bad things about it.

This is the second year (2022/2023) school year, my child attended all of last year and we are so glad to be back again this year. Every school has pros and cons, honestly I expected things to be a bit rough the first year. I was pleasantly surprised, the staff at PTAA are passionate about their students. My son had experiences in his learning that he would not have gotten anywhere else. My favorite part is that with this being such a new school, there is a great opportunity to create a unique community for learners and their families. I am looking forward to the seeing the great progress of this school.

Abysmal "leadership". Great concept of an educational approach with pathetic execution. A few teachers are qualified, most are not. The principle is a narcissistic and only cares about the number of students in the school, not the quality of education. Avoid this dumpster fire at all costs.

First of all, the first year (2022-2023) that we were there, it seemed great. They promised a strong STEAM curriculum and small class sizes. Then, second year, the crowding started. Large class sizes. Admin did nothing about bullying. Little communication between teachers and parents. Most teachers are not even qualified to teach their subject, or at all. Third year, two months in, I BEGGED the science/social studies to communicate with me. I had no idea what my kids were doing! All I ever heard from my kid was what movie or show they watched on Netflix. I had to hire a tutor to catch my kid up academically. Her tutor said she was stalled at the GRADE SHE ENTERED this school, three years ago. We switched to a D11 school and the difference is NIGHT AND DAY. Teachers are happy, communication is great and so far the education is stellar. I will never send my kids to a charter ever again. It's a money-making scheme only. They don't care about education.

This school has gone from bad to worse. Going on a tour, it's all an illusion that the school is full of promise... admittedly, the ideas are great, the execution is just very poor. Almost 95% of my complaints are because of admin, but there are other things too, such as: the lunch food is disgusting, the kids are unruly and disrespectful, there's is A LOT of racism, a lot of the teachers are just a parent, and not actually a teacher with a teaching degree. The principal has her favorites and treats everyone else like garbage, on top of that, she's pretty much just in the building for decoration because she doesn't actually do anything other than post pictures on Facebook. There is no curriculum, so teachers make up their own grading as they go along.

I'm writing this review in hopes that it may create some change. Nothing is without flaw. If there is one thing we can all agree on is we all want a healthy environment for our children to thrive. Overall PTAA is a notch above the average school in the area. Most of the parents are typically more involved with their children at this school which makes everything better. Teachers take lesser wages in order to teach at this school. That said, I have 3 kids that attend this school and 2 of their teachers quit mid-year. This concerned me because I know it is frowned upon to walk away during the school year and having to get to know my children's teachers (great teachers) they expressed their reason for leaving was simply because of upper management.More specifically the principal shannon and her husband Colon, head of maintenance.This conflict of interest has created a toxic work environment not only for the teachers but parents too. On 2 different occasions I've witnessed Colon yelling, yes actually raising his voice at moms. First time was over a parking spot (he illegally parks his white pickup truck on the sidewalk about 10ft from the entrance of the school and if he isn't there he parks directly in front of a fire hydrant) and the second time was over a parent addressing a safety concern that I also brought up myself. According to a staff member there has been numerous complaints made against colon but it falls on deaf ears because his wife is the principal. 2 amazing teachers left due to this dynamic and I'm not including the 7 other teachers that left either. So it seems their is a common theme here.

Front desk person is rude for no reason at all. Tried to pay a technology fee and she said "get in line" when there was no one there. Then proceeds to have an attitude the whole time. This was at orientation for kindergarten. If you have that kind of attitude maybe don't work in a career field with children. Apparently shes only been there for 8 days. If you don't know about your job just say that. Gross..