Many staff at the Academy of Advanced Learning are recent transplants to Colorado such as the new principal, Kristen King. Unfortunately, she and some Caucasian staff (not all) brought unpleasant mentalities to our once pleasant state. The Academy made a terrible decision to make Kristen King the principal. She has an atrocious personality and is the worst principal that I have encountered. She is not professional, and she sets a terrible example for the overall school that is not racially diverse. There is not one African-American-female teacher among the staff at three schools under their name. However, there are many African-American students who attend the Academy. Therefore, it is a great disservice not to hire African-American staff who are in leadership roles where there are African-American students.

This place is absolutely horrible. My friends daughter has been constantly bullied and they make her the problem. i honest feel that this school should be shut down. sure hell invite parents to come but then people wont be acting how they act when parents arent around.Not only that they cant even allow students some kind of freedom, these kids are way more stressed then they need to be and thats sad. Honestly this school, place, prison, whatever you call it needs to be shut down. and i bet the people who dont have problems probably have theyre children being threatened. but i m sure they will only suspend the person who does the threatening for a day. This place needs an extreme makeover, especially for the referrals.Now that is just entirely dumb. like they are just kids and i understand they are setting them up for stronger work, but there is a better way to do that.

I send my kids here one is in 8th, and she has told me that her teachers are so disrespectful, according to her, her teachers dont help her AT ALL whenever she asks for help and they tend to ignore her, i have now removed my kids from this school and moved them to a better one.

The school and staff is a joke. They really dont care about the kids. My kids would come home and address being bullied and after addressing this to the staff there, it seemed like nothing was done about it because my kids would still come home telling me that theyre still being constantly bullied. Of course the staff there isnt going to care about this issue, they use the I dont get paid enough excuse. Its not about pay its about student safety and mental well being. Terrible management.

This place went through my neighborhood and put flyers on all the cars, this only equals more trash for your surroundings. Also it seems like this school doesn’t actually have all that great reviews anyway...

I love this school. What I like about this school is the teachers are nice and treat students equally I have two sons one is in fourth and one is in fifth I moved them here 2 years ago. The school teach them very effectively. My kids were at grade level before but now they are way above grade level. I thank the school very much.

This school is a complete joke and everything is fake. When news people or investors walk through, everything is staged to look as if its fine. If students dont cooperate with this staging, theyre punished. Also, parents are misled and told lies. The teachers are rude and admin isnt any better. Id give zero stars if I could.

It is a really Good school and

Look on conference if you do good stuff the teachers lie to your parents and say you did something bad and if your bad same but if your smart the teachers like you and lie the you bin good if you do something bad she say to your parents she has or he has bin doing good and i never get good grades cus the teachers dont help

Ive had my fare share of issues but overall, I love this school. It is their first year and they definitely have some work to do but I dont mind being patient and waiting on them to get it together. My son didnt like it at first advising they are too strict, however I explained they have to be due to the type of school this is and he will be thankful in the long run. He now comes home with a smile on his face which is what I like to see. He will definitely be there next year! Mrs Carney is AMAZING! I am grateful to be able to put my son in a descent school, not stress about after care, and it is close to my job :)

I recently had to pull my son out of this school. Major concerns about so many things! The principal can only be compared to Hilter. No security at this school whatsoever. Sign in and sign out for the safety of the kids is a joke! No IDs are EVER checked. No school counselors or checks and balances system at all. My son was one step away from being “expelled” over pure and downright lies. I moved him schools and within the first week at the school I got calls and emails saying how wonderful respectful and amazing my son is and asked to be a teachers assistant for his new language arts teacher! This only proved to me that my son was in a terrible environment. I was appalled at the unprofessional and raciest actions towards my son from this principle. I will be contacting the board of education!!!

My two boys were at least a full grade behind. The Academy has caught them up to grade level and beyond. Great place for learning learning learning. Do not cheat your child out of the great educators and education plan they have going on here. Get your child here!!!

I contacted this school last week asking to see it was a good school for my children. We revived an e-mail stating there was a program going on at the same time. We called in and where told that we where still to come out. When we arrived we encountered a respectful principal who informed us he was not able to. Im not looking for a school that cant communicate correctly. Looking for another school for my students.

