Cleveland School of the Arts - Cleveland, Ohio

Angel C.

I am a graduate of Cleveland School of the Arts, 3.6 GPA, 4 seals, Impact! and ArtWorks programs completed, and now in progress for a BFA at the Cleveland Institute of Art. I cannot recommend anyone else to go down the path I did in good conscience.

The admin and district has done everything in its power to stamp passion and desire to create out of its students despite their efforts and despite staffs efforts. There is a very cookie-cutter view on what success means for this school from the admin and the district, so is that its number on an overall school ranking directly correlates to quality of the school, which wouldn't be the case if it were purely an academic school, let alone the fact that it is poised as the premier art school in the Cleveland area. A list of just some of the things that has been implemented or rather revoked over the 4 years I'd been here

-A.I.R.'s mainly affiliated with the digital and cartooning areas of the Visual Art department being mismanaged and at worst flat out unpaid and strung along for work along long periods of time, causing notable figures affiliated with CIA and other prestigious institutions to have to depart or overhaul practices
-Severely underfunded technology and I.T. departments handing out laptops with outdated Windows OS's installed, others being Chromebooks with highly limited power, with varying degrees of damage on displays, charging ports, and WiFi chips. Desktops being unable to even open and run Edge or Chrome on base settings. A larger issue since I've graduated with the crackdown on phones and student devices from home.
-Clear favoritism and funding allocated towards performing arts departments formerly, now only Dance as Theater has lacked clear, concise direction since Doc's passing. Choir students also heavily favored within those parameters.
-Social Media presence and presentation preferred over the betterment of the school itself, including the use of A.I. Generated art, and mismanagement regarding concrete policy change, especially now that in current year, the posts with A.I. are still up on the official Instagram page.
-Lack of care and consideration of the mental wellbeing of students by admin, preferring a rule of law approach completely absent in CSA's long history of freeform, artistic curriculum and discipline approaches
-Stamps down students for going about basic, reasonable change "incorrectly" rather than confronting the issue at hand
-Massive issues with Admin mismanaging staff schedules, making it hard to plan anything with decent time, failing to file for overnight contracts, etc.
-Barreling down on teachers facilitating discussion of student body frustration within school hours
-Painting over many murals for a cleaner school look for higher approval among district higher-ups

The list goes on. I truly feel for the amazing staff like Ms. Quinn, Mrs. Bortz, Noah David, the Porters, Ms. Brickner, and everyone else within the staff keeping the sinking ship sailing. Those individuals and only them have brought me to the place I am as an artist, not the uncaring Admin or the egregious district policies peddled to kick this schools legacy while it's down. If you're interested in flourishing as an artist, I can't say this school is your best choice by a long shot.

Xicked

This review is a school year old, but serves its relevance, and Im willing to update how the school is doing by edits.
Sophomore here. I have been in CSA since freshmen and to that I say, this school gotten worse in a span of a school year. Freshmen year was great in comparison to this year. The new administration changed everything that made CSA a unique school (The only thing that is unique are the students and the great diversity) and speaking of, thats where most of the problems lie. There have been reports of unfairness and lack of communication as well (usually say events last minute or none at all etc). I hope CSA steps up next year, it hurts to have a ill thoughts about a school I was happy to go to everyday.

There are many of us who think the same. If you happen to find this review, I encourage you to speak up about your ill feelings too. Many of our feelings toward the school feel dismissed (Ex: mental health not being a concern and taken seriously is something I hear mutiple times) and rather not share them at times because the staff makes us uncomfortable (more so the admins), but this is one step further to possible improvement. If nothing happens, theres atleast awareness.

Edit 01/30/24: Hey people! Now a junior in the school, and Im satisfied that there are parents AND students speaking up about these issues more than I expect because the review page werent getting touched, and that concerned me. I read all of them, and I couldnt agree more. I just wanted to update and say that NEAR nothing improved and its unfortunate. These issues more so arrive because of the careless admin and me and other students, parents, alumni, and other people I wont just put under the bus, feel like they are using us for money and their only focus is to be the top school, praise performing arts and leave the other majors out, and nothing else. If not this, they are not satisfied on what CSA has became. Most of the admin truly do not show care for the students and benefit of the doubt, if they did, the favoritism and mistreatment of students is OFF the charts. Really just a lack of professionalism here.

