Connections Academy Reviews 23

Deeply frustrated with the enrollment experience I had with Connections Academy. This has truly been the worst enrollment process I have ever encountered. Despite submitting official documents directly from my children’s doctor’s office and their previous school, none of them were accepted. The onboarding process was excessively long and unnecessarily complicated, and I was surprised to learn that Connections Academy expected me, the parent, to handle the submission of all school and immunization records rather than requesting them directly from the previous school, as is standard practice elsewhere. Communication throughout this process was also extremely poor—every time I reached out for help, I was met with the same unhelpful response that the application was "pending due to an unaccepted document," with no real guidance on how to resolve the issue. Because of this experience, we will not be continuing with Connections Academy, and I would not recommend this school to anyone.

Where to begin?
#1 Teachers SUCK with communication with students,but expect students to communicate with them.
#2 My child has completed all assignments on the same day given to her (except when teachers have it where they can’t and students keep asking them to fix it) Now my child was given an assignment last Wednesday that she can’t get into because the access is denied! My child has told this teacher Wednesday in email,Wednesday in the live session,Thursday in email and I had to email her Friday about it (due date) because she’s ignoring my child. Must I add other students have the same issue also. Teacher still hasn’t fixed it and now my child can’t do any assignments in that class until it’s fixed and she does it! And it’s a 2 day portfolio at that!
#3 Assistant Principal is a ding bat just emailing like my child can’t log in the Google doc’s!
#4 Signed my child up for local psat testing (they didn’t say if you signed up you had to call the local school to see if your child could test there) I paid $5 and may not be refunded for their lies!
#5 Daughters literature teacher wasted students time and knew she was doing it before the live lesson. She told students it was mandatory to join if you got the email because the assignment wasn’t completed! She got on the live and said I’m sorry I sent it to everyone! If you knew that before getting on why not correct the problem by sending a new email if you completed it please don't come to the live! Lots of students was very frustrated and upset. I said something and this lady literally got mad. (Sorry you waste my child’s time now I’ll waste yours) Don’t take students away from other assignments because you’re dingy!
#6 Career class is that supposed to be about careers? Last time I checked my child is 15 not 5 in elementary school doing show and tell bringing a stuff animal to class as show and tell. Not career related. And the whole live this teacher held hers like she was 5 years old and going to miss it if she put it down.
#7 Sending students Google doc’s articles on how to use it when it’s on your end my child can’t access her assignment is crazy when you need that info not my child!
#8 Technical support is a joke my child called the first week to have to change her password this dude had a screaming toddler in the background he couldn’t hear my child and my 15 year old was saying mom help me I can’t hear him at all. I had to do the conversation. He knew she couldn’t hear because I said your toddler is way too loud screaming and he still sat there allowing it!!!!
Stay away my child last school was shutdown and I see them one being next! Horrible school! First year here and will look into another one next year!

Online school. What could possibly go wrong? Let me tell you... EVERYTHING!

First off, it was fairly easy to sign up. However, my son was in the process of getting his vaccines and they CONTINUED to reject the DOCTOR'S LETTER from an ESTABLISHED MEDICAL OFFICE, stating that he had one of the vaccines required so he missed out on nearly a week of school, which meant when they FINALLY accepted the letter, after my uploading the SAME LETTER THREE TIMES, my son was met with nearly a week's worth of backlogged work! Who is running this sham of a school!?!?!

Next, his teacher calls me, I call back, goes straight to answering machine. I keep trying, she never picks up or calls me or responds to my texts. Who is hiring these "teachers"???!

And finally, when we get him situated, and he has completed all his backlogged work, we go to sign in today with the password that has NEVER CHANGED, and it gives us the error "Three more attempts and you're locked out." So, in frustration with this terrible school, I try three more times and am locked out. I even tried resetting the password, but it asks for the email THAT YOU CAN'T LOG INTO TO BEGIN WITH!!!! How am I supposed to retrieve that email IF I CAN'T LOG IN!!!!???

This "school" should be BANNED from online teaching and LOSE ALL LICENSES dealing with education! This is the WORST experience I have ever had in my life! Right now, I am searching for another online school because this one is TRASH!

STAY FAR AWAY FROM THIS SCHOOL! They just don't care and are never there to help you. Just the other day, I called them to explain the issues we are having, and I added my wife in on the other line and they listened to the issues we were having and then there was silence. I kept saying "Hello?" but no one answered. It was simply dead air. Then I got the message to rate the call. The customer service rep actually transferred us to the end of the call because it was time to go home!??!? What horrible customer service! They never interrupted and told us that she would help us the next day, she simply just transferred us which was basically a middle finger to us showing us that they simply don't care at all. This is my 10 year old son's education we are talking about here!

