Urban Discovery Academy Charter

My daughter started at UDA this September. It is the greatest school I have found thus far for her learning and personal style. We all love this school and the staff. Such a great learning environment!

Urban Discovery Academy is a public school, but is an independent charter school and as such is not required to adhere to the California education code. For some, this may not be a concern, for others this severely limits the rights of your student and of you as a parent compared to regular public schools. The school's administration has a limited perspective in that if you have concerns about how your child is being educated or by whom, it is your "choice" to stay or leave the school. Don't expect the school administration or board to truly listen to your concerns or to even respond to them no less in writing. A significant issue for the parents at the school over the past two years (since the departure of the initial director) is that of major decisions being made by the board of trustees without adequate notice to or feedback from parents. Their response to parents is to attend the monthly board meetings. This seems almost an intentional limiting factor for parents to be informed and engaged with their child's education. The school significantly limits parent's ability to "stop by" their child's classroom to observe the quality level of education their child is receiving at the school. The teachers turn over quite often and only a couple of teachers remain from when the school opened in 2008. High employee turnover in any organization should raise a red flag, especially when many of the teachers who have left have been the most praised teachers in the school. The only saving grace for this school is the special education program. It has an amazing SELPA and the special education specialist is fantastic! If your child has an Independent Education Plan or has a suspected disability and you have experienced resistance from other schools to provide special education services, then UDA may be just the school for your child. One note of caution is that if your child has an IEP for OHI the school's behavior modification system may not work well for your child. It is primarily based on punishment and/or negative reinforcement. Positive reinforcement includes plying the children with sugary treats which in this day and age of childhood obesity is despicable for a school. Taking away the student's recess as a form of punishment is also another tactic that just doesn't make sense when the San Diego county administration is promoting an active lifestyle in addition to healthy eating habits!