Manatee School Of Arts/sciences

My child has attended this school since kindergarten and sadly leaves this up coming year to go into middle school. Although the school went through a couple of rough years we who stuck with it now have our children reaping the benefits, The last 2 years have been amazing. The new principal does not reward students for bad behavior like the former principal. Mr. Ramsay has taken a firm stance against bullying. He is holding parents as well as students accountable for student behavior. I was upset the first time I heard my child had lunch detention but after hearing what my child said I told Mr. Ramsay he had my permission to give him lunch detention for the rest of the school week. I like the introduction of lunch detention and in school suspension before out of school suspension to give the children a chance to correct their behavior. I am able to call and talk to Mr. Ramsay to get the full story instead of my child telling me "I didn't do anything. He just doesn't like me". being in the education field myself I want to hear from the teachers and Mr. Ramsaytheir version before I blaming everyone but my son. I am happy to say my child has become more respectful and has pulled his grades up and has been accepted into a choice school. I think as parents we need to make sure we write about the good as well as the bad but unfortunately most of us don't write when we are happy. Thank you MSAS we will miss you next year, Mrs. Brand and Mr. Y thank you believing in my son and for helping him realize that nobody makes him do anything, he is in control of himself and he is responsible for his choices and if he makes a mistake to own it and make it right. You guys are the best.

I formerly attended this school from second to fifth grade. I can honestly say that this was THE best elementary school for me. I was placed into the Enrichment program for three years, and it helped prepare me for middle and high school. The teachers are always challenging students to do their very best and give rewards along the way. Even though MSAS is a small school, it has great benefits. The staff and faculty are very friendly and encouraging. After I graduated from fifth grade there, middle school was a piece of cake because I had learned and achieved so much from there. Now, I am currently in ninth, a member of student government, National Junior Honor Society, taking honors history and biology, eleventh grade math, a college english class, and have NOT dropped off the Honor Roll once. There is NO way that I could have made it this far without MSAS.

While it's a small school our son's class had over 20 students and the teacher seemed to have a hard time handling all of them. The academic program does not seem to be very good. Even though it's called 'School of Arts and Sciences' there's no special emphasis on any arts or sciences. In fact, it seems to have less of the arts than at an ordinary school. In terms of art/drawing/painting, we see almost nothing being done. It's a very small school and the facilities are very limited - they don't even have a lunch room, so last year in kindergarten they always ate lunch on the playground and our son never ate his lunch and always came home witha lunchbox full of food and dirt - it was just ridiculous. Some parents volunteer at school, but if you don't have time to do that, unlike most other schools I've dealt with, this one has no parent-teacher organization or anything like that so parents can't get together with other parents and teachers and get involved on a regular basis if they have any complaints or problems they want to bring to the attention of other parents and teachers. The school website offers a very limited email access to teachers and staff, but that doesn't work very well and there's no way to contact other parents via email. While it is nice that the school is small and all the staff knows you, overall, I would say that there are other schools in the area that are better in most respects.