Harmony Science Academy - Pflugerville
I had to share my experience regarding the school orientation for the 23-24 school year. The disorganization and lack of planning and poor communication resulted in my family immediately un-enrolling my child from the school. Please understand this review is only for the experience of middle school orientation and that I have no opinion on the curriculum or quality of education as my child will not be attending.
The email about the orientation and first day of school was sent a few weeks ago, and TWO separate "correction" emails had to be sent correcting information from the Superintendent's first email.
The website touts a highly TEA rated school. The lobby of the Pflugerville location has contradictory signs saying both A-rated and B-rated. Which one is it? A permanent vinyl sign on the wall misspells the city - Pflugerville. Already a little disconcerting.
There's about 50-75 parents and students waiting in a makeshift line in a hallway waiting for who knows what. There are no announcements or direction as to why we're waiting in a hallway. Apparently there is a check in station of some sort that parents are stopping at before the AP announces the remaining part of the line can move to another area to go to some stations. We shuffle through these stations that were not labeled except by a letter (A-H) and try to collect the information we needed. If the stations were labeled I'd know I could skip the bus station because it would not be relevant. We were handed a map of the building for pickup or drop-off directions. No compass or cross-streets to reference directionally. We ask three times about after school care information and are directed to three different stations, all that did not have information related to after school care. We decide to leave the now crowded room and go back to the sign in station from before because maybe we missed it there. No, they didn't have infomation either.
A lady directed us to speak to the AP. When we spoke with the AP, Janice, she advised that an email would go out on the first day of school that listed what options for after school clubs or sports that would be available. When we were asked what options there were for the first few days of school in the interim, there were not any options. When pressed further, she indicated there were not any after school programs available through 5 pm. We would never have wasted time enrolling and purchasing school supplies and uniforms and attending orientation if we knew this prior. The website for the school lists many after school clubs. If the staff had answered our multiple emails over the summer aaking these questions, we wouldn't be in this situation. When we showed the AP the unanswered emails on our phone, she said "Oh, yeah, those people don't work for us anymore." These emails were sent directly to the staff that enrolled my child at the beginning of the summer AND through the Contact Us form on their website. Absolutely unacceptable. It appears they have never heard of email forwarding or out of office or updating their website.
At this point I needed a form from the front office. It takes them a few minutes to find the paper, and while we're waiting, one of the ladies started giggling. When she handed me the form, she says "I'm sorry I didn't mean to laugh at that child's name." I didn't know why she was laughing, but she definitely outed herself there. Shocking.
I wish this review didn't sound so critical, but it is a full description of my experience. We have un-enrolled my child and I am thankful I don't have to continue stressing about the lack of communication and terrible logistics. We have already enrolled my child in a RRISD school, selected her electives, had all our questions answered by friendly staff, and even received a "Welcome to Middle School" yard sign from her new school. Teachers from RRISD put it in our yard. Thank you RRISD for providing the example of how starting school should be. Harmony Plugerville has a long long way to go. read more