Athlos Academy of Jefferson Parish

"My son has been a student at Athlos for three years. I'm doing everything I can to get him tested to go out of district to a better school. It's a sad time that us parents have to settle and be forced to send our children to poorly ran schools only in their district. The school has many issues, the main one is the staff. I've had multiple encounters with teachers who are rude, and unprofessional. I've witnessed teachers yelling Shut Up! at thier students. My son comes home and tells me the teachers scream at them all day, but act nice in front parents. At the end of each year, the school has teacher appreciation week were they ask for a certain gift from each child, each day of the week! I certainly wouldn't mind if it was earned. It's very sad that our children have to be treated this way. Its a hard enough time for our kids anyway with the pandemic, social media influence, and political division. We need better teachers who have a passion for helping and teaching. If you can avoid sending your child here, I absolutely would."

"This is one of the worst schools in Jefferson Parish. Home work is never given. Communication with the teachers is horrible!!! Staff can not control the students. My child comes home every day saying how the other students are disruptive in class. This school is train wreck."

"I have heard very ugly things about the school and staff, but I am the type of person to see for myself. I will be honest, I don't really know if I made the best school choice for my grandson. Currently, they are virtual due to damage from Hurricane Ida, and it seems to be working for my grandson who is in kindergarten. Some of the things I heard, are absolutely true, the leadership is catastrophic!"

"I have a son with Down Syndrome and we were so excited for him to start this new, public, charter school for the 18-19 school year. From day one it was a disaster. The teacher wasn’t sped certified, the student:teacher ratio was totally off, and the school did it’s best to lie about teacher certifications and utilization of the appropriate curriculum. They stopped letting parents in because the parents were seeing what was happening. I personally heard one of the sped teachers tell other students that one of their friends’ parents are the reason the child behaves the way he does. That’s not what kids need to hear about their peers. It promotes bullying. The former school board president decided to place their child in a different school, for the next year, before he himself was struck by scandal. They didn’t want their daughter to attend the school, next year, and he was the school board president! The now school principal shared information I sent in an email, with other parents, in an attempt to start drama. The level of professionalism is non existent. I put my son in St Michaels Special School and he’s learned more in 6 weeks than he learned all year at Athlos. I stopped sending my son to ESY, when he stared crying at drop off. I hired a sitter for $15 an hour because I didn’t know what was happening at school and no one would tell me. I had been informed of inappropriate behavior in the ESY classroom and my son’s para was removed from the class after speaking out against inappropriate behavior. When I reviewed the school on FB, I got a generic response suggesting I reach out to the administration. That’s a laughable suggestion . I contacted Darin Knicely, Keisha Rogers, Allison Moore, Candace Parker (gone), Ben Bourgeois (gone), Carolyn Steel, Landon Allen, Lakeysha London, and the rest of the school’s administration AND school board members. There is ZERO accountability for actions. I involved families helping families and the IEP meeting was great. The OT was great, from Therapeutic Learning Center. I wanted so badly to give the school the opportunity to prove itself, but what I saw was not only scary, it was dangerous for the students. I contacted Athlos’ Headquarters and never heard back. I was informed by my son’s providers at athlos, that they are instructed to divert and ignore parents requests. Consistency and routine are very important for kids with special needs. My son had at least 4 teachers and 3 paras, in the one year he was there. There were two sped directors, both pushed out (they were great). Ultimately, the administration developed into a group of people who are friends. I’ve heard that the bullying is out of control, but my son was spared that so I’m not sure. If education is not a priority, Athlos is your place. If learning to be well adjusted, non judgmental, and successful adults with a strong moral compass is NOT a priority for you, regarding your kids, then Athlos is a great for you. If teaching kids accountability and not lying to get out of things is a priority, then Athlos is NOT the place for your kids. I have previously not written a negative review about any school, but people need to know what’s going on there. I can only speak for my experience with the administration and sped staff. I tried VERY hard to “hang in there” and let the school figure things out. But, when I found out, at the end of the year, that one of the “sped certified” teachers was not actually certified, I was angry. We found out the teacher for the kids wasn’t sped certified at the beginning of the year, and they quickly restructured things to make their newly hired “sped certified” teacher come on to fix that. Thing is, he’s not certified either. I could go on.....It’s bad. If you’re a parent, be present. Be vigilant. Demand information and answers. If something seems off, it probably is. Don’t take the administration’s word as the truth, until you investigate."

"This school is newly built in 2018. My son attended 3rd grade and all they do is play in class. He barely gets any homework. You are able to get a retest on any test to boost up the school average score. What a joke. If you need a babysitter for your kids then Athlos is your school. If you want a proper education for your kids look else where."