Edit 10/6/24: I almost forgot to check back on this, senior now though so this is the final edit Im making, and I can confidenty say that I will be keeping my rating the same. Little have improved and it disappoints me greatly. The unprofessionalism comes down to admin to even the lunch ladies (being rude and straight up act like children themselves, no one gives them a reality check.) And the favoritism is still apparent. (For example, a very popular kid in the school ran and won for president by cheating. Instead of disqualifying or doing a revote, they still let him be president. I doubt if someone was a nobody in the school, they would've reacted different. Either way, that's not how it's supposed to go no matter the student. )
I wont write very much else because i'll be repeating myself, but Im saddened my last year isnt going to be better than the last 2.

ilyniyahily

Honestly, you'd expect so much from a school that seems to be so open-minded and helpful towards their students, but it's quite the opposite. My brother, a senior, is in his last 3 months of school and is having massive issues THAT NO ONE will listen and help him with. He's constantly talking to the administrators, addressing the fact that other students are harassing him! For reference, my brother has been attending CSA for four years now and has had no previous issues up until recently.

They say they need proof, they say they need more than "he-say, she-say" but when he's coming to you, OVER and OVER during his LAST MONTHS asking for a solution, a work around, anyway he can continue to work and do his stuff in peace, you do NOTHING. He's a SENIOR, he has EVERYTHING to lose! What sense does it make that he would be lying? Let's be reasonable here. And from what I've seen from previous reviews, he isn't the only child dealing with bullying and harassment. Faculty call parents, talk a big game, but when someone shows up it's time to sweat and make things up!

My brother deserves better. These students as a whole deserve better and something NEEDS to be done because the entirety of this is ridiculous. Mr. Smith, specifically needs to lose his job, because he obviously doesn't care about the students. He's there to pick up a paycheck and sit in his office and do nothing. They have cameras for a reason, yet they act like pulling them up to view the authenticity on a student's claims is too much. When will proper action be taken? When will the education of our children mean ANYTHING to these institutions we drive our hard earned money into? CSA is no place for your child. Unless you want them to be ignored and ostracize for voicing their problems unless their a teacher/faculty members favorite.

The board of education needs to investigate this school, run through and fire who needs to be fired! Give us real teachers, counselors, and administrators who care about our students! I wouldn't blame anyone who withdraws their child from here because it's filled with nothing but corrupt and heartless individuals who could couldn't care less if a child dropped dead as long as they get paid.

Leslie H.

My Grandson told me that one of the school administrators was bullying him. His Name is Mr. Smith. This is a horrible school and please don't let your kids go here. They really don't care about the kids here. Mr Smith, SHAME ON YOU. SO DISGUSTING!! TRULY DISGUSTING AND NO ONE DOES ANYTHING. BUT THE DEVIL IS A LIAR AND YOU SHALL REAP WHAT YOU SOW. God sees you. Truly Horrible staff and Administration😠😡👿😈 ON a scale from 1 to 10 a Minus 10. As educators of our children they need to DO BETTER!! NO ONE WOULD PUT THEIR CHILDREN IN THE HANDS OF BULLIES!! SO Disappointed and Truly Ashamed of this school. CMSD DO BETTER. OUR CHILDREN DEPEND ON ADULTS TO KNOW BETTER! And have their Best Interests at heart. Really...And as for B. Smith YOU ARE A COWARD AND A MAN CHILD. SMH.👶. And should be FIRED.

Thelma H.

My granddaughter goes here. This is her first year. The children's are bullies, Look down on others, Teachers talk about student . Favoritism , no protection, no good teaching methods they kick you out first time grades are low not offering help.

minji M.

I love this place great people they were really friendly the only reason I’m giving it a 3 is because they never contacted me about my audition status

Ashley L.

This is my daughter’s freshman year.
I thought this school would be a great opportunity for her visual arts major but it’s nothing like I expected it to be. You can barely reach anyone at the front office.

I was hesitant because this is her first year going to a Cleveland public school, so I assumed it would be different since it’s a
art school but I was wrong. She will not be returning next year.

Jayla B.

I’m in 8th grade thinking about coming to this school it seems like a really interesting and cool school I hope I can come for a tour eventually but I’m gonna be honest my grades haven’t been the best because my mind wasn’t entirely focused on school. And I regret that but I’m putting my full time and effort into bringing my grades up. And I wanna know if it would be possible to get accepted in if my grades are good please let me know.