Great Expectations Academy

My son attends kinder at this school and he absolutely loves it. The smaller environment is perfect for him, he adores his teacher, the afterschool YMCA program is fantastic, and he is learning and growing leaps and bounds. In my humble opinion, a childs first experience at school is crucial to their future success. How positive the experience is has everything to do with having a nurturing, structured, and safe environment for learning. GEA offers all of this and more to my child. Sincere thanks to GEA administration and staff for an exemplary program!
--Submitted by a parent

As a parent with children in the school as well as children who have gone on from here to do well in high school, I strongly disagree with the previous review. My experience has been that the school leadership strives for excellence in academics as well as citizenship, takes pride in an atmosphere of caring and respect, and always has the best interest of the students as their bottom line. The administration is comprised of very qualified individuals who do an excellent job in a very challenging bureaucratic and economic atmosphere and have managed to grow the school in its 13 years to a place where students and teachers alike can feel a sense of achievement and belonging. Every year my children attend this school better things happen both inside and outside the classroom and I am grateful to have the opportunity for them to attend GEA. Finally, I will state my opinion as to the preceding review: Anyone with an ax to grind can say negative things about a school or its leadership. Saying them does not make them true.
--Submitted by a parent

I would give this school a sub-mediocre rating. My child has attended this school for several years and I have come to realize the leadership is happy with mediocrity. The discipline is appalling, mainly because there is none, the person taking over the leadership has no college degree and there is no person trained for overseeing or developing curriculm and instruction. The teachers here are not observed by a professional and are offered no feedback. They are not required to teach standards, they have no set curriculum. This school helps to keep Arizona last in the nation. I have no idea why anyone would want to keep their child here. Parents you are fooled to think just because it is small , it is better
--Submitted by a parent

The 'events' (mother/son and father/daughter, etc) at the school were done with the help of parent volunteers. As a parent involved in helping to put on these past events, I am very aware of the work involved in making them happen and that it takes many people to help. Times have changed and alot of families now have both parents working, which doesn't allow for alot of extra volunteer time. If these (or other events) are/were important to you, there is a parent organization that you could have been involved in and perhaps you could have taken the initiative to help organize an event. The ability for parents to get involved in their childs school/education is one of the great things about this school.
--Submitted by a parent

This school is the best! The teachers are excellent always challenging kids to do their best. Besides music, band, library, art, P.E., & computers they have an astronomy club and Spanish classes.
--Submitted by a parent

I have had children enrolled here for 7 of its 10 years in existence. In my opinion GEA gets better every year. Teachers and support staff are competent and caring, parents are involved and students are excited about learning. I feel that bringing my children to GEA was the best decision I could have made for their early education.
--Submitted by a parent

The learning trend in this school is falling like a rock. Look at the State and district statistics. Teachers are not prepared.
--Submitted by a parent

I have two children at GEA. This school has been such a blessing to my family. I LOVE the class sizes, the ciriculum and it does have alot of extra-ciricular activiities for a small school. My child really likes this school compared to the other he attended in Sahuarita.
--Submitted by a parent

This is my childs 3rd yr at GEA and we love the school and the staff. She has had excellent teachers. We are extremely grateful to the administration for all their hard work, keeping the school running. We especially enjoy the small class size. If you are looking for a school that prides itself in higher eduation. GEA is for you.
--Submitted by a parent

GEA is a great school with great teachers,great students, and a great administration. Anyone who says 'your child will suffer',if your not a parent volunteer, should get a reality check. That is not what GEA is about. The goal is for every child to succeed. Do watch out for the 'clicks' and 'favoritism' though. Luckily 99.9% of that problem is at a different school this year! Rock On GEA!
--Submitted by Justin Byron, a parent