No wonder America ranks the lowest in education! I truly believe it now! I think I might homeschool instead. This is ridiculous!!!

Connections Academy does not accommodate students with special needs. My child has been enrolled since January 29th. It's now February 18th and I'm just not receiving a call from the special education teacher. The teacher asked how's it going? I said "it's been tough because my son cannot talk". She said "so are you disenrolling then"? No suggestion on how the school can help facilitate his learning. They are supposedly a public school. They've had formal documentation of his limits and
needs since I submitted the application for enrollment. If they could not accommodate a nonverbal student they should have said so from the start.

I submitted the requested documents numerous times. Each time I got an email saying all the documents I submitted were rejected however they were exactly what they asked for. After the 5 times, I called and was told by the lady they cannot accept documents as verification. I told her the website says it is acceptable. After she went and reviewed all the documents herself and what the web page says is acceptable, she then came back and said what we provided was acceptable but needed to be added to a different document. I told her nowhere does it state that in anything they have. While she was doing her research I looked at reviews 1.9* rating. Wow, I definitely should have looked at that first. I told them with the extreme difficulty it was just to get the documents, and the low rating I no longer felt this was a good program for us and was pleased with drawing our application.

Tried to enroll my daughter in Kindergarten but they refused to accept my proof of residency. You MUST pay your own rent single-handedly or they refuse to accept. Judgmental af... They made me wait 3 days until they called my daughter's previous school to inform then that not only is she not accepted for enrollment, but she's missed too many days of school & requested a truancy officer be sent out. The previous school informed me of this & suggested I enroll her into traditional home-schooling because Connections Academy was being so difficult, even by their standards (and the previous school has very strict standards). Then another 2 days later, Connections Academy finally called me to explain the situation & tried getting me to re-enroll her! After rejecting her & sending a truancy officer! The lady on the phone tried arguing that they never spoke to anyone at my daughter's previous school & insisted that I was informed 2 days earlier about the rejection (lies. I had to learn about the rejection from my daughter's previous school). I had issues with harassment at prom when I attended k12, but I recommend that program over this crap.

Connections is not a good school. While they claim they are flexible and understanding, DO NOT DARE get behind on your work because they will HOUND you and threaten truancy VERY QUICK! My kids got behind, while yes significantly, I was just diagnosed with cancer and while they SEEMED understanding, would NOT let my boys catch up because they were “so behind”. While they were only talking about my one child, they unknowingly unenrolled my younger child, who looked forward to a speech class every Thursday WITHOUT warning. I called Connections and talked to a representative online who was able to look at all of the email and did confirm that they did NOT mention my other child EVER. I recommend Astravo.org they have FLEXIBLE schedules and a block schedule where you can concentrate on 3 classes at a time. Ruth Weaver and Mrs. Davis should be replaced.

Even one star is too good to give this piece of shity school. The live classes are so boring, the kids don't talk via mic only chat, the teachers don't seem to know what they are doing, the electives are so boring because there are no live classes and the teachers don't even reach out to ask how everything is going with school. 100% of the learning is done independently and the curriculum is stupid and boring. STAY AWAY FROM THIS SCHOOL AT ALL COSTS! THEY DO NOT VALUE YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN. THERE IS NOTHING IN PLACE TO SUPPORT YOUR CHILDREN ACADEMICALLY, NO SOCIAL EVENTS WHERE YOU CAN TALK TO OTHER STUDENTS.

The tech support for this school is so very terrible! They are not worth the effort of even calling. You will be instructed to solve your own login problems using links that don't work. They couldn't find me or my students learning coach information in their system. They proceeded to say that they couldn't help us in any way shape or form. How is this an accredited online school without a useful tech support?

It was impossible to understand, teachers did nothing to help when I was locked out of assignments. They kicked me off and didnt tell me even though I had the required amount completed. They dont care about their students mental health or time. And they switched my password to the computer (which is the only computer I have right now) so I cant access it. I have stuff to do that I needed a computer for and they F'ED ME OVER. I wish I wouldve listened to my gut about not joining this bs school.

We chose Connections Academy for our Kindergartener because we were worried about him being mistreated in a brick and mortar school (he has severe adhd and possibly mild asd). At first it seemed like such an ideal compromise between public school and homeschool, but I have quickly realized that this is not a good fit for our family. I have a 5 year old, 3 year old and 11 month old, and when I tell you it is near impossible to be my son's learning coach and work one-on-one with him for a minimum of maybe 5 hours a day WITH a 3 year old and baby needing my attention constantly, I seriously mean it! It causes so much stress. My son loves the routine and "checklist" mentality of the work, but as a mom to 3 littles I cannot do this on my own... I personally think the curriculum is a bit much, as if high-academia Harvard professors without any kids of their own wrote this stuff "for children". It is pretty dry and repetitive, and takes way too long to complete most days. So my husband and I are planning on pulling our son during winter break and going back to homechool for now, that way I can control better how much time we spend and what we learn and incorporate my other kids into our learning as well. Altogether I don't think I would recommend this kind of learning for big families with lots of small children. However this might work well for families with one child and a parent who can dedicate the majority of their day to teaching that child as if they were still in public school (6 hours a day, 5 days a week). I'm leaving this review for other parents to see and consider before enrolling their kids. I'm not looking for an answer or response at this time.

