Not handicap friendly. Weird place - chaotic and makes the kids walk with their hands behind their backs, which they call locked and loaded. When my kid was scary sick earlier this year and missed too many days because the doctor couldnt figure out what it was, they sent threatening messages despite a doctors note. When Covid was officially an issue, they sent out gentle notes reminding parents that they should as always keep kids home when theyre sick. I feel like they should apologize.

I love this school. Love the staff. Love the opportunities without it being crazy expensive. They teach cursive first! Good lunches.The only negative is the parking. They need to add an extra parking lot and there is a space available right by the existing tiny parking lot.

My two daughters go here. It is an excellent school. They both love the teachers there and I love the structure. I like that its not a teachers union school because the teachers seem more focused on teaching rather than politics of unions.

Amazing; Staff, Core/special subjects, PTA, Gifted and talented programs! Could use some work in the areas of; parking/pick up-drop off, qualified teachers, allowing hydration.

Great little school. Ethnically diverse. Educationally excellent. Facilities need improvements.

Im going here for 5th grade now!! I dont really like the dress codes but its okay because I dont have to pick what to wear in the morning its an awesome school I was struggling in public school and Ive made great friends and theres great teachers the school year is almost over but definitely enroll your child next year and if theyre going to middle school they have the normal middle school where they divide you into girls classes and boys classes and PTEC which is an early college which Im going to so I can get my associates degree.

I pulled my daughter out after 6 months, which in and of itself should indicate just how disappointed I was with this school. We enrolled at the end of the summer because we had moved over the break. My daughter was entering 5th grade, so they tested her to evaluate if she was up to grade level. Initially, she tested below grade level, which I attributed to summer brain since she had been a a-/b+ student at the last school she attended. I was told she could retake the test, but if she under preformed again she would be placed in forth grade. Two days later they called back and said she didnt need to be retested and she could start in the fifth grade. If she struggled she would have to get tutoring in the subjects she needed it in. Ok, great. Two months into the school year and I get a letter from the school notifying us that her teacher had just completed her bachelors degree, and is working towards her teaching credential... So shes not actually a teacher. Ok, everyone had to start somewhere, why they didnt disclosed this at the start of the school year raised my curiosity, however. I also wonder why they assigned the largest and worst behaved, (the teachers words, not mine) class to the newest and least experienced teacher. But moving on, not long after that my daughter came home with a huge abrasion on her upper thigh. I asked her what happened since no one called me, and she said she tripped and fell trying to get into line in time. Ignoring that the staff apparently values speed over safety, I wondered why no one mentioned it when my husband picked her up. I asked my daughter what happened after she fell and she said that when she asked her teacher if she could go to the bathroom to wash off her leg, and she was told she could do it in the sink in the back of the class room. The scrape extended up under her underwear and she was told to wash it off in the classroom! Thankfully, my ten year old has more common sense than this teacher and declined the invitation. I attempted several times to contact her teacher via email and phone, but their phone system doesnt work and every email I sent got bounced back as undeliverable. Around the end of Q1 I was told she needed tutoring in math. Ok, I said, Ill find a tutor. No, no, they said, you must go through our approved tutors, i.e. current teachers and teaching assistants at the school. Oh, and its a non-negotiable $20 an hour fee, and its every week. That went on for months. The weird part was she was getting As on everything she brought home, and was getting an A in the class, but was still below grade level. I asked several times, if shes acing the stuff shes doing now, why cant you move her up to grade level? She needs to get 3 As in a row, was the response, which seems absolutely arbitrary, and I am almost certain, untrue. The week before I pulled her I was told she also needed tutoring in writing for another $20 an hour every week. I asked if she was close to moving out of math tutoring and received a rather condescending response from her teacher. That was all I needed. This school took a bright happy girl and destroyed her self esteem, in my opinion, to generate additional income for their teachers. If they really believed she was under grade level they should held her back, but they didnt. They created a situation where they were completely in charge of assessing the problem and selling the solution. These people should go into politics. Shes now at our local public school, its been two weeks, and shes almost caught back up. Keep in mind, shes spent the last three months perfecting forth grade material instead of learning the fifth grade stuff she should have been focusing on, so I expect theres some catching up that needs to happen, but now that shes not at JICA I think she has a chance.

My son was struggling every year and the public school system was making it hard for me to hold him back...he was 4 when he started school because his birthday is in Sept. I really felt like my kids werent learning quality information, I didnt like that cursive wasnt being taught, you can see the decline of professionalism in the way teachers dress and interact with the children, etc. One day, my son had a melt down from things at school. I decided that week to call James Irwin school. My other son attends PTEC, so I knew they had to take a placement test. I asked if I could hold him back because hes struggling and its causing other problems too. They said sure, thats my choice and they call it the gift of time...longer story short, I have no regrets of switching him into the Howard campus!! He is learning so much...and he is happy! It is very structured, it has high standards...but dont we want our kids to achieve high standards and not settle for just anything? ...including the way we treat each other, speak to each other...I am very thankful for this opportunity!

My daughter attended for kinder and 1st grade... She is truly above her peers in math and reading because of this school

We love JICA. Best school ever.

Lovely school and academic but dress code rules are to strict

I think this school is to stressful on kids, and makes them work to hard.