Jacksonville Classical Academy - Jacksonville, Florida

Shemeaka Carrejo

3 out of 4 of my sons attend this school. My youngest son will be attending next year. I have no regrets about enrolling them into JXC. The faculty are amazing. Each of my sons absolutely loves their teachers and I really appreciate their standard of excellence. The school is young, and it is expanding but I really feel that the future of Jacksonville Classical Academy looks bright. I do wish that aftercare discounts would be continued for students that have multiple siblings in attendance though!

Adrian Pagàn

I was excited to send my daughter here because i love everything about the Classical Education Program. We went on the tour and everything seemed promising. We went to open house and it seemed nice as well. 2 weeks into school and i am getting told because my child cannot sit still in her chair that she needs to go back to VPK instead of staying in Kindergarten and working with her on getting her focused. I have communicated thoroughly during the tour, open house and class dojo communication about her possibly having ADHD due to my oldest having ADD. I also have ADHD. That she just may need a little more time adjusting or possible sitting closer to the teacher to keep her on task. We have been working with her at home and even suggested us sitting in her class for a day to help and see what’s going on. The day after the conference my husband picked her up she started immediately crying when seeing him. I have not sent her back since and finding a new school for her.

I will not completely give them a one start because her teacher has been great. All staff seem nice and have not had bad experiences with any of them. But i will not tolerate holding back my child after being in school for 3 weeks as a Kindergarten and us not wanting to hold her back.

I think all teachers in elementary school should be specialized in special education to see the signs and understand how to deal with students that are struggling.

Dawn R

Amazing school with incredible curriculum. The school has experienced some growing pain since it opened but they do not hesitate to make a change if something isn’t working. I give them Grace for opening up during Covid and the courage to make changes when needed. No school is prefect and no parent is perfect! We are all during our best for the future adults of this country. The new leadership team has added fun activities and they’re taking the school in the right direction. The teachers motivate scholars to learn and give them the courage to ask questions. I would highly recommend this school.

LavenderSalt

Our son attended JXC for three years. The best thing we ever did was pull him out for high school. He is a different child! No longer is he anxious or scared to go to school. At JXC the “Joy of Learning” was diminished by the daily threat of “The Reflection Room”. My son never got in trouble, but he was told that sooner or later everyone would go to the reflection room. The admins goal was to make sure every child got caught doing something wrong, like forgetting their pencil. They got rid of “The Reflection Room”, but it was too late to change our minds. We worried about what other creative ways of torture they would come up with next? College prep is not JXC’s focus. My son was purposely held back from reaching his potential. They did not allow him to take Algebra 1 “just because” and he went on to take it through FLVS and earned a 5 on the EOC. They knew he needed Algebra 1 to apply to other high school programs and they knew we were considering those options. My son is a good student and usually performs well on standardized tests. The school was struggling in this area. After the Algebra 1 ordeal we were concerned that he would be denied other academic opportunities “just because”! JXC had a good plan when it opened, but lost focus very quickly. Too many egos! Too much time wasted kissing up to politicians. Too much teacher turnover. After 4 years they still don’t realize they are the problem. Our experience with the teachers was good! But, not so much with the administration. They wanted to control everyone and everything including the parents. They do not care about the individual student. I had hopes for JXC, but they let our son down. We gave them 3 years, but every year it was worse! At his current school, my son is being prepared to succeed in college. He is in an environment that allows him to mature and become independent. I hope our experience will help other parents and teachers that may be considering JXC.

Kristi C Freeman

This school is the top of the line at making it look one way, but behind closed doors it is completely different! I am a fully certified educator, but 90% of other teachers (including the PRINCIPLE and Florida State Testing coordinator) are NOT!

I moved to this school last year to be with my sister who was first beginning her career in education. It seemed like a school who's dedication to education is striving to bring back classical ideals and train students in life skills along with some of the more classical approaches to learning like more literature, less computers, and a strong focus on reading (yeah right!). I even likes the administrators at first when they seemed to back up their teachers with students who needed a quick encouraging word or conversation with parents to help everyone get on the same page. Unfortunately that was the end of my positive experience.

