The Good: The kids have been enjoying longer classes on each subject (a year in a semester) structure because it gives the kids more time to master subjects. The teachers have been fantastic. We mostly feel safe here. The other kids are good kids, but it's still a public school. Drug sniffing dogs came in the classroom. The Not So Great (I wish I knew this before signing up): -Not all of the classes are offered all of the time because of a lack of staffing (or so I'm told). This is not indicated in the catalog when/how this happens. Take Computer Science for example. The intro class alternates from year to year and not semester to semester. If you have a kid who is trying to get into college and outline their interests during their sophomore or junior year (as college admissions office presentations say that you should), if your kid didn't happen to be in the right year of when that was offered, you are out of luck painting that picture. There's the option of dual enrollment but if you don't feel like your kid is ready for equivalent of an AP option or has the maturity to be on a college campus, that leaves you in a weird place. And it shouldn't be the college's job to be a high school's overflow. -Some teachers are retiring and it is up in the air whether the programs that they run will come back. -Course catalogs aren't always accurate. If you look at other schools there is even the syllabus, difficulty level, etc for every class. So it makes planning really hard when you lack crucial information. And the period where you can drop or make a class change, teachers do not assign a lot of work so you won't know what the scope/pace of the class is until it is too late to drop. If a family is transitioning from a traditional schedule to a schedule that mimics college, they should have all of the information to set them up for success. -If you have a co-curricular class that involves performances, the teacher should be coordinating with the other staff so that they don't have a major deadline (assigned/due the same day) that is a direct conflict, which either forces the parent to get involved (after the principal gave a clear message that we should let our kids figure it out) or choose between which class that they have to take the academic hit. -The school does not contain all facilities to support all of the extra curricular/co-curricular so if your student participates, you'll have to budget travel time, giving/getting rides to other locations, loading/unloading, etc for every practice. This takes a big bite out of time available for homework. -They require a lot of parent volunteer hours (and stick their hands out asking for $$$), but the minute I needed support for basic, standard services, we were given the run around. -They require a lot of student volunteer hours as part of their contract (not a state requirement). The hours required for one year is close to what other schools suggest over the span of 4 years. Colleges don't care about volunteer hours. Hey, I'm all for volunteering if it comes from your heart, but it is no longer volunteering when it is a requirement. -I call this "Columbo-ing". Remember Columbo use to say, "Just one more thing." Instead of giving the families everything they need up front and when, it feels like things keep getting thrown at us which makes having a family work/life balance out of whack.. -The CEO gave a platform (with tax payer dollars?) to someone with an extremist political agenda at Jumpstart (parent conference) and then later shared the direct safety threat that it brought with it to our campus, stressing the parents out instead of owning it/dealing with it aggressively/insulating us. The Ugly: -Utter planning chaos. In theory, everything should come over their school tool. A lot of information comes out of parent run social media groups (yes multiple) which are fraught with drama. The school should be owning this or have a central location on their website like other schools. -'Partnering with Parents' is code for outsourcing to parents. If you are going to give me that much work without guidance and resources, I may as well home school without the limitations, politics/noise and chaos. -They didn't meet with Freshmen/families for 4 year planning (unless you have an IEP, which we don't have). Our assigned counselor kept putting us off after asking for help because they assigned us 2 academic years worth of school work in one school year, not disclosing this (they have their own system) or asking if this was okay. Contrast that to I walked into my local public school, and without an appointment, their school counselor took time with me. In under 10 minutes, I had it all figured out for two kids complete with paperwork/guides and a solid, customized plan that an expert put together. CAV was fantastic for middle but CAHS is a hot mess that makes me understand the demand for charter accountability. We won't be back next year. read more

Moving to Escondido and choosing this school was a bad choice. They don't don't seem to care about you unless your white with money. The baseball program sucks. Coaches the last 2 years have no interest in any players unless they are committed to top notch schools. IEP students don't stand a chance here. Best thing about this school is the Spanish teacher, Mrs. Lee. read more

My kids have gone to the school for several years and we have been very happy with the administration and teachers.