I would like to rate this school zero stars if I could. The curriculum itself is fine, but the high workload and not enough help from the teacher is getting old. Having technical problems? Don't hold your breath. There is not enough information on how it is supposed to work and why is there so many websites and apps are there for myself and my 3rd grader supposed to keep track of, let alone trying to remember what information is on what website. Live lessons aren't long enough and teachers don't call on or wait for participants in activities. My 3rd grader now hates school because of this experience.

I give this school 0 stars let me tell you why!!!! They act like they are So concerned about your kids when they are not my granddaughter is in the 12th grade she’s 17 and she has not been doing her work which it is not acceptable her mom is out of town working and she has my 43 year old cousin there in her place to watch over her kids while she works I gets a phone call from the principal because they sent out a welfare check out for my granddaughter my granddaughter has a Mental illness but the principal didn’t care about that at all she said that’s not an excuse then she went on to say there’s just too many red flags so I asked her what are you assuming and trying to Extenuate red flags so she went on and on and when she hung up I called my granddaughter’s mother so my daughter called the principal and do you know that principal call CPS yes she had the nerve and the audacity to call CPS the principal supposed to call back on that Friday October 18 2024 or that following Monday well guess what she never did she knew what she did was wrong you call CPS on a person when that parent is beating or not feeding or neglecting a child not because a child is failing in school i’ve also told the principal this is how I know my granddaughter is not taking her medicine she is a mental patient once she started taking her medicine again she is doing her work I recommend you not send your kids to this school at all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m still waiting on that principal to call me back I have some nice little words for that principal I’m not disrespectful at all it’s just what she has done was so wrong So Parents please think twice Before you sign your kids up to Connection Academy

This school has been good because it has been remote and got my kid to be home. We liked that option and it is free. The bad news is that you don't really learn anything. We are in our 3rd year at this school and I can't keep her here no more. She struggles so bad and not passing state test because there is no hands on learning and helping especially with her IEP. The live lessons do not keep her attention. There is no support here. They do have extra help for math but their IXL program also does not fix her math struggles. We need something different. If I keep her in this school, she will not make it to college.

Be AWARE of the complete incompetence when enrolling your child. It's has been 3 weeks from the time I put an application in. When doing the application you need a ton of documents which took me a while to gather but I had them all and never needed to do extra like some have to go through. Their process to enroll and get a kid started is absolutely ridiculous. There's little to no updates, if you call the info or help line after sending application you never get the same person, that is if you can even get a person to answer. Even after all that it's like they're just hanging out and will get to your child's enrollment when they feel like which at this point has been 3 weeks from the day I submitted everything. I called so many times now just to verify what is next. They said this intent to enroll form from his last school would take the most time because my sons old school has 10 days to send it back. So I was ready. I even called the old school to make sure Connections had the correct email then called to tell Connections. After two weeks I see Connections finally sent this form for them to sign and send back to Connections. I was CC'ed on the email and they still sent it to the wrong person at the old school. So, seeing that, I called my kids old school and it was forwarded to the right person and while I was on the phone with the correct school official she filled it out and sent it back same day. It took Connections TWO weeks to send this form to his old school! Had I not been on top of it all, the old school technically had 10 days to send that back. That right there told me I was in for a long ride. Meanwhile my son has yet to start 10th grade. And to think I placed him into an online school due to him falling behind the year before due to bulling coupled by incompetence is so aggravating! My "to do list" is complete and has been. I've called to find out what were waiting on and they say we're waiting on a school councelor to assign him classes and we're still in "pre start" phase but that I should have nothing to worry about because the teachers will let him skip over what he's missed for the most part. BUT my son was already behind in a core class like Math which I don't think will be easy to just jump into after over a month of classes has already been gone by. I say a month because I was told materials will not be sent out until he is fully enrolled and the shipment takes about a week to arrive so my best estimate is we will be at week 6, maybe even 7 OR MORE weeks to get him started. Which is absurd! I applied to Connections Academy over a week before school started thinking my kid may possibly miss a week of school maybe 2 and even a second week felt like a stretch but over a month, possibly 2? Now I'm afraid I should have went with a different school and starting to think about how that would even work since there really isn't anyone who can help in anyway at Connections when I call. Every call thats actually answered has never given me any Information I didn't already know. Very incompetent! I let a lot of this go as I figured once he does get started communication will be good. Reading reviews is making me think that is probably not going to be the case. In fact, some reviews completely go against what I was told about several things by Connection Academy recruiters. For instance, I was told the "live lessons" were live and that the teacher could see all his/her students and that they could raise their hand if they had a question like they do in a traditional school environment. I'm not sure what to think except my kid needs access to a SAFE place to learn NOW. It's bad when even a high-school kid is asking when he will finally get to start school.

