Gateway College Preparatory School

I've thought about providing a rating for some time but wanted the opportunity to reflect on it a bit before writing. I had two kids at Gateway for 9 years with one graduating and one choosing to return to public schools for high school. Both my wife and I were very involved with the school and I think I can provide a real outlook based on our experiences with Gateway.
I'll start with the positive. The current head of schools, Mr. Boorman does an excellent job of communicating with parents and truly cares about the school and its students. I've never had a negative interaction with him. As you would expect, there are very good teachers and coaches along with some that need improvement.
I was personally very disappointed with the high school principal. He was well aware of multiple issues with certain teachers who did not follow school policies and it did not appear that there was any action at all taken by him to correct this. Moreover, he was just not a good leader of teachers and students based on my own interactions with him as well as being witness to other incidents. It was clear to us that he did not know how to evaluate or discipline either the teaching staff or students.
In addition, the turnover amongst teachers, coaches, and staff is high considering the size of the school. We saw an excellent counselor along with a good teachers leave for a number of reasons such as pay, lack of effective leadership, and better opportunities.
Lastly, the school's district, Orenda Education, really needs to do a better job in a number of different areas. First, the fundraising head does a pretty poor job with outreach and really is rarely seen on campus. Fundraising should be a foundational concept at a charter school and the current fundraising head lacks experience needed to increase the efforts. Second, the communication from Orenda is poor at best. There needs to be immediate improvement in how the district communicates with the school and vice versa. The vision coming from Orenda when we started with Gateway is really not what was delivered beyond just the buildings themselves. Now I do believe that parent involvement is needed to make that vision a reality but I think that both Orenda and Gateway bear some responsibility for any lack of parent involvement.
So to summarize, while I do not regret sending my kids to Gateway, I do see a need for improvement in all areas and significant improvement in some areas that I felt were subpar.

Not sure where those negative reviews are coming from. Must have had some troubled kids and just blamed the school.... which is great by the way, particularly when compared to other GISD schools. I've witnessed only positives from teachers and admin. I'll be sending all three of my kids to this school.

No polices are consistent. Teacher turn over rate is through the roof. My son had a new music teacher every year. His kindergarten teacher left, his first grade teacher left, his second grade teacher left, and so on. But it is no wonder that they leave when they can't take that place any longer. My son was spit on and the teacher told the principal. She didn't give the spitter any consequences. I email her to discuss my concerns and no reply.

Huge disappointment. Save yourself the torture and avoid this school. Classes are not very challenging. Teachers and admin don't seem to care about kids. Lots of yelling. We want our kids treated with respect and challenged in school. Neither will happen at Gateway.