CLAS Affirmation School

This school is horrible! I would not recommend it to anyone. The administration is backwards and very frustrating to deal with. The school is constantly in the red asking for money to stay afloat. The concept of what they should be sounds good on paper but in reality not worth the investment of risking your child's education.
--Submitted by a parent

This school s model is based on the premise that Black-American children s cultural identity, and their needs based on their cultural identity, is not affirmed in the traditional public school setting. So, know that going in (if your family is from one of the racial/ethnic groups that is usually catered to in LAUSD, you may want to find another school). Parents of the Coliseum site, housing the K-1st grade, LOVE it. Parents at the Orville Wright Site (in Westchester), housing the 2nd 8th grade, differ widely on their opinion, based on the teacher. For the 09-10 school year, 60-70% of the teaching staff was new, the vast majority of which were new to teaching, period. While the support staff is friendly, they definitely need professional development. The three co-leaders of the school also differ widely in their responsiveness to student and parental needs/concerns, but are overall very loving, present, and knowledgeable. The children are challenged academically. This school DOES NOT remediate, so if your child is behind, do all you can during the summer to get them up to speed. Consider that most of the staff that have K-8 kids, have their kids enrolled here!
--Submitted by a parent

CLAS is a wonderful school and a well kept secret. It has been great for my daughter and she has excelled in all of her subjects. I found the school through a relative and have come to love the family environment and the outstanding teaching staff. I would recommend this school to anyone looking for a small nuturing environment.
--Submitted by a parent

CLAS is a great school for all children, it excels over others.
--Submitted by a parent

CLAS is my family. My daughter has been a student going on four years. They are supportive, helpful and great leaders. I have experience poor teaching and poor leadership before attending CLAS! CLAS believes in it takes a village to raise our kids into positive, succesful and respectful human being! I wish they could expand to high school... Got to love'em
--Submitted by a parent

I can't say enough about how wonderful a school CLAS is. My experience over the past four or five years has been great. it's true though that CLAS, like any other school of choice, may not be the right choice for every family. My experience has been that the families who actively participate in their child's education, take the time to familiarize themselves with the school's philosophy and otherwise become a partner in the educational process are on the whole very satisfied with their experience at CLAS. Those families who more or less stand on the sidelines arrive on the scene with a critical eye and don't always come away satisfied. That is too bad because CLAS has so much to offer. Those who have given lower ratings reflect isolated incidents that shouldn't take away from the greatness of the entirety of the program.
--Submitted by a parent

I can't say enough about how wonderful a school CLAS is. My experience over the past four or five years has been great. it's true though that CLAS, like any other school of choice, may not be the right choice for every family. My experience has been that the families who actively participate in their child's education, take the time to familiarize themselves with the school's philosophy and otherwise become a partner in the educational process are on the whole very satisfied with their experience at CLAS. Those families who more or less stand on the sidelines arrive on the scene with a critical eye and don't always come away satisfied. That is too bad because CLAS has so much to offer. Those who have given lower ratings reflect isolated incidents that shouldn't take away from the greatness of the entirety of the program.
--Submitted by a parent

I am a parent of two kids that attend clas. I have and 4th grade child that is doing very well with his school and teacher.His learning has progress and he has learned balance and righteous -ness.I have an 7th grade child that attend the middle school campus that is not doin so good. My child is an good student and works very hard at the middle school. But recently we have had an problem between two kids with the verbal and physcial abuse. I know the problem should have been handle better then it did. The middle site is not a good site I know the teacher aid's need training and the school need structure.There is no school nurse and no bed or anything for the students to lay on.I love the concept of the school but the school structure has gone out the window!!!The middle school need improvement.
--Submitted by a parent

clas is a cultral based school. it is were we learn and can be proud of are cultral. In each unit we learn we have a poem to learn and resite. Are poems are based on are proverb studies. Clas is a fun yet educational school. CLAS ROCKS!

The CLAS charter school in our opinion is not recommended for all African American children, especially children who do not have a cultural practice of speaking ebonics or AAL, as a means of daily communication. While I have heard other parents found CLAS to be uplifting, culturally gratifying and educationally stimulating for their children, as a parent I found CLAS to be lacking in many areas, Despite how they 'pitched' the programs during the orentation, to perspective students, and parents CLAS as a school did not deliver! As parents, we were diappointed with the lack of support from the school, teachers, and administrator on so many levels, and especially disappointed with the lack of proper follow through with the referral process, after CLAS initally informed us that they could not adequately provide services for my childs IEP, and would be providing us with a referral. We got nothing!
--Submitted by a parent