Agamim Classical Academy

- Hostile Executive Leadership
- Retaliation against employees with concerns happens regularly
- There is constant fear that jobs will be terminated due to feedback given to Executive Leadership
- There is no pay scale
- Conversations around pay are ineffective and unwelcome
- There is blatant favoritism, gossip, and belittling
- Professionalism is not a priority
- Board of Directors is ineffective
- Teacher and staffing turnover rate is extremely high
- Teachers and staff are not compensated when asked or required to do extra duties
- Employees that are easily manipulated are hired
- Teachers without licenses and no experience are hired regularly
- Employees are not given consistent support or adequate professional development
- Executive Leadership is "too busy" for students, families, and staff
- The organization is unstable and operates in crisis mode
- This job requires me to do work that feels unethical

My daughter attended Agamim from grade 1-3. Over this time:

-there was HIGH teacher/staff turnover, including staff leaving mid year due to negative work environment (my daughter’s social worker, possibly the only positive contribution of this school, was one of these),

-there was a need for daily debriefings with my daughter to discuss her bad day (practically EVERY day) she would often mention how the teacher yelled at the class frequently to correct misbehaving, and even threatened to send my daughter to the music room during lunch because she hummed while she ate,

-staff did not call to notify me of a life-threatening issue where my daughter accidentally swallow 2 magnets they resorted to emailing me instead,

-I was not informed when my daughter’s actions required staff intervention, including an EXTREMELY serious instance of which I found out about on my own much later after the fact (they told me “the social worker was supposed to tell you, but then such and such happened...”),

-my daughter’s teacher failed to complete an assessment required for us to have neuropsych testing performed this process should have taken weeks, maybe months at the most, but took close to a year because she did not respond to my many requests to complete this 1 page/1-sided assessment, but only partially completed it when contacted by my daughter’s psychologist.

I could go on, but I will conclude by expressing how happy and RELIEVED I am for my daughter to be freed from that negative Agamim culture! She has taken a drastic turn for the better now that she has supportive staff in her life!

This school does not teach to developmental stages. 3 of the grade level teachers left mid-year and four specialists/paras left as well. That should tell you everything. There are major internal breakdowns. Their system believes in public humiliation. Students with other needs are not being taken care of in a professional way. There is no scaffolding here (your child will not be taught at his or her academic level) There is no playground and the toys are locked away...There is no room for creativity or play here. If you love your children, please do not send them here.

Very clubby, unfair leadership.

This is the worst, most clubby leadership I've ever seen. Leadership won't deal with anything that isn't in comfort zone of marketing classical education in the most obnoxious evangelical manner. Student behavior is abhorrent. Five staff members have already left this year. This school has some of the rudest, meanest teachers known to humankind, but leadership is too cowardly to address it. For shame. Avoid this place.

Rigorous curriculum- my son is learning significantly more than our experience at a Minneapolis school our daughters went to. The principal is great and has been very involved if we have any issues. The school has a diverse student body which makes it even better. We love it here!

This is a very dysfunctional environment with deans who are unqualified for their roles and who lack any semblance of professional maturity. Executive leadership is very opinionated and does not listen to ideas outside of a small pedagogical box. Students at risk are not served here and they are falling further and further behind.

My son attends this school and we have been incredibly impressed by the teachers, curriculum/content, and the mission/vision/values. No school is perfect but when I saw this website pop up on google I had to correct the unfair rating it was given that was absolutely not a clear representation of the school and the amazing education they are offering to students of all backgrounds throughout the Twin Cities.

Very good teachers and quality of education.
They don't have a big place that includes a ground and lots of space... hence a 4-star