Connections AcademyReviews 623

After months of trying to get my son enrolled, I was told he would not be accepted if his grades were low. I told them at the first contact the REASON I was enrolling him was due to COVID and the "confusion" within his current school. NEVER was I made aware this semester's grade (AGAIN DUE TO COVID) would be an issue with getting him enrolled.

I'll spare the long story but will tell this... once this was made aware to me today I asked to speak to a supervisor. After the discussion, I asked her for stats on why kids enroll in Connections Academy. She told me
1. Parents with kids in sports so their schedule is more flexible
2. Kids being bullied
3... this is the big one. Kids with special needs because they "can't function in a public school setting" I had a few choice words from her coming from this mom of another child with special needs... YES some kids with special needs can't handle the socialization to make the ASSINE statement that ALL kids with special needs can't is beyond frustrating.

I then got into the discussion of his grades and was connections academy taking into consideration COVID and realizing a lot of students grades were being affected and she then stated that
"his current academy transcripts won't change because she changes schools" So basically stating my child can't be helped by changing schools/systems... I then reminded her as she did me, that the call was being recorded and told her I was thankful it was being recorded because the statements she had just made are reasons their school should NOT be operating! When I asked to speak to her supervisor I was told that her supervisor wasn't in the office... how convenient!

I highly suggest avoiding this "option" based solely on their lack of communicating information and their statements that are clearly UNTRUE! Please take your children's education seriously and not trust it to people like this!

I currently have a 6 yr old in first grade with special needs and the services this school offers is amazing. She has speech delayment and anxiety with borderline autism. This school has helped me so much with teaching me on how to help her. We started her in public preschool and they told us to delay her a year before we started her in kindergarten and I didnt accept that so I decided to look for alternative schools for her to go to. I found connections academy and from the start they were so helpful answering questions and pointing me into the right directions follow. I love the fact that they encourage parent involvement and give you ideas on what to do when something isnt working. They do not emphasis or single her out for her disability they teach her how to work with her disabilities as part of her and how to overcome them. If there is something she is struggling with we can take more time to get it and not have to rush onto the next thing. The services they offer is amazing like speech and occupational and therapy to help teach them things that they are struggling with. Such as emotional skills or social interactions. I recommend this school to alot of people with special needs parents that are struggling in regular public schools that there children are not getting the help that they need or desire.

I have a 7th and an 11th grader attending Connections Academy (Reach Cyber Charter School in PA) and we love it. I signed my children up after not being happy with our local B&M cyber option. We are very pleased with Reach Cyber Charter School. My 7th grader will be continuing Reach, even after this school year because we like it so much. We really like how many live lessons Reach offers each week, that the live lessons are highly recommended but not required, and we also love the flexibility of the schedule with Reach. We also like that they have a gifted teacher, as my son has a gifted IEP. There are definitely a few glitches happening (teachers being shifted and new teachers being hired) due to the influx in student enrollment this year but I feel that there are those types of things occurring in every school across the state and America with the pandemic.

This is our second year with Reach Cyber Charter (PA's Connections Academy School). I was a cyber school student myself back in the early 2000s and though I loved the idea of it I didn't particularly like the school I was with but did graduate from there. When I had kids of my own I knew I wanted to choose a cyber school option but wasn't sure which school. My son is a whizz at math and science and Reach is a STEM based school with tons of STEM clubs which we love. They also have a lot of great in person events (prior to covid) both school wide, and just events in your local community put together by the community coordinators. The communication has been top notch the last 2 years and all of the teachers and staff truly care about your student. Last year I was having some health problems and my son had to miss a few days of school due to me being hospitalized for surgery and all of his teachers were more than understanding and a few even called me personally not even about school but just to check up because they generally cared. All of the teachers go above and beyond to make sure your child is learning. I think the way they handled covid in the beginning last year was perfect and so far this year even with the huge influx of B&M students coming to cyber they even handled that to the best of their abilities and made adaptions when needed to make it work. Reach is a bit advanced I would say. I have 2 nephews in the same grade as my son in B&M and when I talk to their families about what my son is learning in school compared to their kids they are blown away because it is far more advanced than what their kids are learning. And I don't mind that. I think it is a good thing but if were just coming in from a public school to this I am sure it would be extremely overwhelming at first. However we started in cyber school from the start so we are used to the work load. We wouldn't change a thing about the experience. I think Reach is the perfect school for our family and we will continue to be here most likely until my kids graduate.

We really like Connections. This is our 3rd year. Some parts of online school were hard to get used to. That happens with any online school. Majority of the teachers are always helpful and eager to help. Online learning doesn't work for everyone and requires some dedication. I Think some people expect it to be easy. This program helps you stay on a schedule but have some freedom at the same time. I also know What my kids are learning. With some other reviews I feel like the Parent or Guardian or Learning Coach was expecting to be hands off. With Connections it's a group effort. Teachers and your kid and you. All 3 are needed.

