Navigator Academy of Leadership Davenport

"It’s not even the teachers it’s the administration and the front office. I withdrew my children from there and I didn’t present an ID. They sent my children to office and had me waiting for an hour just to tell me the withdrawal process takes 24 hours. When the prior day they made a huge deal about a family member picking them up. My children have been attending since they first opened and to be quiet honest the improvements in my eyes are minimal. I don’t recommend this “Academy” at all. Also the communication is horrible. They don’t answer their phone and they don’t reply to emails."

"The lunch Christina is a straight up liar. If she has a problem with you she will charge you for lunches your child never ate. I waited a very long time to post this but they have a teacher there who bullies children of and tells other students not to be their friends. So the bullying comes from the teacher and the students. This teacher was made teacher of the year when the school officials were made aware of what she was doing. Don’t put your children here!"

"School never answers the phone. Can’t get a way to communicate with the school directly. The school Facebook has disabled comment section, also on dojo. School doesn’t have a media center for the students. I have been with the school since they open and they are still lacking on many things that they were supposed to get resolved their first year. Most of their teachers are wonderful but unfortunately the school have more negativity."

"I’ll try to make this a fair but very honest review. After all, if we refuse to tell the truth issues will never get resolved. It’s a mixed bag, but the s hook leadership is very hands off and doesn’t want to assist parents in handling issues regarding staff and teachers she oversees. I was told as much in an email to me after a teacher grabbed my child and turned him inappropriately. I emailed the teacher and cc’d s school leadership on it. Their initial response was to chastise me criticizing the tone of my email, defending the teacher, and telling me to just talk to the teacher and essentially leave leadership out of it. They had no concern for my kid or the fact that his brother was the one who witnessed it and told us out of concern, they never even spoke my with kids or looked at the surveillance. They simply dismissed the incident. It wasn’t until after my second response where I said I’d go the the board of directors that they then conducted a proper investigation. Keep in mind, this wasn’t the first issue we had with this teacher, and we had already spoken to the teacher about behavioral issues and concerns we had with her. Nothing improved, so I copied leadership hoping for help. As parents, we were blown away at the complete lack of concern for the students. A simple “I apologize, I’ll look into it and get back to you” would have been great, but we didn’t even get that. If a teacher does anything wrong, you’ll either never know about it or the teacher will immediately be defended because they’re having a hard time finding and keeping teachers. Also, we were billed about $60 from the cafeteria for food my kindergartner ate, but he always brought his lunch from home. I emailed the and asked about it. The response stated they have a “non refusal” policy and they won’t refuse giving children food if they ask for it. I asked why parents were never informed or signed an approval form allowing them to bill parents for purchases their children make, and I was told that would “defeat the purpose of the non-refusal policy.” I emailed the individual again and she ignored me, but I received another bill in the mail a month later. This time I responded and cc’d leadership hoping for help help resolve the issue, but leadership never said a peep. This “non-refusal policy” is no where to be found anywhere. It’s not in the parent handbook. Parents aren’t made aware of this at all until they get a bill. Furthermore, I even quoted directly from the parent handbook showing them that the “non-refusal” policy conflicts with what’s in the handbook, and they didn’t care. They wouldn’t even listen. We aren’t the only parents who have had issues. With all that being said, our oldest never had any problems. The staff is nice overall, and I think leadership tries, but seems to dismiss any concerns from parents as just “mama bear” syndrome and blows parents off. The principal a very nice lady but our experiences have been disappointing to say the least and we wish things would have been handled much better when we expressed concerns. Also, if parents express concerns on their Facebook page because they can’t get anyone on the phone in the office when they call, they’ll take down the Facebook post. They absolutely hide any type of publicly expressed concern or criticism from other parents and the community, and I think that’s a dangerous thing. Like I said, if you really want to get better you’ll take the criticism, listen to it, and look for ways to improve. If you want to keep doing what you’re doing and have no desire to improve, you’ll hide the criticism so no one will now about it. Those are our experiences. The school isn’t terrible, but don’t expect much help if you have an issue, don’t expect your concerns to be taken into consideration, don’t expect a platform to express your concerns, and definitely be aware of any policies that you were never made aware of and that aren’t even in the handbook."