Manatee School for the Arts

"This school is awesome. The staff is so kind and loving, they really care for their students. But like any other school it has it flaws. The bus system needs improvement but is bearable. The prices are manageable. It has amazing electives, a wonderful assortment of music, art, digital art, physical education, languages, and dance. The have a wide range of clubs ASL, German, Manga, Film, etc. That'll look amazing on your resumé. In this school your kids can be whoever they want without judgement. This school has a wonderful, respectful community. As I said earlier there are flaws and room for improvement."

"I want to be very clear in this, originally I gave it 1 star. Which is honestly what I thought the school deserved. However most(if not all) real issues are non existent. The food. While it may be slightly overpriced. Is WAY better. The busses. Should be way better. The system needs work, and yes, is quite frankly terrible. The staff. While slightly disorganized last year, are definitely better this year, take the time and talk to them. They do a lot that you don't even know about. They're not biased in any way, because there's no way they could hold a job that way. I've had my fair share with some of the issues, but everyones had issues at every school. Theres also a ton of kids, so for parents complaining about the extra attention their kids need, the school can only do so much in classes with 20+ kids. The teachers still have to also grade papers,and spend time out of their day making sure their lesson plan can fit most if not all students so they understand. Imagine sitting for hours, every day, grading hundreds of papers, making a useable lesson, and still have time with your own family. There's no need to complain in a review if its obviously not doing anything. Contact the school. Give constructive criticism, it does more than you realize."

"Disorganized Admin staff. Rude. Disrespectful to students and parents. They refuse to listen to anyone. They have borderline corporal punishment for detention (force kids to sit in a way that is not ergonomically correct for an hour; causes him pain) Teachers are rude and have no respect for children. My son complains about being mistreated days on end. No respect for people that have any shortfalls on their learning. Son needs extra help sometimes and has to beg to get it. Teachers are always too busy. Never get a one-on-one with any of his teachers. They rarely answer emails or return calls. Make it so hard for parents to be involved or help with the child's learning."

"Really the school is pretty good. But it wastes is money on stuff it shouldn't for example the houses behind the school. we need to focus on more important matter like the food the students eat, and the technology we use in school. new instruments for the music department would be great too. the silent guitars break constently."

"I'm sorry to disagree with the original post but I went to this school for seven years and I never had a problem with it except for a few teachers, who were let go because parents were proactive and said something about them enough for the school to see the problem. I think the school had/has great things to offer, like accelerated classes, smaller academic class sizes, and the school doesn't, or at least didn't, put up with anyone who didn't take pride in the school. I never understood why I would hear kids complain about the school, you aren't FORCED to go there....go to one of the public schools if you don't like it."