The high school is a great place. My child could not be happier. The director of this organization is phenomenal and truly cares about his employees having the right credentials and attitudes with the parents/students/staff etc. and he is totally invested in the success of the school. Back to the high school-it offers everything a high school should and im blessed my daughter attended this school. read more

I attended CAHS my freshman-senior year and unfortunately this school is not extremely LGBTQ friendly. Although the school isn't religious there was a very strong Christian presence in the school, which isn't necessarily horrible. However this presence was not so friendly all the time. Several students would say inappropriate comments about transgender students as well as others and sadly the school admin was extremely passive about it all. I remember during club rush kids were taking stickers and posters from the GSA booth and ripping them up and making fun of us. Keep in mind that many people had put money and hard work into the club booth. This incident was never addressed by admin even though they saw it all. I also remember being bombarded by a certain student, who happened to extremely nice somehow, during lunch who would always talk to me about how being gay is wrong in the Bible and it was difficult to be alienated just to be told that you as a person is wrong to god. CAHS wasn't very friendly to the young women at the school either. I remember one day all the girls were called out of cohort to a meeting about showing bra straps. Many of us were offended and I called out admin for wasting our time and not holding the male students accountable instead of policing dress code for the girls. Admin wasn't so happy about it and I ended up having to talk with the principal. I want to point out that admin wasn't necessarily mean but extremely ignorant. Also there were a handful of teachers that really were amazing and impacted my life greatly and I want to thank them. Thank you Mr. farmer, Ms. Dunton, Mr. Johnson, and Mr. Montgomery! You guys rocked read more

I have a great story about TCA. My daughter graduated from CAHS. She moved into college this fall. At freshman orientation she met with the English department of her university- when she asked about getting a tutoring job, she was told maybe next semester, because typically freshman don't get tutoring jobs. She went ahead and gave them a writing sample anyway. It happened to be a college application essay she wrote about her experience as a student at CAHS. The professor emailed her within hours and said she was familiar with Classical Academy and was impressed with the great program we have here. Based on the writing sample and the professors high opinion of TCA, my daughter was offered a tutoring job on her first day of college! read more

Classical Academy has far surpassed any expectations I had for a school for my son. My only regret is that I did not find the Classical Academy schools earlier. The teachers and staff are incredibly dedicated to teaching, the students, and exude an enthusiasm and confidence that is magnetic. Truly, everyone is so invested in the success of every student. I have observed on numerous occasions, staff and teachers encourage, embrace, applaud, support the diverse student base. The athletes, academic team, musicians, introverts, extroverts, are lauded in the same way. Everyone is valued. Every teacher is unique- in personality, skill set, mannerisms which helps to serve the diverse student body. It is a comfortable space for anyone to fit in or create their own space. Innovation, ideas, perspectives are encouraged. There is no right approach to learning. There is no wrong approach. It is truly a learning environment. Students are accountable with clear direction and expectations, tutors and counselors are always available, and goals, hurdles, requirements are defined well ahead. As students work to achieve those goals, materials is presented in many ways, with many formats, to allow for students with different learning styles and capabilities to succeed. Most importantly, the school is very invested in academic and personal success well beyond high school, in the community, in the workplace, in college, working toward creating independent, conscientious, resourceful graduates who will achieve well after graduation. read more

So nice to be heremany kind people who truly care about the kids. Thank you staffand students for making life better for all!! What a refreshing change it is to be here. read more

If you're looking for great teachers, a supportive environment that is attentive to the individual needs of your student, and a place where students of all backgrounds are welcome...look no further than CAHS! As a parent of a student that just graduated and headed off to college this past fall, I can say that we could not have been happier with the 4 year experience our student had at Classical. Our student would agree with this review as well...made great friends, enjoyed high school and misses it already would be the only additions ! read more

Everyone within the CAHS administration has been so kind and generous with their time. Dana, Bea, Sandi have all been overwhelmingly kind and helpful with answering questions about the school and assisting with the first steps in checking out the culture and academics! The staff, teachers, students and parents have all been kind and the students and parents especially have nothing but good things to say about the school! Can't wait to see where this journey takes us! read more

If you want to constantly feel like you are dancing through the halls of high school musical, or participating in a gay pride parade, this is the school for you. Academics are great. But it's the OVER THE TOP AND HAPPY HAPPY SPIRIT THAT WILL BLOW YOUR MIND. read more

ew. not a fan. 90% of staff is rude. some students are rlly nice some are rude. makes me have depression.