I have two kid that attend this school my oldest was put on a waiting list and wasn't able to log in until 10/14 but the teachers started his lesson on the 8th so he was marked absent for thoughts two days and then they expect him to just know what all the other kids know even though they started school a whole month and some days before he did and then they so cheap they only supply them with one computer to share even in public school all the kids got there own computer and it takes all day for them to finish but they claim its better because they get to do their work when they want to its a joke

We enrolled our 6th and 7th grader for the 2020-2021 year. Customer service signing up was a huge challenge due to demand, I have close to 30 hours into a straight forward enrollment and over 6 hours of cumulative time on hold. Instruction is extremely fragmented. My online bachelors degree program was easier to navigate and locate information on. The curriculum doesn't necessarily follow the teachers instruction and students need to read the assignment in the lesson then sometimes refer to a bulletin board or email to get the final instructions which sometimes conflicts with the lesson. Students also cannot fill out lesson templates online, they need to download and save them, then attach or upload the completed version to their teacher. Sometimes they attach and sometimes upload, this depends on the teacher and leads to failed assignments because of upload or submission errors. My kids have been very discouraged these first weeks. So far the teachers have been good at getting these errors sorted out but this has taken hours of extra time. Some teachers use Microsoft products some use Google, there is no consistency and you must use your own accounts as there are no linked accounts to the school. On average I am receiving 10-12 emails per day, and the information from teachers and admin is fragmented. I spend about 2 hours a day in emails and review and we have hired a tutor to help out 5 hours day to assist them in navigating the software. There is virtually no interaction or instruction with the teachers. Most of the lessons are recorded and students cannot interact or ask questions. Communication is primarily through email which is ineffective. The platform is just a mess, it is like trying to work with Windows 95 in modern day. The supporting tech is at least 5-7 years behind the UI and integration you might expect in modern software. I strongly suggest you go elsewhere.

I really do not know where to begin with this awful school! If it is not the horrible customer service lieing to you about EVERYTHING and not knowing a damn thing about anything, they seem as if they don, t give a damn about your student at all! Where in the hell do they get these teachers from?! The enrollment process is a NIGHTMARE and then they look at your file and go home and nothing is being done at all! Although they will tell you it will be handled, it NEVER gets done and you have to continue to call and call and call and call until something may or may not happen! Really ridiculous! If you are seeking homeschooling options, if I were you, I would skip the aggravation and go somewhere else. This school does not care about students and will not care about your child and if you ever get enrolled this lifetime, your child will be ignored and mot taught a damn thing! They need to be reported to the state education department and BBB, just look at some of the many bad reviews concerning the enrollment and how the students are "not being taught". I ABSOLUTELY HATE THE FACT THAT I CHOSE THIS SCHOOL AS A HOMESCHOOLING OPTION FOR MY CHILD AND WILL BE RESEARCHING OTHER OPTIONS SOON.

When it comes to a student that is in need of Special Ed services, this is the worst school for them to attend. My son's Special Ed teacher, Ms. Brandon, was impossible to reach, whether it be voicemail, email, or text. When she did reach out she proved to be extremely disorganized. I explained multiple times that my son was placed in the wrong classes preventing from catching in reading, writing and spelling. She continued to ignore me. I reported the continuous issue to Ms. Noto, the principal, still with no success. We never did hear from the speech therapist that was appointed to my son nor do we know the therapist's name. I even informed the director of Special Ed who also ignored my concerns. My son attended that joke of a school for over a month until I couldn't take the negligence and incompetence any longer. Arizona Connections Academy is a joke and an embarrassment to this State's educational system. I'm seeking council from Arizona Center for Disability Law due to the advice from a considerable amount of people who know about the freak show that Connections Academy has put me through. It's absolutely disgusting what they did to an innocent 9 yr old little boy. They had him so stressed out and in tears.

If you are considering this school DONT WASTE YOUR TIME! They kept kicking back our paperwork to register, leaving my 9 year old in limbo with starting svhool on time! Then when I call they leave you on hold for over an hour with no one answering after you get transferred to another department for NO ONE TO ANSWER. They just kept giving us the run around! If I could give this school a negative stars I would! DONT WASTE YOUR TIME!

It is 2 business days from the start of 2020 school year for my daughter and she still isn't enrolled. I have been submitting documents for 3 months and they either state there is an issue with the document or they end up not being processed by the enrollment dept. So far, today I have been on the phone with them for 50 minutes. The rep on the phone doesn't see why she shouldn't have been enrolled yet because she says all documentation appears to be correct. So I'm being transferred for the 3rd time to someone else. It is literally 2 business days away from the start of school and no one has called me to place my daughter in her classes or help us with this. I am very worried that we will not have her enrolled by the time school starts (even though this process started 3 months ago!). If by the end of this call we have not resolved the enrollment nightmare, I will be deleting her account and trying another online school. Hopefully I will be able to enroll her in another school in 2 business days. This company has completely wasted 3 months of my time, but I feel like I might have dodged a bullet. If it's this hard to enroll her, I can't imagine the problems we will have when we start trying to download completed lessons, etc.

I registered my son during the pandemic. The teachers don't want to offer any help or answer any questions you may have. You are told you are a coach and, not the teacher, that is not true. You teach the kids, not the teacher. If you do have any questions the teachers will send you a link and that is it. They have live lessons. I have attended more than one live lesson. The live lessons are required, but taech nothing. Save yourself the time and effort and go elsewhere. I gave 1 star, but trust me the school does not even deserve the 1 star.