bee hive

Review of Hawthorn Academy

If your child has a learning difference, stay far ...

If your child has a learning difference, stay far far away. The two special education teachers are new to the profession and know very little about their jobs. The elementary school special education teacher is angry, rude and uninformed. She sees these students as problems that wreck her day. She knows absolutely nothing about dyslexia, which will account for roughly 80% of her students. She also blames the teachers for being non supportive and just complaining about these kids. The principal explains the curriculum in a muddled way as if she has no idea what the IB program is about and focuses more on the core curriculum. There is no overall philosophy for children with learning differences, which will easily account for at least 20% of the normal population. Rather these students are viewed as holding back the excellence of their school. This, of course, is because no one at the school has any clue how talented these kids are. The head of the special education department at BYU, Dr. Gordon Gibb, says that 90% of what needs to be done for these students is to ensure that regular classroom teachers use good pedagogy: multi sensory, explicit, and well planned. If your kid is a little different, they are not honored here but are subject to backroom gossip. I saw one teacher belittle a child at the front desk as a way of discipling this child and everyone acted like this was normal. It baffles me how they think that they are encouraging an international viewpoint when they are so narrow minded and inexperienced in the basic tools of teaching. I am astonished they are opening a second school. This is a reflection more of the oversized regular public schools in the area rather than the quality of this school.