Harmony Science Academy - Lubbock

My son has attended this school for the 2011-12 school year and it will me his only year to attend. The post that mention disorganized and lack of communication hit it on the head. My son states that his teacher does scream and yell at them as I have also heard other students say. Please look for other schools before enrolling in this one.
--Submitted by a parent

I am a current parent at Harmony and I have only good things to say about this school. There are excellent academic programs. The teachers are very encouraging and the environment is great. They really bring out the best in all their students and create in them a desire to learn and to really enjoy it. I highly recommend it to any parents considering education.
--Submitted by a parent

Please do yourself and your children a favor and do not send them to this school or any other Harmony schools. I guarantee that you will regret it. There is a complete lack of communication; it doesn't matter how many times you ask the counselors or staff to do something for your child. It will never get done. The Turkish teachers cannot teach and their accents make it hard to understand anything. Nothing is ever organized. Overall, Harmony schools are worse than any public school that you will find.
--Submitted by a parent

I am currently a teacher at HSA and have been since it opened. The first couple of years were rough (as are most schools when they first open) but it has been much smoother the last few years. As with any school we have to have foreign language classes...Spanish and Turkish are the two offered at HSA at this time. That is no different than other schools offering German or French. While there are Turkish administrators, there are also American women administrators. The school has to follow the same rules that public schools do as far as TAKS/STAAR testing. Rather than just listening to waht disgruntled parents and teachers who weren't rehired, come on out and take a look for yourself. There are no more problems in Harmony than Cooper, Frenship or LISD . Every school has kinks to work out and ours are getting worked out just fine. Please don't take my word for it, come on out and see what we we are like!
--Submitted by a teacher

We toured the school earlier this year, and were stunned by what we saw and heard. Despite the fact there was a tour going on, teachers were screaming (yes, SCREAMING) at classrooms and at students in the halls, in front of administrators. The teachers were never admonished, nor were we told it would be handled. It was treated as though this was status quo. We left, and will NEVER go back.

I taught at Harmony for one year and I would NEVER send my children there. Why? 1) Lack of Communication. The administration is severely disorganized and communicate very poorly with everyone. 2) Unqualified administration and teachers. The administration is predominately Turkish and not qualified for their positions. Many teachers have no degree in education and absolutely no experience! 3) Children aren't put first. We teachers begged for a counselor because our students were struggling, but the administration refused to comply because it was "not required by the state." 4) Over-Testing. Harmony advertises that it is an "Exemplary School," but the test scores are actually very low. They had FOUR Mock TAKS tests in addition to the regular TAKS schedule last year to compensate. 5) Turkish agenda. They have Turkish as a foreign language,they require teachers to enter students in the Turkish Olympiad every year, and they hire a LOT of teachers from Turkish-speaking countries. 6) Poor science education. Despite advertising themselves as a science school, the facilities are of much poorer quality than most public schools. Students do more worksheets than experiments.
--Submitted by a teacher

My son went to school there for about six weeks, and it seemed that everytime we turned around he was being told something, or other kids were picking on him, but he would not say anything being the new kid, so he was always being blamed for things and the other students just were left to pick on him, and when he wld get into trouble they wld laugh at him. And the math teacher, I would not have her teach in any school in this country.
--Submitted by a parent

This school is not a good school!!! They have high ratings and I am guessing it is because the higher the grade level the less students they have but as for the structure of the school, I would not recommend it! They never have the dates and times right for activities, evry time I went to the school there were kids running around the halls. They are too "soft" my child was left to do the work on her own and in first grade I believe a child still needs to be told what to do and watched to make sure the work gets done! This was my childs first year at Harmony (1st grade) and she will never go back and I will never recommend it!
--Submitted by a parent

They emphasize science, math, languages, and ethics, and the school is bright and clean and full of beautiful pictures and posters.

The teachers are the most dedicated I have ever known.
--Submitted by a parent