Star International Academy

Great school, lots of fun and educational activities, and great teachers. My kids attended Pre K, KG, 1st and 2nd grade. I have to admit, you need to do your homework looking for a good teacher. As any school, there are great teachers and not so good. Overall, I am happy with this school. It is conservative and promotes tolerance and diversity
—Submitted by a parent

I highly recommend students and parents to not come to this school. By far, this is the worst school I have ever been to. There is a lack of communication between teachers and students, teachers and administrators, and administrators and parents. Parents have no idea what is going on in the school because of the lack of parent involvement in the school. There are not many extracurricular activities for the students to do. The school only focuses on meaningless issues like students violating the rules and giving them chances instead of the academics. I feel like the school s educational level is not that high because of the constant changes they make. A plethora of students feel like they are lab rats because every year, the school board makes some changes. In the 2010-2011 school years, the school changed from quarters a year to trimesters. In the 2011-2012 school years, the school changed all classes and electives to being yearlong classes. In the 2012-2013 school years, the school changed the entire grading system. Thus, creating many students to have difficulty maintaining the good grades they had from previous years.

Never in my life have I seen a school like this. I've been a student for about 4 years are this school and I have to say this is the worst school I've been to. During my first month the bullying was outrageous and nobody listened. My teacher, I felt, had little to no experience and all. If she did any actual teaching I was absent. The name calling is a major issue at this school and it is never addressed. . The guidance counselors are a joke and the Arabic teacher make the students stop learning all together. The staff is careless and as for the whole IB program it's nothing to be proud of. The learning is slow and I have A's and B's without even trying. The learning in general is below average, and I wouldn't recommend this school to anybody. The uniform is the most uncomfortable fabric and the rules for clothing are strict. I mean you can't even wear your own color jacket or shoes that aren't dark. The administration is a bigger joke, all they do is walk around yelling at people. As for parent involvement it's little to none. The lunch is disgusting. The students never have a good experience and it's too much drama. This is why I am moving to another local high school, sadly.

Wow, I have never read so many poor reviews for a school that is supposed to be "great!" If so many students are left unprepared for college after attending SIA, how is it possible this school manages to keep its accreditation? Personally, I would be wary of sending my own children here! I am not speaking as an uninformed person either. My son is graduating this year from a regular (but outstanding) public high school where we live in Arizona. He has taken all honors and AP classes during his four years (we do not have an IB program), and he has consistently excelled in them. AP classes have final tests that are given by the College Board and give college credit if you pass with a high enough grade. He has been accepted at Harvard for the fall of 2013 and will also be playing football for them. I would tell parents who have children who are independent thinkers and really WANT to learn to send their kids to a regular public high school in their area which offers honors and AP classes (an IB program would be great, but it is NOT mandatory). Teach them to let the "Golden Rule" guide their lives, get involved with helping others, play a sport, join a club.
—Submitted by a parent

The school is a trap, they hire teachers with no experience or keep teachers with low salaries... Force the kids to go to summer school to get government funding and grants... Very low educational level... Students don't get text books, very cheap school... And all u see is CEO Superintendent Nawal Hamadeh's sons wearing expensive suits wandering inside the school building or in their expensive cars blasting their trashy music!! The school doesn't even deserve 1 star!!!!

I have taught at Star International Academy for only 1 year!!! I really think the students are stressed and discouraged and, so are the teachers. Everyone lacks communication and the bullies are not taken care of. They are either threatened, have a detention, or they get suspended which happens rarely. No one ever gets expelled. Please go to Bryant Middle School. I teach there and it is the best school I have ever taught at!!!
—Submitted by a teacher

As. for Arabic. and other languages they are supposed to teach. They did. But not enough people signed up for the classes, so the IB program removed it. And as for the boyfriends, that MILLIONS of girls have. That is there problem, we can't stop them. We can tell them, but that's them being bad people. We can't really stop hormones, but we can control them. Some choose to, but some don't. Teachers, are ones of the best in the entire country. There, young, nice, understanding, and funny, and well, there good at teaching. Try going to public schools, and being called at terrorist, every step you walk! At star, there is no competition, no racism, we're all like family, at star. So, if you hate it fine by me. But next time try seeing how it is for others. Star, kind of saved me, and one day I hope to graduate from it, and get a scholarship to become a surgeon. And one day I will. Inshallah.

