Watsonville Charter School of the Arts

It not only provides great education but also encourages children to expand on their creativity and artistic ability
--Submitted by a parent

I am a grandparent and am having a difficult time accepting the attitudes of some of the staff at this school. My grandchildren have experienced discrimination, and I feel that some staff and the principle are not very professional. My grandson will not be attending this school next year and I hope that some staff and the administrator take an Anti-bias course to better understand other cultures.

While this school certainly emphasizes the arts, and the first and second grade teachers are wonderful (really!), the school comes up short in safety and teacher quality after the early grades. Some children are called names, teased, and taunted, and little was done.
--Submitted by a parent

The Watsonville Charter School of the Arts was a wonderful experience for my children. Arts was a fundamental part of their everyday curriculum and was integrated into a challenging academic program. It is a smaller school of less than 150 students-kindergarten through eighth grade. My students enjoyed their year and all of the activities offered. My daughter loved her teacher and looked forward to school every day. They had a lot of extra activities like a Halloween Carnival, Winter Program, Talent Show and all school musical production. It was a great year and made relocating difficult. We miss their enthusiasm and warmth.
--Submitted by a parent

I have two children at WCSA. I visited 5 schools in my area--public and private-- before deciding on this one. As a charter school, the teachers still teach to the CA state standards, but seem to have much more flexibility in the way they teach. The arts emphasis of this school exposes all students to vocal and instrumental music, visual art, dance and drama. Some of the exposure is direct and some is embedded as a way to convey curriculum content. The principal founded this school 5 years ago, and has the vision and energy to make it extraordinary. Her qualified staff is typically energetic and creative. The student population is diverse and the parents are generally very active in keeping the school going and thriving. WCSA has provided my children with an exciting learning opportunities I don't think they would have found at the typical public school.
--Submitted by a parent