My son has been a student at PACS since kindergart...

My son has been a student at PACS since kindergarten. It was truly a blessing when I got the letter saying he was selected. Now in 5th grade I have to say I m very disappointed with PACS. So my son has a hard time keeping up with his work and catching on. I asked about tutoring maybe a teacher that can help him after school for a fee. No one has any ideas or resources to help parents that want to give support to their children who needs extra support. I had to send him to Huntington learning center and pay $6K for 6 months. Unbelievable. I would do what I can to help my son. I should have just put him in a private school at that cost. I just think PACS could do better with helping students with academic support. I also think they should give a more reasonable time frame when it comes to activities that require payment. The middle school trip never mentioned a fee but they added it on a couple days before the trip. Although the school is indeed taking on the bigger portion of the fee IMO a school that has families with different income status I think it s unfair to the parents who may not have the money in the budget. PACS has the potential to become one of the top charter schools in Newark but until they are able to offer what other charter school are offering their families it will remain in the transition stage from private to charter. They love telling me that they don t know the procedure because they used to be private. Meanwhile there are students that are moving up to middle school and can t do 3rd grade work. They have board members that gets the school on television and gets the First Lady to visit the school but none of that matters if you have even one student not getting educational support that is needed to be successful. I m an Irvington resident so PACS is my only choice for Newark charter schools unfortunately.