I switched high schools last year and felt completely unprepared in my new school. It seemed that everyone in my new school was more advanced in their learning then I was. It took me a while to catch on. I also had to take classes with a lower grade because the classes I took at Star were a year behind other schools. Go figure. A lot of people told me that my disliking of Star was normal, since it's normal for a student to dislike their school, and that once I moved I would start to appreciate Star a little more. Honestly, those people were WRONG. I moved schools and though it was hard for me to "fit in" at first, I am 100% satisfied with my new school and incredibly happy that I left Star. I'll never be looking back now. ;) I'm going to have a much better high school experience!

Star does not offer all the classes it claims to. It tells students about all these different AP classes that they can take when there's only one available. Even here on Greatschools.org, its that BAND is one of the school highlights. What? There IS NO BAND! There was one once upon a time that died right away because purchasing instruments was too costly. Another thing, if you search up Star International Academy on youtube and watch the school's advertisement video, it says that four different languages are offered, including Arabic, German, French, and Spanish. THAT'S NOT TRUE. The only language class you can take at Star is ARABIC. THAT'S ALL. So don't fall for all these false advertising that Star does. It tries to lure people in and make them believe that their school is great when in reality, they are AWFUL.

Hello I am a parent and I used to have my kids go to Star International Academy. Just this summer, I have decided to take them out of that school. They were forcing students to go to summer school and get tested in August and if anyone fails that test given to him/her in August, the child had to flunk the class and repeat it. For the last four or five years, we have been through 3 different principles. This system know nothing about LEADERSHIP specially their last principle, Mrs. Bussey who has no experience because she was a Biology teacher at Star. She also needs some help on customer services. She promised me to get back with me on multiple of issues that I had talked to her about, but guess what? I have been waiting for her response! She promised me and different other parents that she would take care of something, but guess what? Nothing was taken care of. Very, very moody person. They only care about getting funding for the school and guess what? with all the money that they get, the school has not improved a bit. They tell students about all the AP classes that they can take, but come to find out that they don't really offer these classes! They also have no elective.
—Submitted by a parent

Star International Academy....hm....I dont know if it is a school because it seems like a PRISON. I been going there since 3rd grade and my mom wants me to go there this year for 9th. I refuse to go. Most of the years that I been there havent been a walk thru the park. I been bullied for being different...I write and no one cheered me on they just bullied me and teachers knew....they just didnt care. 8th grade was fun I was not bullied but I learned you have to be pretty to fit in which i am but I decided I want to avoid that fitting in thg. Most girls there had MILLIONS of boyfriends and do bad things but they dont get in trouble. DONT EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THE NASTY UNIFORMS. My friends and I flushed thonse down the toilet litterally. Star teachers are horrible and dumber than most students. There sports and clubs are unorganized and unprepared. They dont support the students. And I would not recommend this horrible school. Have a GREAT day and remember S.I.A just breaks you down. 0 stars for the star than shine :)

To the person who wrote "You can't wear skinny jeans, ripped jeans, skirts, leggings, flip-flops...its frkn annoying! And now you cant wear shoes with colors on them? Seriously? -.- " YOU ARE HELLA RIGHT. You can wear all those in dhs tho ;)
—Submitted by a teacher

I used to be in 4B, I never liked my teacher. She used to yell at us all day, and whenever a student is bad, the teacher loves them!!! I was a good student throughout the year but she didn't show respect to me at all. She wouldn't listen to what I say, she ignores me. WHO IS SHE TO DO THAT? There's this kid who used to be bad in class, he would shout out things and go around the classroom. The teacher loved him! I hate my 4th grade teacher, and i will always year. In the end of the year, I couldn't take it. I started going out of control because I couldn't take my teacher. I hate her, I really do. -A student (Well used to be, I'm moving on to a new school :P) Star International Academy and teachers, shut up. I would give this school a 0 rating.

