Red Stick Academy

"I was excited about the school at first, but the principal is not that welcoming and some teachers are very rude. Please do not send your children here."

"My. Child has been attending RSA for the last two years. This school has been a good fit for our family. We love the small class sizes. The teachers are amazing, loving and passionate about the work that they do. Our one complaint is that the science curriculum is a bit repetitive and boring ( My child's words). Thank you RSA!"

"My son and daughter went here and it was a very upsetting experience for both of them. My happy, sweet kids started becoming more and more anxious and stressed. This was supposed to be a kind, caring, project based learning school. But it turned out that it was none of those things. It is false advertising. My kids were so unhappy and even started getting in trouble. I was shocked because they had never gotten in trouble at their previous school. The principal was dismissive and extremely rude when we tried to bring up our concerns-- as were the teachers. My kids just said their teachers seemed stressed and unhappy all the time-- rarely ever smiling. It became so alarming that we (thankfully!) were able to switch them mid year. Immediately my kids were just so happy and the stress melted away. Red Stick acts like it is fun and an interesting learning environment, however it is not. They will do a few, rare fun activities here and there, but the curriculum is the exact same that EBRPSS uses, Guidebooks for ELA and state curriculum for SS. My kids found it stressful, boring, and highly repetitive. Everything that I saw of it backed up their opinion. We were told it would be project-based learning?! And yet a lot of the day was on the computer or just very boring. For science, the teacher would just tell them to get on the laptop and do modules by themselves. She couldn't take the time to open up the boxes with all the supplemental, hands-on experiments to actually make science interesting. The one day she actually did something interesting, my son was out sick. he was so disappointed. That's when he told me they just did science usually by themselves on a screen. How lazy and boring! All that this school cares about is LEAP. My son's SS teacher made him take the LEAP practice test SO MANY times that he wound up memorizing the test. 40 questions! He was beyond bored by school. If you are cool with teach to the test on steroids, then Red Stick Academy is a great school for your kids. But if you want real, engaged learning, look ANYWHERE else. Now to the disturbing social issues: They had favorites. Some kids could do or say whatever they wanted while other kids would get yelled at over minor offenses. The PE/Art teacher was horrible: sexist and treated boys terribly. The discipline was so inconsistent! A teacher's kid would go around saying things like "deez nuts" and joke about 69 and other sexual innuendos - in class. He never got in trouble! Another boy had the most disgusting hateful language- no consequences! My son repeated something that he said: "you're so gay, you'd s%$# a d*&^ for a dollar." What?! What 6th grader talks like that?! My son said that was normal talk at Red Stick. The boy openly talked about how great Hitler was (IN CLASS) but he never got in trouble. Yet my son started to get in trouble over minor things. My son literally told me 3 days after he switched, that it was the best decision and that he was finally happy again. He said that the big difference was that (at the new school) the teachers actually cared and were really nice. Also, the kids weren't going around saying and doing disturbing, immoral things like at Red Stick -- so it isn't just a middle school thing! At Red Stick several of the teachers would yell all the time. Same with my daughter. Her teacher for 3rd grade was so negative and rude. The teacher even told her kids that she thought my daughter was bad. Then they told my daughter what their mom said. Imagine your teacher openly saying you are bad!? What an inconsiderate, horrible person. The administration could not have cared less. The principal will just deny it and make it out to be like it is your fault somehow. Unless you are a privileged family that they like. But those families seem to have the kids with the worst behavior. My daughter has literally never gotten in trouble at her new school! I hope no one goes through what our kids went through. They felt very unloved at this stressful, boring school."

"This is the best school my daughter has ever attended. The staff and teachers are extremely helpful, and they go out of their way to help their students. They're definitely one of a kind in this day and age. They actually care how each student is progressing. I definitely recommend sending your child here. You won't be disappointed!"