Connections Academy

My kids are currently in 9th and 10th grades. I made the decision to take them out of the public high school for two reasons. One reason was that my 10th grader was starving to be challenged academically and her high school had no program for gifted or talented students. My other daughter was suffering from anxiety issues that stemmed from being bullied at her previous school. I had heard nothing but good things about Connections Academy from several parents and students, they seemed to have a huge selection of classes to choose from (including honors classes, which was appealing to us), and they advertise that each student can work at their own pace. They even have examples of students who have pretty high demands on their time, such as child actors and even Olympic athletes. So we thought this would be a good choice. My older daughter would be able to get the stimulation she was craving with their large variety of classes and my younger daughter would get the space she needed to heal from her experiences. It seemed like a no-brainer.

We have been at Connections for 5 months now and I have to say I am not impressed. At all. My kids came down with a flu in February and were each down for a week. They have been struggling to keep up ever since, even though they have been putting in longer days to get caught up. I have contacted teachers, their advisory teacher, and the school counselor. Both my girls were A and B students until they started Connections Academy and now they are getting C's, D's and even F's. Teachers and staff have been very unhelpful with a "sorry we can't help you" attitude. While my kids' friends have time for the fun things, social things, that kids their age should be doing, my kids are stuck at home struggling to catch up from missing a week of school. I worry that they will lose their love for learning completely if they continue at Connections.

Hugely disappointed mother.

My son has been enrolled in Minnesota Connections Academy for 6 years. I did not think that it would be difficult to transfer to Coastal Connections when we moved to Florida last month. Enrollment was closed for the fall, but we were told we could enroll him for the spring semester. His immunization record was refused because it was not on a Florida form (funny, Minnesota does not use Florida forms). I made him a pediatrician appointment to get a new physical and the immunizations transcribed to the Florida form. Just this week I confirmed with the enrollment department that Coastal Connections did not have a student cap and I was fine to wait until his scheduled appointment next week. Imagine my shock to get an email yesterday that the school had placed a cap on enrollment and no more students could enroll for the next semester. However, I was graciously provided an invitation to enroll my child in Pearson Academy (the private Connections program) at a generous 50% off. The 50% off value leaves me paying a tuition of $2,000 for spring semester to keep my son enrolled in a program we have attended for the past 6 years. The private school will not provide any of the IEP/IHP services my son has received from Minnesota Connections. I will now have to pay for those too. All of this when the enrollment office confirmed with me last night that they could indeed see all of the conversations I have had with them regarding my son's transfer. And still, the answer is too bad for me. I will have to pay up to stay with the program. Let me reiterate. I was told Monday I was fine waiting to submit the last two forms until after my son's appointment with the pediatrician next week. "The school does not have a student cap." The very same week I get an email that the school has implemented a cap and I must pay to keep my son enrolled in online classes. They further acknowledge that they can see the documentation of this conversation, but will not honor their word. I am now writing a check for $2K plus what his support services will cost throughout the semester, and the response is "Tough luck. We changed our minds." We have always been so happy with Minnesota Connections. This has really shattered our trust in Coastal Connections.

I was sold on the "flexibility" -yes, you have flexibility, but you'll "pay" for it, by becoming even more swamped, couldn't keep up! She got A's and B's in regular school, she is smart, but this method is insanity, she struggled with lessons that are repetitive, redundant and were so long, The amount of reading is ridiculous. It was so stressful every day to keep up. That's all it was, barely keeping up. You won't enjoy school vacays and weekends or days off, because of the crush of work to do. A friend had her child in it, so I tried it, right after I enrolled, she pulled her child out. I thought, "uh oh." she expressed what I am expressing right now; but I thought, "everyone is different, we'll try it." I wish we never did it. The "field trips" are always on the other side of the state or at least a few hours ride away and very few and far between. It is "packaged" as a wonderful program, but you'll see how overwhelming it is. The anxiety every morning turning that computer on was through the roof, it was not enjoyable, it was drudgery. And it was difficult to get through the Walpole, MA school admin. Office, mailboxes are full or the option they give you is an "invalid entry." Rarely do you get a call back IF you can find a mailbox with room on it. I had to call the 1800 number more just to get a human being. She has an IEP and there wasn't IEP support, she was on her own. They are a business, they need good reviews to get the money from the state. I have been trying to unenroll her for a week and keep getting a runaround. They need the numbers for the audits and the funding. I feel that I am being discouraged and ignored because they don't want to let a student go, it's B. S. --When you google reviews, check the website it is on, it's usually a "connections academy" website review, so they will all be stellar.

