Discovery High School

"Deplorable Administration!!!! I implore anyone with a current student or considering sending their student to Discovery High School to heed all the warnings noted in these reviews. These reviews are an accurate representation of this despicable facility. The place does not even deserve the title of "School". You will note a common theme throughout the reviews. Horrible Administration! The administrators, guidance counselor, and director of this school are the worst people I have ever encountered as a parent. Their extreme lack of respect and caring for both students and their parents is appalling. They have no business running a school or even having contact with our teenagers who have such young, impressionable, emotional minds. None of the administration has ever run a high school or has any experience with high school students and it shows in every action they take. This is only one example, but it is extreme and disgusting. Our student was bullied by a supposed friend at the school who advised them over and over that she would shoot up the school and she would be first. This was reported to guidance in 2017. Nothing was done. No report or anything. It continued this year and while the students were being advised to "See something, Say something" our student did exactly that. She reported again. The administration took it upon themselves to belittle her, call her a liar, and advise her she was reporting this for her own gain. You have got to be kidding me!!! Administrators that are supposed to be protecting our students instead caused our student to develop fear and mistrust for the very people she once respected. She was a strong supporter of Discovery, probably one of their strongest, but to save themselves further issues with their already D rated, failing joke of a school they chose to tear down, belittle, and berate a teenage student who they had given the Integrity award to every year while at their schools. Now that's great, well educated, professional handling by school administrators. I could go on and on about the disgusting things I have seen done by these administrators to all their students, but I think the other reviews speak for themselves. At one time I would have taken a cursory glance at some of these students' reviews and thought nothing of them. Now that I have seen the exact behavior and treatment that they are describing I can tell you I completely agree. Please keep your students away from this abhorrent institution!!! As a side note-This school also has a rampant cheating problem that they refuse to address. The comments about lack of classes, especially for the high academic achievers who are looking for more challenging classes, are absolutely true, too. They offer absolutely nothing worthwhile."

"When I attended this school at the beginning of my freshman year I have had many high expectations of the school. That all changed dramatically. We had to waste a class period for a class called “focus” instead of using it for a more instructional purpose. That class period I was forced to waste almost cost me and important credit I needed until I transferred high schools. At the time the school had no sports teams and was only approved by the county to do a boys basketball team. Since this was the case my boyfriend tried to play soccer for our zoned school. The school was upset by this and made a boys soccer team just to stop him from going and playing there. All he asked them for was a report card to show the school his grades and show them that he could play. But the guidance counselor and one of the assistant principals told him no. He still went and played regardless and DHS got into a little bit of trouble. The few weeks following up to mine and my boyfriends transfer was complete hell. We were accused of horrible things by the executive director like having sex in a classroom and forced a teacher to go along with it yet a referral was never written and neither of our parents were called. Everything him and I did was under a microscope. If we hugged we got yelled at. If we were caught sitting next to each other in a class we have administrators would go to the teacher and force us to move away from each other. Bottom line is during school hours we both had limited communication and anytime we were caught with each other we ALWAYS got accused of something we didn’t do. Whether you believe me or not is up to you but save your time and money on this worthless school. They make a zoned school look like heaven. Ever since I have transferred to my current school I have been treated with respect and like my opinion matters. They treat their students like children and reward them for dumb things instead of hard work. Send your child to a zoned school and show them what the real world is like because I can guarantee you this school won’t show you."

"The school looks nice and new. Shows excellent potential for good education. But that is just outward appearance. Read students review. They know best what the school is like. Most of them say the school doesn't know how to handle parents and prospective teachers. The staff team do not have professional etiquette. They will not inform or contact you about any news regarding you. They will only contact you if it serves their interest. Very selfish and unethical. I recently got into a phone conversation with the Executive Director and was cut off by her. I was just asking a question and then she hung up, mid conversation. So you can only judge for yourself if that is a good school. Excellent school ground and education. But I hope you think about how bad professional etiquette teachers are teaching your kids. What would that say to students trying to learn to be good responsible adults?"

"**UPDATED SEE BELOW** This school is determined to drive itself into ruin. The administration has their priorities backwards and refuses to admit that they have no clue how to run a high school. They will not listen to their teachers or students when they give criticism. They focus more on things like how to prevent the students from physical contact rather than the blatant bullying and disrespect that happens at this school. With no discipline system, the administration pretends they have everything under control, ignoring the fact that at least four teachers have quit due to the inability to teach their students because of the lack of discipline. They focus on things like a "Focus" class to waste students electives and maintaining the strict no backpack policy instead of the lack of electives and extracurriculars, no classes for students passed Algebra II, and lack of any discipline system whatsoever. Honestly! No discipline! If a student is late, they go to the office and get a pass to class with no question! There is no punishment! All the while, the administration does whatever they can to seem intimidating and make students uncomfortable when they walk by. This school has potential, but if the administration keep going down the path they are going, it will inevitably fail. UPDATE: Since I have written this review, many things have changed at Discovery High School. Administration has become more lenient in some areas and more strict in others. While they still do struggle disciplining students, they now offer more classes for students and have, for the most part, their feet on the ground. Another student who reviewed claimed that Advanced Placement would be mostly directed towards incoming freshmen. This is not true. Upperclassmen are being offered more Advanced Placement classes than freshmen are for the 2017-2018 school year. The person who wrote that review seems to have good intentions but are misinforming people who genuinely want to know about the school. While the school does still have problems it needs to address (bullying, discipline, organization) it seems to be gradually better not just for the students but the staff as well. Come August, there will be new administration thankfully. Though I will not name anyone, some members of the administrative staff would be better suited at the middle school rather than at the high school. There still aren't very many extracurricular activities or opportunities for community service hours, but once there is a structure set up for clubs and teams, the responsibility will fall on the students to develop that aspect of the school. As I have stated previously, the school does have potential and it seems now, with the changes that are being made, that it has changed course and is heading in a better direction. Perhaps that as time goes on, it will be a school worth being proud of."

"Good school, better then the zoned school our son was zoned for. However I wish the school would inform parents better of what is going on, update their website and the parent portal. I realize in high school you are preparing them for the real world, but some children need a little extra guidance. This is the first year and they did pretty good . I can only hope for better next year."