If it sounds too good to be true , it usually is. Free daycare sounds good but the teachers have no patience. Not to mention they use a testing system that no other school district in the state has heard about...hmm

My son was using the bathroom and an older boy kicked in the stall door and recorded my son as he stuggled to pull up his pants and close the door. My child was mortified and scared.I called the school every day and went up twice to talk to the principal. It took the principal a week to talk to my child and when she did she never even asked him if he was ok. Never reached out to me (even though I was calling every day) FINALLY , 10 days after the bathroom incident I called and was able to talk to the principal . She was demeaning, condescending, unprofessional and rude. She explained to me that she had handled it and didnt feel the need to contact me. ( the child who did this to my son was never suspended... I know this because my son was in the teen center with him a few days later)When I told her my child was now afraid to use the bathroom at school she LAUGHED at me and mockingly said well I guess I can stand outside the bathroom door if I mustI explained that because there was a video that we would be contacting the police.We did. We also contacted the Safe to tell program. My child will never go back. Please be careful sending your child here. I have feeling there are LOTS of secrets in that school.

I love this academy for my child. They have a zero tolerance for misbehaved bad a** kids that got no respect for others 🙏🙏 Love that!! I send my kid to learn and when kids that are bad like that take time from my kids learning 😡 that makes me mad. My kid did have some issues at the beginning with the instructor but thats life. Shes been re enrolled for the 1st grade.💜💜💙💙❤️Thank you Academy of Advance Learning for taking my childs education seriously!!💙💙💙💜-The before and after care is free and very helpful to working parents like myself-

I mean the schedule of the school is okay but its too much stress for the students to take everyday mini quizzes. Its a perfect school if you want your child to forcefully focus and be advanced in each subject, even if he or she is stressed.

We are new to AAL and so far so good. My children look forward to being dropped off in the Morning and are happy when I pick them up. I am hopeful for their futures.

They really teach well but they expel the children for insignificant things my son was suspended because he left the training to go to help another teacher and the teacher did not even let him explain why he left the line I asked to speak with her and it does not lend itself to talk I went in the morning and she told me to come back at 3:45 am I was there and she hurriedly told me Im sorry I can not complain until the other week bye now I think she has been racist with my son or it is something personal what she brings with her I do not know what to do today call the school and they do not have me an appointment with her is not fair

This place is bad they yall at you and they have bad servis

It’s the best school a kid can go to and teachers are very nice with the kids

Unless you have a perfect child that never has a bad day I would suggest you not enroll here. Suspension are given out like candy for minimal offenses; talking in class, sleeping in class, getting frustrated or upset. The first week of school kids were lined up in the hallway for calls to parents for suspensions. Before you purchase their uniforms and hand over your school supply take the time to evaluate the culture. If you need or have a IEP, 504 or need any other considerations this is not the school for you, they dont have for that. Theres no nurse or counselors available. They do provide a good education, they just may not want to provide one to your child.