I have been at this school for 2 years now, and I have been astounded as to the quality of general knowledge that I have gained through this school, and the general quality of the lessons, (in most cases) is very good. However, there are a few glaring problems with the system that have discouraged me from re-enrolling. The first being the scheduling system. I have seen a lot of reviews on this school claiming that the workload is too much. Typically, this is not true, and I can get by the average day getting all As on my assignments by 3 PM. Notice, however, I said average. Because of poor design of the schedule, there will be slack periods, days which I will get few to no lessons assigned to me, and then others in which I will receive up to 4 portfolios or projects to be completed within 2 days! I find that absolutely ridiculous. My second complaint is that response time from teachers is incredibly slow via the "webmail" and on occasion I find myself needing to send up to 10 messages before being responded too. Other times the teachers are simply on vacation. Lastly, this school, in general, is not for the faint of heart or weak. Assignments are hard, and the concept of self-teaching, in general, requires a great deal of self-control. I am in the same classes as around 50 other people, many of them, alongside me, have high grades and are capable of handling the workload. Others are, however, in the D's and F's, and are incredibly unhappy with the workload. That just goes to show this school is not for everyone, which makes this last thing not a complaint but a simple statement. The school isn't at fault for everything, its just designed for a certain type of person, and your child may not be that kind of person. I think that this is an incredibly good school, with a few problems, but should definitely be explored more before enrollment. If you are asking, how do I know? There are multiple programs over summer that don't require commitment, which can give a rough, but effective idea of what to be expected, these include khan academy (also a partner of connections), brain chase, and probably some others. I definitely recommend this school, for a select few people with maturity, and a willingness to work hard. If your child does not have this, you can forget about enrolling.

Worst Enrollment process ever! ITS END OF AUGUST AND MY CHILD HAS STILL NOT STARTED SCHOOL! Our last call before today was 10 days ago after they told us that our account has been sent over to the principle of Georgia connections academy for placement. Today we call and still on the phone...i have been placed on hold for 5 times...lady I was speaking to didn't like my tone and frustration so when I asked to speak to a supervisor or someone who can advice us on what is really going on...she sent me to another department...APPARENTLY IM ON HOLD NOW FOR 15 MIN WAITING ON PLACEMENT TO PICK UP!...

Back story,
We started enrollment for my 2nd grade son in JULY. They asked us to upload documents from his previous school. I had a copy of his last report card on my Email so i sent it in...they sent it back saying it was missing the school year...I went ahead and called the school and requested an official transcript.Once we had it we uploaded it together with all the health documents. We called same day to confirm they had received all documents. They said they now have everything and are submitting our account to the principle to review and placement. Well.Ten days later, they are still saying our report card is still missing the year...but this is after several people told us it should not matter because we have submitted an official transcript. There is no way for us to delete a document so i asked them if they can remove the report card from our account because apparently thats what has been holding everything!...I regret pulling my son out of the school he was in...school started 2nd of AUGUST, we still dont have a clear path to what is going to be done...they are giving us the run around and constantly giving us different information. I will not be surprised if they email us telling us the 2nd grade placements are now full and no more space.what a joke!...im still on hold with placement btw...1:00:17 later!

Update! Surprise surprise, 2nd grade is now on waiting list! This is beyond unacceptable

After months of trying to get my son enrolled, I was told he would not be accepted if his grades were low. I told them at the first contact the REASON I was enrolling him was due to COVID and the "confusion" within his current school. NEVER was I made aware this semester's grade (AGAIN DUE TO COVID) would be an issue with getting him enrolled.

I'll spare the long story but will tell this... once this was made aware to me today I asked to speak to a supervisor. After the discussion, I asked her for stats on why kids enroll in Connections Academy. She told me
1. Parents with kids in sports so their schedule is more flexible
2. Kids being bullied
3... this is the big one. Kids with special needs because they "can't function in a public school setting" I had a few choice words from her coming from this mom of another child with special needs... YES some kids with special needs can't handle the socialization to make the ASSINE statement that ALL kids with special needs can't is beyond frustrating.

I then got into the discussion of his grades and was connections academy taking into consideration COVID and realizing a lot of students grades were being affected and she then stated that
"his current academy transcripts won't change because she changes schools" So basically stating my child can't be helped by changing schools/systems... I then reminded her as she did me, that the call was being recorded and told her I was thankful it was being recorded because the statements she had just made are reasons their school should NOT be operating! When I asked to speak to her supervisor I was told that her supervisor wasn't in the office... how convenient!

I highly suggest avoiding this "option" based solely on their lack of communicating information and their statements that are clearly UNTRUE! Please take your children's education seriously and not trust it to people like this!

My daughter recently enrolled into connections academy because she was tried of public schools my daughters been an straight A student and when she tends to get a B she completely spazes out, continue the story well I took my daughter out of public school and put her into Connections Academy and it was the WORST! In the beginning it was ok I had contact with the teachers and I thought everything was going well my daughter would wake up stay at home and work she liked it so I did and it wasnt until one day I came home from work and founded my daughter starting to spaz our once again I asked her what happened she said she has Ds Fs and overdue assignments I said that cant be I quickly grabbed the laptop and looked at her grades and it was true I asked her why is it that is it harder and she said they give her test on things she did not learn and when she submits an assignment it comes up as not submited and when she tries to do it again it says that she dose not have access to it I immediately grabbed my house phone and called the school teachers and the tech support but they did NOT get back to me until the next week i completely went off on all of them my daughter is galdly back in regular school and for the distraction she keeps her self busy DO NOT put your kid into connections academy I am very sure there are different and better home schools connexus is NOT one