Here is a quick list of some of the things we had to deal with:
-Administrators who actively tell you we are going to do everything possible to make certain families want to leave this school
-Bullying from teachers who have worked here more then 2 years (which is rare since they fire more then 70% of their staff annually for some unknown reason) and having your admin tell you the problem is actually you and not them.
-Being denied PTO time that included vacations that were previously discussed as ok and going to a friends funeral.
-A HUGE lack of curriculum guidance. One of the lead teachers would literally tell you to "make something up" or just slow down when we were trying to follow the guide. Again, no administration backing when it was mentioned.
-A tremendous lack of following the services that are state mandated such as students with gifted, esol, and other ese services. Very little pull out or small testing accommodations were given.
-Being told more then 5 times you would be returning as a teacher and how happy they were to have you and then the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL watching as over 37 people were called into the board room and told they were being fired for NO REASON! This was the second year in a row they did that too.
-Teacher Planning was used as a time to read classic novels and remind teachers constantly of rules that were super strict instead of teaching them how to be better teachers, serve students with disabilities, or even be better at teaching the curriculum. All things you get plenty of training about when employed by the public school district.
-Healthcare plan that made the employee pay $3,000 out of pocket in full before any copay option was given and then you still had to pay more then 20% of the bill for any emergency situations.

There is much more I could mention, but I hope that anyone who is considering working here or moving their child here would at least think twice. It is not just my word, but that of many others over several years that keep ringing the bell that this business is not a place to support.

Meosha Kennedy

School really deserves a 3 star. I have it a 4 star cause my child teacher has been everything and more to my daughter. So grateful of her teacher. Can’t really say much about the actual environment of the school inside. I go off what my child says. So for some substitute teachers lack in verbal correct communication with kids. Also the car lines or HORRIBLE. Cars tend to block the entrance and it stops traffic. Some need to take the driver test over to understand not to block roads while waiting in car car line. Tends to block main road traffic. Maybe but a sign there to remind adults. Other than that. My child will attend another grade here. Depending on mental and education progression, I will continue to be a JXC parent.

Della Johnson

I know teachers who were fired because they wanted to bring in more diverse books with authors that wrote about the Black experience. I have heard this first hand from those who were fired. I CANNOT AND WILL NOT support that school. At the 70th Anniversary of Brown vs Wade decision, this "school" kept being brought up.
The principal his wife are the epitome of white privilege. The lack of accountability from the teachers and staff.
Commented on their Facebook page and because they did not agree with me, I was blocked.
Put your child at LaVilla, Douglas Anderson, Paxon High, James Weldon Johnson, Staton, Ribault, Raines, Rufus E. Payne, Highlands Middle, Darnell Cookman Middle/High School.
Jacksonville Classical Academy is -10 stars. You and your. Children can be treated better elsewhere.

Erica Nagy

Our son has been at Jacksonville Classical Academy for the last 2 years and we have been extremely happy with the curriculum, staff, culture and focus on the love for learning and virtues. My son has been blessed with amazing teachers both years and has a wonderful and diverse group of friends. He truly enjoys going to school and I am amazed at the academic growth he has experiened. As a parent, I have been able to volunteer weekly on campus, be involved with the PTC and attend many of the family involvement events. The teachers & staff are truly amazing and care deeply about the kids. I applaud the focus on virtuous behavior and enforcement of age approptiate expectations to ensure a calm and safe learning environment. I also applaud the strict no cell phones turned on/present at school policy for scholars. As the school is relatively new, there have certainly been some growing pains over the years that I see referenced in past reviews. Particularly in the spring of 2023 semester there has been a boom of special events, clubs, sports, camps and extracurriculars. Carline has been a bear in the past, but is now quick and organized. Weekly email newsletters are sent full of information and events and the social media pages are updated frequently. I have always had good communication via the schools messaging app or email with teachers. I also love that the school will eventually be K-12, meaning that when our other child enters Kindergarten, we will always be at one school!