Paideia Classica Academy: A Re-evaluation

Earlier this year, I wrote a review of a new school in Coconut Creek called Paideia Classical Academy. Unfortunately, the school has changed greatly since the start of the new school year--and not for the better.

Apparently, the school is over-extended financially. To shore up their financial position, the school started accepting McKay scholarships. This would be fine if they accepted the money from well-behaved kids with dyslexia or other learning disabilities. Unfortunately, they have taken in kids with ADHD, anger-management problems, and some psychiatric issues. Instead of having a healthy and reasonably well-behaved student body, they now have many students with behavior problems.

The teachers are caught between the horns of a dilemma. If they are tough, their classes are under control, but some of the more sensitive kids are upset by the new situation. If they are softer, the gentler kids are less upset, but the classes are more disruptive. One  kid with Asperger's syndrome was so distressed by his teacher's yelling that he spent most of the day sitting in the office. Another was taken out of the elementary school class and placed in the middle school class, where the teacher didn't yell as much, but where the class is far less controlled.

Visitors to the school comment on how much more difficult this year's crop of students is to handle and how much worse the behavior is. One part-time teacher commented that "something is awry in this school."

The small size of the school means that gifted children are placed in the same classroom with children who have severe intellectual disabilities. Thus, children working at a high-school level share instructional time with kids reading at a second-grade level.


Yet another problem is the unreliability of the administration. A member of the board of directors agreed to teach computer coding to some of the brighter middle school students. Yet, after two or three weeks, he simply stopped showing up, with no explanation. When the teacher asked why, he replied that he didn't like the behavior of the kids. Yet, he didn't tell either the kids or the teacher that he would no longer show up. This disappointed the paying students, who had a right to expect a board member to show up.

 It also left the teacher in a bind, as she had counted on him to provide instruction and had to quickly improvise lesson plans.  He started showing up again for a few weeks, and then stopped again. Finally, after several weeks, he showed up again. Of course, the teacher had stopped planning for his arrival since he often didn't show and was caught in a bind: she had prepared lessons for the whole class but not for the half not taking computer instruction. Because the non-computer students were, for the most part, severely learning-disabled and many of them couldn't work independently, the surprised teacher resorted to reading out loud to the kids. A parent, not knowing the full story, complained to the principal about the teacher, who had in fact tried to provide quality instruction but found her attempts sabotaged by this man's  irresponsibility.
The teacher prepared backup lessons--art lessons to develop spatial skills in low-achieving students--but after the teacher spent her own money on materials, the man stopped showing up again.

A grown man on the board of directors who dislikes student behavior does not handle it by simply not showing up. He finds ways to address the misbehavior. The fact that he didn't tells you something about the management of the school.

At Paideia, kids are asked to sit silently from 8:40 to 12:00, more than 3 hours. Kids with ADHD or who come from cultures where behavior is more socially interactive find this model punitive. Some of the bolder, less disciplined ones will actually run out of the classroom to avoid such a long stretch of inactivity.

Another issue to consider is the generally sorry state of the science curriculum. Last year, science was taught 2 days per week. The last middle school teacher tried to raise that to 4 days per week, but the administration wants the balance shifted back in order to accommodate more literature.

 My family considered sending my nephew there and researched their curriculum. The major science text, the Rainbow, is a creationist work whose principle aim seems to be the building of faith rather than the exploration of nature. It contains many errors, so not only will kids not learn much, what they do learn is WRONG.  It is chock-full of religious propaganda, but contains almost nothing about photosynthesis. The book is annoyingly chatty, too. The kids I know who have been forced to use the book hate it. One wonders about their textbook selection process if such an awful book can be used for years.

On the other hand, the history curriculum is superb as is the grammar course.

Another issue that concerns me is their lack of marketing.  The school holds some sort of affair-an open house, a fall festival or something similar--nearly once a month. However, a quick perusal of their website shows that they do nothing to promote these events--often there is, at most, a two-sentence announcement; there are no photos, complete web pages with pictures of vendors, or anything visually appealing that would make you want to come.  In today's world, this is Marketing 101 and mere common sense.  This shows a basic lack of business savvy that bodes ill for the future of the school. It also exploits the vendors who paid money to set up tables there: the school took their money but other than giving them a few feet of space for a few hours did nothing to help the vendors attract customers.

I know several of the teachers there and have found a quiet but persistent dissatisfaction with the way the school treats teachers.  Teachers are paid $22,500 per year--and no benefits.  In South Florida, because housing and transportation costs are relatively high, this is not a living wage, and teachers need a second income. However, the school is cruelly insensitive to the teachers' need for time to earn that income. For example, they require teachers to show up one day on the weekend per month WITHOUT PAY to attend open houses, fall festivals, and health fairs. This cuts into their ability to earn supplementary income.

Worse yet, they asked teachers to sign a contract guaranteeing a SIXTY-DAY notice before leaving. Since no employer holds a job open for 60 days, the contract in effect prevents teachers from moving to jobs at which they might earn a living wage. Thus, teachers became indentured servants.  The principal, who gets upset when people don't stand during religious services for the censing of the chapel, sees no problem in treating employees in this most unchristian way.

Since the school seems to be having financial problems, it might be best to hold off enrolling your child--or taking a job there--while you see how it works out.

Paideia Classical Academy

Paideia Classical Academy
2370 Hammock Blvd. • Coconut Creek FL 33063
(954) 330-3561

http://www.paideiaclassical.org/

If you want the best possible education for your children and are comfortable sending them to an Eastern Orthodox Christian school, you may want to consider Paideia Classical Academy.

Paideia Academy offers the following:

• Instruction in Ancient Greek and Latin
• Saxon Math. This curriculum encourages mastery. Most of each lesson focuses on review, meaning that students will encounter a topic multiple times and practice it repeatedly. Additionally, students scoring less than an A will be asked to correct their mistakes. Few things are as useless as passing math with a D-. This ensures that students will probably get a D- in the following material as well. Paideia Classical Academy circumvents that problem. Your child with graduate from PCA truly knowing math.
• There is a heavy emphasis on organic food. Students are taught nutrition and organic gardening. They will graduate with the knowledge needed to maintain their health. They will also be more likely to have healthy children themselves.
• There is daily prayer. Students are encouraged to memorize many of the Psalms. Aside from the religious benefit, this practice also trains the memory.
• Students are taught logic in middle school.
• The school's students are well-behaved and serious about learning. Thus, your child will be in an orderly environment conducive to learning.

This school, in my view, provides the ideal education for young people. If you believe this school is for you, contact the administration at the number listed above and ask for a tour.