As a teacher (not at this school, thankfully), Ive seen schools on either side of the spectrum. Ive worked at schools that do a world of good for their communities, and Ive visited schools that are detrimental to all who enter their halls. The Academy of Advanced Learning does not belong on either end of this spectrum; it is a blight whose impact is so negative that it casts a pall over the entire state of Colorado and the very concept of education.With other schools, its easy to itemize demerits for the purposes of a summative evaluation, but not with AAL. The flaws are so manifold that I would need to write an essay long enough to wrap around the globe three times before my assessment even approached totality. To discourage anyone from working here or - God forbid - sending their child here, Ill do my best to describe as much as I can about why this facility is an abomination that doesnt deserve to grace this spacial entity we call home.Contrary to the statements of the administration, this school does not care about children nor does it care about their progress as young learners. This school cares about numbers. Big numbers are great, but small numbers indicate some sort of personal failure that has nothing to do with their archaic instructional philosophies. Your child could be the most pleasant individual in the world, but if their CMAS score indicated a lack of growth they would immediately become a pariah. Their teacher would be lambasted for being unprofessional, even though the school offers none of the traditional supports that cultivate a positive learning environment (they have no guidance counselors, no instructional aids, no resource teachers, etc.).This school doesnt care about people in general, either. Teachers are herded in like cattle, and - much like cattle - the school will milk them of all of their energy until theyre dried up, at which point they will cast them back into the job market a hollowed husk of an educator. The school tells staff that they are worthless (because they know that the kind of people who work there will do ANYTHING to avoid being seen as ineffective), and if they do anything to prove them wrong then they will credit their revolutionary approach to education (what if we just made kids do math and write all day with almost no breaks?). The school also tasks this staff with doing things that no teachers should have to do, like come in as early as 6 in the morning or stay as late as 6 at night so that they can offer free child care (nothing is free; the price is paid with teachers sanity). They make teachers go door to door and advertise their school like a twisted version of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.They dont even get lunch breaks, people. They get an hour of planning time, which most schools provide in addition to a scheduled lunch period.As a parent, I understand that this school must be tempting. Where else are you going to get free child care from 6 in the morning until 6 in the evening? What other school is promising 1.8 years of growth every year? What other academic institution stays open for business during a Bomb Cyclone or when a clinically insane woman is traipsing around Denver with a loaded shotgun? The answer is none of course, but there is a reason for that. The reason is that other schools are in the business of helping children grow. AAL is in the business of helping its CEO grow a vast education empire that spans the entire southern half of the state of Colorado. His plan only succeeds when more parents decide to send their students to one of the many locations under his ownership, and if his plan continues to succeed I foresee a shameful future for our children.Please, do not send your child here. Do not send yourself or a loved one to work here. Let this school (and its CEO) fail under the weight of its own fraught ambitions and sink into the waste bin of history where it belongs.

Very rude staff, they are very harsh on your children. Super unorganized. When you go to pick up your child you get stopped and searched as if youre a predator. My child got suspended for self defense against another child who was cyber-bullying her. The other child didnt even get suspended. Only lady that is respectful and has some sense is the lady in the front desk always. I do not recommend this school for your child..

When my daughter started she was below grade level. In one year she went up 2 grade levels.

My husband and I moved our 6 children to this school in October, we read the reviews and thought maybe the bad reviews were just from parents that had a few not so good experiences. Well, the reviews were absolutely correct. They operate on a ridiculous referral system, and give these kids referrals for everything. For example, my 7th grader got a referral for talking during lunch on her 2nd day there. Another incident was when my 5th grader didnt know the answer to a question, she got kicked out of class with a referral.I dont understand how the staff can work with kids and not have patience, Ive gone to the school on my lunch break to see at least 10-15 kids sitting in the office with referrals.I finally took my kids out because Mr. Getty pushed my son, he lied and said he didnt, we called the police. This same teacher tried to take a cellphone out of a students pocket and touched his genitals.My kids have been straight A students at every school they have ever attended and we push them to work hard, this school kills the kids spirits and discourages them.The only appealing part of this school is its open from 6a-6p for working parents but the rude staff treat the kids like theyre in prison until parents pick them up.

