Joey C

Review of Desert Academy in Santa Fe

I had been at this school for all of my middle and...

I had been at this school for all of my middle and high school career, and I can confidently say that this school is not a great school. First, I'll start with the good parts. My middle school experience here (socially) was a great experience. I felt welcomed by the other students in my grade, and having a larger grade size, I was able to experience a variety of perspectives and people on a day - to - day basis. The old administration (the Terry Pasalaqua era) was relatively good - communication was a bit lacking but overall conflicts were quickly and effectively resolved. The new programs that the administration enacted were actually helpful. The "Wildcat" spirit was at an all time high, and I actually felt at home. Yet, things change. Another good aspect is the Diploma Program here, in junior and senior year. Those, in my opinion, are the only years of Desert with great academics (as these years actually do a good job of preparing you for college).

Unfortunately, in my experience, the middle school academics were absolutely horrible. I was not challenged, no one took it seriously, and the faculty had no idea how to teach or command respect. And the pure amount of scandals per year was ridiculous (and still is). I can say that at least one teacher per year was involved in a scandal with a student, whether it was inappropriate touching, inappropriate comments towards students, or downright verbally abusive. I have had to attend months of therapy to cope with the abuse that I have suffered in one class in particular. I came into this year wishing that there would not be ANOTHER scandal with a faculty member, and I was glad to see there was not a scandal with a faculty member this year. Instead, it was an administrator. An administrator inappropriately touched a student, and looked at students using the restroom. The current administration took an extremely long time to respond to any of these scandals, even after a large amount of students and parents complained. This administrator stayed employed for almost another year after the first scandal. This school has a great way of making students feel like their voices don't matter. Even when the school manages to hire a great faculty member, that teacher leaves after a year after seeing the state that Desert is in. We have had multiple people come in and start actually helping the environment and making change, but leave after less that a year simply because of the administration or the fact that the environment is so poor.

The new administration at Desert treats the school as a runaway social experiment, implementing ridiculous new programs and refusing to listen to either student, faculty, or parent input. Recently, students have been forced to literally sign in and out of class, as if going to this school wasn t already dehumanizing enough. The administration gives no reasoning or explanation for any of their monuments decisions, but it is clear to the rest of the community that financial resources and student admission rates are dropping fast. Last year, the school didn t have enough money to give students actual IDs. That decrease in financial resources comes in part from the rapidly dropping admission rates. In short, be wary when considering this school, as even the school's own students refer to Desert as a "sinking ship", and have been doing so ever since the new administration took charge. But remember, this school is not all bad and can work for some people, but be ready to deal with a lot of volatility within the faculty and admin body.