I have been in this school, and throughout all these years in Star International Academy, I never liked this school. I never liked my teachers, I only liked my teacher in 3rd grade. This school has been unfair, ridiculous, and way too much drama. This is why I am moving next year out of this school. This school does not deserve to be a school, this isn't a school that teaches you real education. This is not a real school, every time someone asks me which school I am in, I am too embarrassed to say Star International Academy. This school has the worst teachers, I don't even know how they are called Teachers. In 4th grade, my teacher treated me very unfairly. She would laugh with students and joke around, when I joke around, she just ignores me while I talk. I will miss all my friends here, but not all my friends were actually friends. Some of my friends would ignore me, ditch me, or go hangout with someone else. I am happy I will never spend the rest of my education in this school. I am so sick of this school, and everyone in this school. No one knew what I wanted to do so bad. Star International Academy, I am never coming back to your fake education. Its time for a REAL education.

I am now in college and I feel unprepared, if I could go back in time I would of switched schools. I feel so behind and left out. I feel spiritually ruined when I hear other students talk about their high school experiences simply because I never got a chance to do anything like that. The school is horrible, the teachers favour students. If you're rude, the teacher will love you and this will only discourage the smarter and well behaved students. I am of Arab heritage and I am a Muslim, however.. Star is not a religious school meaning it should not have such strict rules. During Ashura it is okay for students to wear black, this is wrong. It doesn't matter if we are Muslims, there are none-muslims in the school as well and again this is NOT a religious school. The students are horrible and bullying is very common there, students use racial slurs, and scream out profanity in both english and arabic during classes. Hard to believe? I attended SIA for 6 years. I have seen everything I needed to see that this school needs to change otherwise it must go. Please take your children out of this school and give the a memorable experience by letting them go to another school. -SL

I went go to star and they get problems and thats y I'm moving next year. All they think about is business and money not about the people.

star is the best school ever ive been in this school since kinergarten an its the best school ever

I went to Star since fifth grade and graduated from there...and honestly, I don't really like it. I used to like it a long time ago before they started enforcing all these ridiculous rules. You can't wear skinny jeans, ripped jeans, skirts, leggings, flip-flops...its frkn annoying! And now you cant wear shoes with colors on them? Seriously? -.- More importantly :P, the food isn't enough -.- Also, don't go there for high school (especially) because its soooo boooring. My senior year felt like any other year. Theres no homecoming, or prom, or cool out-of-state field trips, or extracurricular stuff or ANYTHING. FInally, there are a lot of teachers who don't care. ***BTW I'm not just writing bad stuff because i get bad grades or misbehave or anything like that...I was a Golden Honor Roll student and i never got in any kind of trouble...just sayin... bottom line is...DONT GO THERE!!! Have a pleasant day :) #Swaqq

I would just like to say that giving this school a six is a real mistake. I think the most important thing about a school is that the teachers and students have to form a relationship in order for the both to act the way they should towards each other. This school is strictly business and I attended every meeting from student council to Student government the words that were said were " we are trying to maintain structure after all it is a business" The school is way to oppressing and "preparing us for the real world" never happened. They are basically hiding us away from the real world. Going in to college I though I could handle it until I realized I had no idea what I was doing. School should be about the students and this school really do not care much about that. It is all about making the year pass and getting it out of the way. Like they are obligated you know.. The teachers I really feel bad for they have to do so much when really they don't have too. It cares only about it"s reputation. The administration preferably the principal and Mrs.Hamedeh are really getting big headed. I really hope you over look these reviews the length tells all. Thank you. You will only be doing

First off, I like to think that every parent wants the best for their student, and if they were sending their kids to Star they didn't know it was a bad school. I graduated from there and have gone on to higher education. I felt seriously unprepared. And I don't blame the teachers, some of them try really hard. Others make you wonder how they even got the job. Star also has a 100% graduation rate. Which isn't as good as you'd think. Even those who aren't ready for college/ the real world, MUST graduate thanks to NCLB. Also they didn't allow anyone take AP courses until 12th grade, and everything revolves around standardized testing for them. As in all ACT & SAT prep books say don't rely on the 11th grade curriculum for the test. At Star, those tests ARE the curriculum, and even then the averages are lower than national average. And this year they have changed much (for the worse). They care more about the dress code than academia. Only good thing is the modest environment, without the immoralities of other high schools, and the people are warm (most). Otherwise by attending it's only going to hurt the attendee . The administration seems more like a business than a school really.