The culture of this school is dysfuntional at best starting at the top with the CEO all the way down.Before i get into the problem areas ( which are many) i want to point out one teacher whom my wife and i both very much appreciated. Ms. Monohan ( please forgive my spelling if im off) is a tremendous asset to this school. She was and is a very good educator who really took an interest in one of our children. She never took any credit for being a superb teacher, instead she diverted that attention and acknowledgment back to our son. ( Disclaimer: She was always the first out the door when the bell rang too. Interacting with the other staff had to have been a nightmare)Our children started in the fall of 18 and within 3 days the staff and faculty were intimidating and harassing them. They didnt take the time to get to know their names but were consistently accusing them and punishing them for very petty offenses. (daughter went to restroom and upon her return asked what she should be doing and was told to figure it out.) She was subsequently sent to the office with a referral because she (asked a question).Son and daugher, both elementary students were battered by other students without consequence. (daughter sustained bruises to her head and we were never notified but were called when one of our other children didnt sit down fast enough when instructed)Another son was involved in a physical altercation with a teacher. ( said teacher intimidated and pushed my son) staff denied the incident and when asked for further clarification i was asked to leave the school.Furthermore, there are rules in place to keep order in the school. One of which is respect in addressing faculty and one another. Unfortunately the staff missed that memo because the way they communicate with the student is absolutely ridiculous. How can you expect to recieve respect if every time you interact with students youre talking down to them like their prisoners in an institution.(No love!)The Principle and Vice Principle were like the anti christ in terms of their interaction with our children. Instead of trying to learn their names, their strengths and weaknesses they seemed to get a kick out of trying to kill their spirits and demoralize them. Three months in they were still mispronouncing their names and finding fault where prior to this experience our children were motivated and ready to learn.So, ok you have a problem talking to the kids. Maybe youll have better luck talking to an adult........noooope!The moment you disagree, ask for transparency and or accountability the conversation is over! They are done and moving on to the next student to harass..( that last part was my attemt to find some humor in all of this.)😉These issues started 2 -3 days in.They started harrassing our daughter.( super bright/ eager to learn/ moved up a grade because of her ability to comprehend and retain at an early age)Thirty days in, the teachers thought this same daughter didnt know how to read!They took offense to me pointing out that had they tried communicating with either the parents and or our daughter they would have known she was gifted...I digress...The Vice Principle used our daughter to take out her frustrations.( Prior to this school we NEVER had ANYTHING bad said about this baby girl. Everyone that came in contact with her knew she was special....in a good way!)In closing, as mentioned in the very beginning of this post, its the culture of the school that permeates throughout the rest of the staff and faculty.I wish them the best.They will not however, have an opportunity to disrespect me , my wife or my babies again.Could this school work for you. Probably IF...you are hispanic and or are a single parent.They seem to have a problem with 2 parent households and or black families.Were good!

(UPDATE 1/24/2018)We have removed our son from this school. If you want a school that is run like the last stop for your child before prison, this is absolutely the place for you. Ms.Niewinski and Mr. Craddock (the principals) are frankly principals at the wrong school. They appear to be caring people who seem to have their hands tied by incredibly ridiculous policies. I have understood the need for discipline when it comes to a serious school setting, but suspending a 5 year old once every 2 weeks or so for 3 days is NOT appropriate- I have been to many public schools and not one of them seems to advocate suspension the way this place does (Despite doing NOTHING about a few other children physically putting their hands on our child, including one who wrapped his hands around our sons neck and CHOKED HIM IN FRONT OF US). Ever since our son started to show that he was different and has difficulties, its felt as if he has been specifically targeted for removal. That sounds very paranoid, but when the CEO, Mr. Miles decides to suspend my son for, at 5 years old, becoming frustrated with a subject that is difficult for him and tearing up his paper, I dont feel Im too off the mark. Our son does have some special needs, the full details we are still trying to work out with his doctors, but this school reassured us that they would be equipped to handle a child with special needs. They are not, not in the least.However, since my last review, I have actually seen much less of the learning aides or learning coaches and my son hasnt come home after wetting his pants in fear of them, so apparently they got that handled. Front desk is still a hell of a mess half the time. Everything in the school seems to be community property, including my sons sensory calm down box. Once child purposefully destroyed one of the items, another stole one, and the rest just take them without asking. This isnt the first time hes had his things taken, though, its the first time weve actually gotten angry. We tried very hard to make this school work for our son, but it seems most of their promises are just words. The place is run like a boot camp.However, their core curriculum is fantastic. Our 5 year old son halfway through kindergarten can do addition, subtraction, build sentences, identify the parts of a sentence, and even do some light reading on his own. Imagine what they couldve done for him if they didnt rely so heavily on suspension! If you want a kid who is too scared to show emotion but is beyond grade level at math and English, this is absolutely the place for you! It is not the place for us,considering every single time my son gets upset he looks at me and asks me if Im going to send him away like the school does, Im not sorry.***We love our teachers. We like our principal well enough. Our main problem is with the learning aides. Many of them are incredibly unprofessional both in how they treat the kids (IN FRONT OF PARENTS!) and how they generally behave. I could hear one of the female aides screaming at a group of children halfway across the school- and I mean full on, nasty screaming at them to shut up. I know this is a state in which cannabis is legal (and I support that) but Ive been greeted more than once by the very strong smell of weed on more than one aide. Thats not acceptable. The front desk is a mess (if you are worried about someone picking your child up from school after hours without your permission, like say a spouse who does not have visitation, then this is not the place for you). The kids are not well supervised during the after school care (again, the learning aides dont seem to care at all, and the few times Ive seen teachers they all look incredibly overwhelmed). At the start of the start of the school year, this place seemed like an incredible and rare find; a decent charter school that valued kids and community. But as the school year goes on it just seems to get worse and worse and worse. Were honestly thinking of pulling our child out and putting him in another school next year.