All in all I'd say to anyone thinking about applying to a Connections Academy school is to do your research and if you still decide to put that application for enrollment in, DO IT ASAP. I had no issues with being able to provide all the necessary documents and did everything else that comes along after that the same day it was presented and this process is likely going to end up TAKING THE BETTER PART OF TWO WHOLE MONTHS TO GET MATERIALS AND MY SON STARTED INTO HIS 10TH GRADE YEAR!! Which is Absolutely UNACCEPTABLE!! I wish I knew where to go from here. If I knew a better place to enroll him and the exact process would take a short amount of time, I'd most definitely be doing that. I'm currently researching other online schools. However, I feel like I can't trust any of these online schools now. It's just mind blowing to me this can happen. I can't imagine how long this would have taken if I had trouble with a document or two like someone in an earlier review wrote about. Or if my son's old school took the full 10 days to do the intent to enroll form. What the actual heck is going on here? All these negative experiences so far. I pray the actual school actually works and communication is on par.

If you are looking to replicate the classroom at home this is the platform for you, but be aware that there is a lot of parent involvement. (more than presented) If you are looking for an option to homeschool with help essentially this is not for you. It wasn't what I thought it was. Little audio or video explanations for younger kiddos. Tools are ok but not as helpful as I anticipated from an accredited school.

I fought for 3 weeks to get my kids into school.
A little about my situation: we are between houses and I could not provide the residence information they want. I let them know day after day we are in a motel and I did not want to unenroll and move my kids when we move, so online seemed to be a better option.
WRONG. So after a full week of calling and getting the run around ONE single guy helped me fill out the Mckinney Vento Act. I was told I'd get a phone call from them to continue, and they'd wave the residence form. (FYI when enrolling, there is a page you can explain your situation on)(this was 2 weeks ago on the dot)
Day after day I called about the status of my kids enrollment. Many of the staff told me I could not contact the Mckinney Vento act people, they had to contact me. LIE.
Finally as my local school was starting and I was afraid of going to jail or getting fines I could not afford, I looked it up and found many people who could help. They were shocked I was lied to and offered me immediate assistance.
These people are highly unprofessional. It kept me up at night and I experienced many panic attacks.
DO NOT ENROLL YOUR KIDS HERE. It's obvious they don't care about the kids.
Fast forward to today, 3 weeks later, 3 days into the local school year, I get a call from them. PROBABLY wanting me to explain my entire situation AGAIN.
I cannot tell you how degrading it is to repeat your name and that your HOMELESS to the many people they transfered me too.(every call I was at least transfered to 4 different people for 6 hours a day)
Please do your self a favor and pay for private education or bite the bullet and put them in public school. I wouldn't refer even the darkest people to this company.
P.S. Through out this entire process I received many emails and texts about how I hadn't given them the information I told them a million times I DIDNT HAVE.
P.SS. I also got an email that they had the Mckinney Vento Act form on their website, and I even sent and uploaded my own. Another LIE.

This experience has been a NIGHTMARE. I spent weeks trying to understand how the system worked. It was not streamlined, easy to navigate, and it was poorly taught. The math guided lessons were a nightmare. I can not believe I didn’t leave this school sooner. I’ve found one that has a small monthly fee and it’s worth its weight in gold.
The woman at connections, said “I was a life coach too, but after a YEAR, we got the hang of it.” A year!!! No thank you. We are thrilled with this new school.

Not sure if their programs are worth a dime or not. But their staff, their customer service if you will is beyond unacceptable. They could literally care less with their cookie cutter, one size fits all way of doing things. As a parent, I would never give this place a second thought. There's a reason they have NO Social Media Presence, because if they did. And people were treated as we were. They would never enroll another student. They are just that BAD, avoid at all costs!!

There is no interaction with other students not even on live lessons which really are not live because you can’t speak or be seen so your just lectured for everything. It’s like having a relationship with a robot. You can hardly get a hold of anyone or find out who your counselor is. All my son does is sit at a computer for hours. Do not do this if you have other activities there is no time. They even have you read daily for PE and take tests on PE. What’s next an art class that is multiple choice and reading. Nothing interactive it’s so cold and stale no wonder so many kids struggled during Covid. I would have quit also…. It’s mind numbing and boring.