New Harmony Science Academy - anyone attend and have feedback? (Houston: attorney, house)

[JuicePlusMom]

Hi All,

I got a direct mailer for Harmony Science Academy - Garland as I believe they target marketed to the surrounding school districts.

We attended an Open House. They have bought a church building and will be renovating over the summer for their first school year 2010 - 2011 for K - 8th adding a grade level each year.

What I have read about this charter school system all seems to be positive.
To quote them "HSA Garland is a new member of the Harmony School System and opening its doors for the 2010-2011 academic year. Harmony Schools are tuition-free, college preparatory, charter schools with an emphasis on science, mathematics, and computer technology and has 32 campuses across the state."

My son who will be in the 7th grade in the fall is very interested.

Does anyone you know people who attend one of the other HSA schools and can you give me feedback or questions I should be asking myself and my son?

Locations in Dallas, Euless, Ft. Worth, Grand Prairie, many in Houston and Austin areas as well.

Can they really throw a school together that quickly?

[pdouglas]

My son attended Harmony Science Acadmeyin Houston for the 8th grade. Excellent school with strong focus on math and science. Excellent teachers. Provided tutoring for students. Most teachers were from Turkey so the accent my be a transition. my son left in the 9th grade to attend Westbury Christian (strong athletic and academic program). Harmony doesn not have an athletic program.

[fnh]

We live very close to the Harmony School of Excellence and many of the neighborhood kids attend. Mine do not but I hear a lot about it. Many families are satisfied, several are definitely not. Happy families cite the strong emphasis on math and science plus the diversity, as well as proximity and cost (free). Unhappy families cite the lack of extracurriculars and some consider the math/science emphasis too narrowly focused. Big complaints include: constant fundraising, with money flowing out of the school to other organizations; administrators/teachers are Turkish nationals with advanced degrees who are not trained educators, often speak English poorly or with thick accent, and there is constant turnover (described as a visa mill); the touted diversity is basically Turkish; lack of pride and integrity among administration and students and lack of standard discipline policy; the schools are run by the Cosmos/Raindrop Foundation with potential ties to fundamentalist Islam. (This last cited complaint is controversial and besides, I would imagine - hope - any proselytizing in the school, of any faith, would result in the charter being revoked.)

We applied this year and were invited for an interview but we had decided to stay at our current school for now so we did not reply. I want to stress that most of the families we know are satisfied there but the few families who are not have given more detailed information about why. That is natural. :-)

Also, HSE is in a converted commercial building and just a few months before opening in 2006 they hosted an open house with broken windows and leaves blowing through the halls. But everything was fixed and freshly painted, up and running in time for school to start.

[pdouglas]

I agree. We were happy with the school but pulled our son out for high school so he could get the extracurricular athletics. I am a Christian and was involved with the campus (Brasewood location) and its true most (not all of the teachers are of Turkish descent and Muslim. However, not one time did I feel (nor my son) that the school tried to force their Muslim beliefs on us. We embraced each other differences.

[anonomyus]

I attend HSA-Euless and I think it is a great school and has a good learning environment. Not all the teachers are Turkish and they have never tried to force their Muslim beliefs on us. I would recommend going to a HSA school.

[crbcrbrgv]

I was messaged about Harmony recently, which is why I bumped the thread.

I don't recommend these schools at all, except for the highly gifted who do not fit well in regular public schools

If anyone has questions, DM me.

[Chanteuse d' Opéra]

I was a teacher at Harmony Science Academy last year, if anyone wants to know anything about the schools, PM me.

[crbcrbrgv]

Chanteuse, can I friend you? Edit: Your PM's are off fyi. I'd just do that if I could.

Boy, I'd love to talk Harmony! I have all sorts of stories from HSART.

Talk about a lawsuit waiting to happen.

[fnh]

Originally Posted by crbcrbrgv

Chanteuse, can I friend you? Edit: Your PM's are off fyi. I'd just do that if I could.

Boy, I'd love to talk Harmony! I have all sorts of stories from HSART.

Talk about a lawsuit waiting to happen.

Hey don't tease the rest of us!

[crbcrbrgv]

Originally Posted by fnh

Hey don't tease the rest of us!

A good friend of mine who used to work with me in Alief years ago taught there last year. His daughter also attended the school.

He worked the after school program. Apparently, there was a big scuffle. Observing the after school program were my friend and two Turkish women.

He got all the blame and the Turkish women got none. This is very common at these schools. His contract was not renewed, but the two Turkish women still work there.

I guess technically he was "fired" because he got unemployment, but the really crazy thing is they fought him tooth and nail on the unemployment. They could have cared less that his daughter went there (and that he had done a great job all year, according to him. His track record makes me believe him.)

After he won the unemployment fight, he apparently scared them so much with an attorney that they sent their principal back home for a 3 month hiatus.

It must be going his way, because he refuses to talk about Harmony anymore.

My guess is he got an out of court settlement.