I love this school especially for my 3 little triplet’s!

Very bad management. CEO is very condescending and behind the scenes it is terrible place. Definitely has a false face to it. I have sources from the inside and they agree, avoid this place like the plague.

My son and I love this school.

This school is honestly really terrible. The man that runs the school had told my daughter that he does not care about her education and that he could care less if this school and the children in her class pushed her towards suicide. I am not ok with this nor do I respect it.

My daughter attends this school and honestly the ONLY good things about this schools are that they open from 6am-6pm and that they are a k-8 school. I get that this school is new this year and that they are where the hobby lobby used to be, but this school still has no floor only concrete, no intercom (so if I go pull my daughter out of school early I have to go find her around the whole school) no real gym, no real lunchroom, and worst of all no play ground for the smaller children. At the beginning of the school I was promised school sports and till this day nothing. My daughter academically is doing good, but no matter what school she goes to she always does, she really enjoys school.I myself never attended APS schools, Ive always been to DPS and wow is it different APS are boring. There are way more field trips in DPS, 5th grade there is Ballarat Camp, my middle school took us to Washington D.C, my high school to Italy. This schools dont even celebrate any birthdays, no holidays, I regret so much moving my children to APS, but its closest to home. I really hope this schools along with APS step us their game. I will definitely be moving my girls to a DPS in the fall even if it is a further drive.

Parents, please take the time to thoroughly inspect any and all schools you consider enrolling your child/ren in. Yes, the free morning/after school program is attracting however, for what cost?My family and I attended the open house and immediately felt uncomfortable upon arrival. There were no security features in place in the entrance, therefore anyone can simply walk in. The employees by the entrance had no intentions of greeting any of the families and did not look excited nor happy. Please understand that internal attitude is imperative as it is a reflection of the school’s culture. If the educators look unhappy, there is something very wrong.The open house itself was completely disorganized. I say this with the understanding that the school is fairly new and still getting things together. However, this is open house. Extra effort should have been taken to at least attempt to attract and ease new families.As we walked towards the classrooms, we noticed that there were no windows in any of the classrooms, absolutely no natural light. Sadly, our first thought was that it looked like a prison. It just continued to go downhill from there.I immediately regretted enrolling my child in this school therefore promptly returned the following week to unenroll her. I walked in, made eye contact and smiled at the two ladies at the front desk and was completely ignored. I assumed they saw me, so proceeded to wait. Giving them the benefit of doubt, maybe they were caught up in work that they forgot I was standing there. After 5 minutes, I walked infront of them and again, said hello and smiled. At this point, I couldn’t believe their audacity lol. I received the “hold on finger”.Finally, they asked me what I needed, I told them I’ve decided to unenroll my daughter and would like to retrieve all documentations such as medical and birth certificate. The lady at the front, asked my child’s name, walked over to the cabinet, hands me all her paperwork.I was in absolute shock! I wasn’t asked to provide any type of identification, sign any kind of authorization to release form! This lady simply released all of my daughters information not limited to— social security number, birth certificate, physical address! Is this school not compliant under Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act ????After dealing with this, I was absolutely certain I made the right decision of taking my child out of here! I urgently ask my fellow parents to please do your research!

My kids are excelling here. I do agree with other review that note that the behavior referral process is a bit extreme, but, the school is working with me.

This is the worst Charter School I know ofthe principal communicates like she has a grade school education, so disappointed.

They are awesome