Lawton Chiles Preparatory School

E.B: I just want to say that this school gave my daughter an opportunity when I had to find a school ASAP .  My daughter has grown and they are constantly working with her to reach her goals.  The teachers are wonderful and the staff cares about the kids.  There has been some changes but the kids are not treated like they have a disability, they get to do the same thing regular kids do.  There exhibitions are grand in my eyes and I look forward to it.  I hope they do bring the art club back because that's an awesome coping device for my child.  Art is very important to these kids to express themselves.  I'm happy my daughter is successful.

Without a doubt, this has been the best year academically and socially for my high-school aged son at LCPS. The flexible curriculum fosters creativity and encourages students to learn in a positive, friendly atmosphere.

The facilities are well-maintained with a colorful, contemporary design that allows students and teachers to write formulas, notes, and questions and answers across the walls. The kids love this! Technology is a big part of the curriculum and this naturally makes studying any subject even more fun. And, in addition to academics, the students are taught useful life skills and allowed to do job shadowing assignments in their area of interest.

Perhaps one of the best characteristics of the school is that bullying and negative behavior are totally unacceptable which makes each child feel more secure in their academic environment. For the first time ever, my son has actually enjoyed going to school over the past year. His confidence has increased tenfold and he’s enjoying an overall wonderful sense of accomplishment. We’ve already registered for the next school year!

Concerned mother: Lawton chiles prep is not the place you want to send your kid to if you want them to get a decent education. The director will promise you the world just to get you to enroll your child, but then never follows through with any of those promises. My child currently attends the school, and I can't wait until the school year is over to transfer. A lot of things aren't done right at the school, but my biggest issue is the inconsistency. The changes at the school are just plain ridiculous. The director claims these changes are in the name of being "adaptive", but when it comes down to it, they're really because she doesn't have a clue how to run a school. She is always making sudden changes which affect my child's education, switching up schedules right and left, not to mention all the staff changes that have been going on. It must say something about the school that half of the staff have left during the school year this year. New staff keep being brought in to replace the ones leaving, but nothing gets explained to us parents. One of these new additions is the new assistant principal (I'm guessing that's who she is, nothings been explained to us!) She is rude and downright offensive and makes my child and most of the other children dread going into school everyday. Between her and the director, you're looking at probably the most incompetent administration of any school in the state, if not the country. I will say one good thing about the school - the teachers really seem to care about helping the kids learn. It's just impossible for them to do that because of the terrible mismanagement and the sloppy way the school runs. Here's my advice if your school-hunting: keep looking. This school is definitely not worth your time or money.  

My son loves this school! He was bored in school until attending Lawton Chiles in 7th grade. He was not challenged at all. He helped the teacher teach the students. He has been challenged in this school since day 1! He loves coming to school. The classes are a multi-age setting which I love. The projects are relevant to class work and not just busy-work as in previous schools. He is allowed to go at his own pace so he is not bored. He is learning all the "core" classes plus Spanish, programming and more! A PTA was just initiated!  I love volunteering for the field trips!  The kids are a great bunch!

Caution, Caution, Caution. I can't stress this enough. This school promises things and does not deliver. They are very good at selling the school using plenty of hype. They put on student exhibitions that look good on the outside but in reality students' involvement in these projects are minimum at best. These exhibitions are all show with no real substance. They are selective in the treatment of their students/parents and have no problem humiliating students/parents if they disagree with the executive director and the administration. They group students in different levels and ages in the same classes with little attention to their real needs. The school has no set curriculum, it is made up as the school year goes. As a result, the students' education is weak and does not align with any other school if you ever want to leave. There is also a big discipline issue and bad use of the internet but the school has no set policy to deal with this problem. The teachers want to do a good job but the lack of communication between them and the administration and poor leadership makes it impossible for them to do a good job. Good teachers and staff end up leaving. We withdrew our son.

Fed Up Parent: I would not believe all the hype and promotional stuff they do to look good. They should be a marketing company not a school. All the teachers drive nice cars and they spend a lot on promotional stuff. But, all the students are taught on the cheap.  They rely heavily on free google apps and docs
and such. For a technolidgy oriented school their wireless rarley works.  Once you get inside you will find out they are just average. Some of the staff are rarely there. Mainly the Directors.  Some staff are not good good at working with children with disabilities. You will also find they are
very selective on students. These are the ones you see at the shows.  Others are washed out or reduced to 1/2 days.  The main concern of the directors and some staff are their own children who attend at no tuition and having only the cream of the crop for students. It is full of Prima Donna's & Nepotism. If your child has a problem with one of these children it coud end up being a long year. Bullying is allowed for these select indivuals.   If I knew this info from the beggining I would not of enrolled my child here. Big mistake.  For 16K a year you could do much better for your child.

Beware, School has a very vague and wide ranging discipline and operating polocies and procedure.  It is not affiliated with any groups or agencies that can regulate them . Even McKAy does not have much governance over them. This gives them free reign to do wahtever they like to your child. I would not trust them. You will be taking an extreme leap of faith if you decide to entrolling.  

EF: School does not have enough knowledge of working with Autistic students.  
One of their policies is to place student on 3 hours a day for month or years and remove them from any other activities in the school if they do not know how to handle a situation. Part time home schooling and social skills training fall on the parents. Most of these kids suffer from self esteem issues. This is a not a good policy and does not help the student.  Any behavior specialist will tell you this.

The 3 hours a day can take months or years as per their staff.  It up to their discretion.  While this is taking place they require full tuition and McKay payments.  According to McKay they do not pay on a schedule like this.  You could lose your McKay and have to enroll back into public school for one year to qualify again.

Read the below carefully it is very important.

This practice is not something that will be disclosed on enrollment.  They are very good sales people with their image and teaching style.  They do have a life skills coach on hand who may give you a great presentation. Unfortunately your student may never see this person.  

 If your child has borderline social skills your taking a big gamble here. They do not have the skills or temperament.  You may find your self stuck.

Some other school to look at are

Paragon, very good in working with social skills.

Pace Brantley, more education oriented but are very familiar with Aspergers